Can You Apply For MAP Bankruptcy If You Have Been Bankrupt Before?

Both run from the date of the previous award rather than from your discharge. Discharge is the date most people remember, which is why this catches so many out.

A previous MAP also does something to the other route in, and almost nobody prints it. How a MAP works covers the process these bars guard.

Which previous insolvencies count against a MAP application?

Only an award of sequestration. Section 2(2)(g) and (h) are both written in terms of an award made against you, whether on your own application or on a creditor’s petition.

The wording is narrow on purpose

It asks what was awarded, not what you attempted. A refused application starts no clock, because no award was made.

The same goes for an application you withdrew before a decision. Nothing was awarded, so nothing is counted.

What counts and what does not

mygov.scot puts the combined position simply: not bankrupt in the last 5 years, or through a MAP in the last 10.

The words that usually get dropped

Section 2(2)(g) bars a MAP where an award was made in the 10 years ending the day before, “or such other period as may be prescribed”, and no other period has ever been prescribed.

Which date does each bar run from?

The date of the previous award, and the period ends on the day before your new application. Your discharge date does not come into it.

Why the difference matters

In a MAP the two dates are six months apart, so the error is small. After a full administration sequestration the gap is normally a year or more.

National Debtline describes the bars the same way, and the award date is what the Act counts back to in both paragraphs.

Worked dates

Each period ends on the day before your new application, so an award made on the anniversary itself still sits inside the window. The first date that works is the day after it.

Finding the date if your papers are gone

The award paperwork records it, and the register kept under section 200 has a free search facility anyone may use.

A money adviser can help you trace it. How long a MAP stays on the register covers what the entry holds and for how long.

Does a previous MAP also block full administration?

For the first five years, yes. Section 2(8)(b) independently bars a full administration debtor application where any award has been made in the 5 years ending the day before.

So there are two windows, not one

A MAP awarded less than five years ago closes both debtor application routes. Between five and ten years, only the Minimal Asset Process itself is barred.

Neither bar depends on how quickly the first case ended

A six-month MAP and a longer full administration are treated the same way on this point. What starts the clock is the award, not the length of what followed it.

Why nobody prints this

The two bars sit in different subsections doing different jobs, and most summaries only quote the MAP ones. The practical answer for a repeat applicant depends on both.

The differences between the two routes are set out at a MAP against full sequestration, and when you can apply for a MAP a second time deals with the ten-year clock on its own.

Does a previous trust deed stop you applying?

You cannot make a debtor application while a protected trust deed is still running. Section 172(1)(b) rules it out for as long as the deed subsists.

The provision, and AiB’s own statement of it

Section 172(1)(b) provides that an application for sequestration may not be made by the debtor while the trust deed subsists.

AiB’s guidance on protected trust deeds says the same in one sentence: from protection until termination, the debtor cannot apply for their own bankruptcy.

A trust deed that has ended is a different question

The conditions in section 2(2) refer only to an award of sequestration, and a protected trust deed is not one. No published guidance addresses the point either way, so ask your money adviser before relying on it.

Section 172(1)(b) is limited to while the deed subsists, and section 2(2)(g) and (h) speak only of awards of sequestration. That reading is construction rather than anyone’s published position.

The exception that does produce an award

A trust deed converted into a sequestration produces an award, and that award engages the five-year bar like any other. Bring those dates to your adviser.

What a protected trust deed is covers the arrangement itself, and whether you are eligible for a MAP runs through every condition.

What are your options while a previous bankruptcy blocks a MAP?

More than most people assume. The ten-year bar is a bar on the Minimal Asset Process alone and the other statutory routes have their own conditions.

What stays open

The one that buys you time immediately

A statutory moratorium lasts six months. The period was six weeks until section 23(2) of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 substituted six months in section 198 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, with effect from 1 October 2022.

A statutory moratorium is the exception. It does not stop an earnings arrestment that was already running: section 197(5)(d) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 lets a creditor carry on executing an earnings arrestment, a current maintenance arrestment or a conjoined arrestment order that came into effect before the moratorium began.

Notice is entered in the register under section 195, and how to apply for a statutory moratorium sets out the steps.

Check the trust deed route properly

A trust deed is arranged with an insolvency practitioner rather than through the Accountant in Bankruptcy. Its conditions are separate from anything in section 2.

It is not a lighter version of bankruptcy, and it becomes protected only if enough creditors do not object.

None of them is a soft option

A trust deed and a sequestration both appear on a public register and both reach your credit file for years. Those consequences belong in the comparison.

The repayment route is set against the Minimal Asset Process at a MAP against the Debt Arrangement Scheme.

What else does a repeat applicant have to prove?

All eight conditions in section 2(2), from scratch. Clearing a timing bar carries nothing over from the first application.

A fresh assessment, and fresh paperwork

There are two ways in. Either the common financial tool shows you can pay nothing towards your debts, or you have been receiving certain benefits for at least six months.

The benefits route only works if those payments are your only income. Someone receiving universal credit alongside wages goes through the common financial tool assessment instead.

A new certificate for sequestration is needed too, valid for 30 days. The old one is long spent.

The debt and asset tests apply again

Your total debts must be no more than £25,000, under section 2(2)(b) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016.

Your assets must be worth no more than £2,000 in total under section 2(2)(c), and no single item may be worth more than £1,000 under section 2(2)(d).

Student loans stay out of the £25,000 calculation, which which debts count towards the limit explains.

Be open about the history

Eligibility turns on when the earlier award was made and on nothing else. Whether you were discharged from it, and how quickly, makes no difference to either bar.

A separate question is whether a bankruptcy restrictions order is made, and section 156 sets out the conduct a decision maker weighs there. Your adviser needs the full picture rather than a tidied one.

What should you do first?

Find the exact date of the previous award and what kind of award it was. Those two facts decide whether you are looking at five years or ten.

Then check the second window

If the award was more than five years ago, full administration may already be open even where a MAP is not. That is worth knowing before you wait another year.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s published statistics for 2025-26 record 2,976 sequestrations, so this is a well-worn route rather than an unusual one.

And get the trust deed question settled in writing

If you have signed a trust deed, ask whether it has terminated and on what date. Section 172(1)(b) makes that the difference between an application being possible and not.

Gather the paperwork before the appointment

Bring the award letter, the discharge letter and anything signed with an insolvency practitioner. Dates decide this question and guesses do not.

If you cannot find them, say so rather than estimating. An adviser can search the public register with you.

Where to get it checked free

Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, National Debtline and council money advice teams all do this at no cost, and an approved adviser has to be involved in any application anyway.

The restrictions that follow a second award are the same as the first, and are set out at which restrictions still apply after a MAP ends.