British Virgin Islands: Insolvency/Bankruptcy

The UK Supreme Court's landmark decision in Servis-Terminal LLC v Drelle has overturned the English Court of Appeal's controversial ruling, clarifying that unrecognised foreign judgments can form the basis of insolvency proceedings without prior recognition. This briefing examines how the Supreme Court's restoration of the common law 'obligation principle' impacts creditors seeking to enforce foreign judgment debts in the BVI, particularly following the uncertainty created by the first instance decision in

Part XIX of the Insolvency Act 2003 was introduced to support cross‑border cooperation. Still, many years on, there is real debate about the reach of section 467 and how far the court will go to help foreign proceedings.

Fraudsters sometimes choose offshore vehicles in their illegal schemes under the mistaken belief that the misappropriated assets will not be found...