Remuneration of trustee in bankruptcy

Peri v Engel (Ch D LSG 7 June)

The district judge granted the bankrupt’s applications (i) for an order that the court fix the trustee in bankruptcy’s remuneration at a reasonable level pursuant to s303 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and (ii) his bankruptcy be annulled because a third party had agreed to supply the funds to meet his creditors’ demands. The trustee appealed against the first order on the grounds that the bankrupt could not show that his decision on remuneration had adversely affected the bankrupt’s substantial interests because such an interest could exist only if there were or might have been a surplus in the trustee’s hands after satisfaction of all the debts, which was not the position.