Placing your trust board into liquidation
How to begin the liquidation process for a trust board
There are 2 ways a charitable trust board can be put into liquidation.
- For a society incorporated as a trust board, this can be done by a members' resolution, or by application to the High Court.
- Trustees incorporated as a board must apply to the High Court.
In this guide
Liquidation by resolution of the board
A society that is incorporated as a charitable trust board can be put into liquidation by a resolution of its members. By law, this requires 2 general meetings of the trust board to confirm the decision.
The process is equivalent to the liquidation of a company by resolution of its shareholders under the Companies Act 1993 and is treated in the same way. A liquidator must be a licensed insolvency practitioner.
A trust board should take advice from its accountant and solicitor before considering this procedure.
Liquidation by the High Court
A charitable trust board can also be put into liquidation by the High Court, if the Court considers it is ‘just and equitable’ to do so. Generally, the High Court will receive liquidation applications made by:
- a creditor
- a charitable trust board, or member of a trust board
- the Registrar
- the Attorney-General, representing the community in whose general interest charitable trusts are created.
Commencing liquidation
The liquidator that has been appointed must file a 'Notice of Appointment' with us before the end of the next working day following their appointment.
Please use the following form to complete the details.
File formats for uploading documents
Any documents you upload must be:
- clear and easily read
- saved in PDF format, and
- no larger than 20MB.
How to file a notice of appointment online
You will need:
- a RealMe® login, and
- an online account with us
Step by step
- Log in.
- Select ‘Charitable Trust Boards’ from the main menu.
- Search for the charitable trust board.
- Select 'Create Filing Service'.
- Choose ‘Lodge External Administration Documents’ (for the type of service).
- Select the document type 'Notice of Appointment of Liquidator’ and upload the notice.
- Select 'Supplementary Document' if you have additional information to provide.
- Complete the signatory details and submit your notice.
Filing other liquidation documents
The instructions above should also be used to file liquidator’s reports and other liquidation documents. You will need to select the relevant document type each time you file a document.
General information about liquidations
Liquidation of trust boards follows almost identical processes as for companies. To learn more about the liquidation process, the role of the liquidator, and what happens next, please refer to the help guides on the Companies Register website.