New Zealand and Australia are joined at the hip when it comes to trans-Tasman debtors looking to hide from creditors. Insolvency Service has been appointed as agent to track down assets held in New Zealand by a Kiwi bankrupted in Australia.
In May 2019, Terry Alexander Davison was declared bankrupt by the Australian Federal Court sitting in Adelaide. A representative of Oracle Insolvency Services Pty Ltd was appointed to handle his bankruptcy.
Enquiries identified that Mr Davison owned half share of a property in Queensland at Victoria Point, jointly with his spouse. The two had recently separated.
Mr Davison’s claim that all his bankruptcy debts could be cleared by having his former spouse buying out his share of Victoria Point ran into a snag; a previously undeclared $55,559 debt unexpectedly surfaced.
Oracle Insolvency learnt the $55,559 was owed Avanti Finance Ltd in New Zealand, a loan raised by Mr Davison to buy a Mitsubishi Triton. It also learnt this was not the only New Zealand asset potentially available to pay bankruptcy creditors; Mr Davison has property in New Zealand, a share in Maori freehold property.
Oracle Insolvency applied to the New Zealand High Court under the Insolvency (Cross Border) Act to have Mr Davison’s Australian bankruptcy ‘recognised,’ allowing Mr Davison’s New Zealand assets to be seized.
In New Zealand, Insolvency Service was appointed agent to act on Oracle Insolvency’s behalf.
Ownership of Mr Davison’s interest in freehold land is identifiable from the land title register. The court was told the Mitsubishi Triton is currently in the possession of a New Zealand logging company, which itself is in liquidation.
re Bankruptcy of Terry Alexander Davison – High Court (13.02.24)
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