How can I wind up a partnership that owes me money?
Because the partners are personally liable for the debts of the partnership, a partnership can be wound up and bankruptcy orders can also be made against the individual partners.
If you are a creditor of a partnership, you can apply for either:
- the winding up of the insolvent partnership as an unregistered company with no action taken against the individual partners (under Article 7 of the Insolvent Partnerships Order (Northern Ireland 1995); or
- the winding up of the insolvent partnership as an unregistered company where bankruptcy petitions are also presented against one or more of the partners (under Article 8 of the Insolvent Partnerships Order (Northern Ireland) 1995).
A creditor can only apply for a winding-up order against the partnership if the partnership has traded in Northern Ireland at any time in the 3 years before the petition is presented.
As the partners are personally liable for the debts of the partnership, a creditor of a partnership can petition (apply) for the bankruptcy of one or more of the partners, without petitioning for the partnership to be wound up. For information on how to present a bankruptcy petition, please refer to our publication 'How to make someone bankrupt' (click here). For information on how to wind up a corporate member, please refer to our publication ' How to wind up a company that owes you money' (click here).
