Almost everything hangs on one appointment. Advice is free through the charities and through most council money advice teams.

Here is the sequence, the paperwork, the deadlines, and what happens if the application is refused. Whether you are eligible in the first place is the question to settle before any of it.

An approved money adviser, on your behalf. Section 4 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 requires money advice before any debtor application, and only a money adviser can grant the certificate that section 2(2)(f) demands.

The approved categories

Regulation 4 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Regulations 2016 prescribes them, and regulation 5 sets out who may not be approved.

• Insolvency practitioners qualified under section 390 of the Insolvency Act 1986, and staff they authorise to give money advice.
• Advisers in organisations holding Type 2 accreditation or above under the Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice Provision.
• Approved money advisers under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002.
• Employees of full member citizens advice bureaux, and local authority money advisers.

You cannot apply for yourself

mygov.scot is explicit that you apply through an approved money adviser and cannot apply yourself, and that the adviser submits it online for you.

Citizens Advice Scotland puts the same point plainly: if you are considering bankruptcy, you will need help from a money adviser. Because bureau advice is free, a paid firm is a choice rather than a necessity.

Money advice under section 4, the debt advice and information package under section 3, and a certificate for sequestration granted under section 9. Only then can an application be made.

The steps in order

Your adviser has to cover the alternatives with you before anything is signed. A Debt Arrangement Scheme against a Minimal Asset Process is the comparison most people need first.

Regulation 6 of the 2016 Regulations sets out other matters on which advice has to be given. The conversation is meant to be wider than the application in front of you.

The certificate, and its 30-day life

Your adviser grants it under section 9 once you can demonstrate that you are unable to pay your debts as they become due.

Regulation 10 of the 2016 Regulations gives a granted certificate 30 days. An application made after that fails condition (f), whatever else is in order, and a new certificate has to be granted.

For a Minimal Asset Process the certificate is the only way in. An applicant for the longer form of sequestration can instead rely on apparent insolvency.

The certificate, proof of your income route, proof of tenancy, vehicle paperwork and bank statements verifying your balances at the date you sign. The income route adds payslips and evidence of essential spending.

The checklist, by route

That is the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own essential evidence checklist, and the requirements differ depending on which limb of section 2(2)(a) you rely on.

Two details that hold applications up

Vehicle valuations have a standard attached. The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s guidance on assets expects an independent recognised source such as Glass’s guide, Parkers or a car dealership, and expects your adviser to record why the vehicle is necessary.

Bank statements have to show your balances at the date of signing, and savings across accounts are added together in practice. Keeping your car in a MAP covers the vehicle evidence in detail.

The form

There is no separate Minimal Asset Process form. The same debtor application covers both routes, and which one you are on is decided by whether the section 2(2) conditions are satisfied.

Nothing. The advice is free, you should not pay anyone for it, and there is no application fee for a Minimal Asset Process.

The application fee was abolished

There is no fee to apply for Minimal Asset Process bankruptcy. The fee that used to apply was removed on 6 February 2023, and the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own guidance lists no application fee.

The instrument is regulation 4(3)(c) of the Bankruptcy Fees (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023, which replaced the fee item in its entirety. Its explanatory note says in terms that the Minimal Asset Process fee is removed.

So commercial pages still stating £50 or £90 are quoting a repealed figure. National Debtline and StepChange both say the same, and so does the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

Full administration sequestration carries a £150 application fee, and that is waived for people receiving certain benefits or assessed as having no surplus income.

What is free either way

Money advice itself. Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, National Debtline, Advice Direct Scotland and most council money advice teams do this work at no charge, and what free debt advice is available in Scotland lists them.

No part of the route requires a paid provider. Whether to use a free charity or a paid adviser is worth reading before you sign up to anything.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy decides it, and section 22 requires an award forthwith once it is satisfied that the statutory requirements are met. mygov.scot says a decision usually arrives within 8 working days.

No hearing, and nothing to attend

There is no court involvement in awarding a Minimal Asset Process. You do not appear anywhere and no creditor gets a vote.

From the date of the award your estate vests in the Accountant in Bankruptcy as trustee, and an existing earnings arrestment ceases. Whether a MAP stops a wage arrestment sets out the timing of that.

The award becomes public

An award of sequestration is entered on the Register of Insolvencies, which the Accountant in Bankruptcy keeps and which anyone may inspect. That happens whichever route you take.

What your creditors are told

Schedule 1 replaces the usual notice to creditors. The Accountant in Bankruptcy prepares a statement of your affairs recording that, because section 2(2) applies, no claims may be submitted by creditors.

A copy goes to every known creditor. There is no claims process to respond to and no dividend to wait for.

What you are asked to do next

A debtor contribution order is made and fixed at zero. The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s guide for MAP debtors says you must still report income changes, money received and inheritances.

Discharge then follows automatically six months after the award. How long a MAP lasts deals with what happens in the six months after that.

You can ask for a review, and appeal the review decision to the sheriff. Section 27 of the 2016 Act gives 14 days for the first and 14 days for the second.

The two statutory stumbling blocks first

Under section 20 you have 21 days to provide anything further the Accountant in Bankruptcy asks for, and that period may be extended. Failing to comply may end in a refusal.

Under section 21 the Accountant in Bankruptcy has to specify in writing why an award may not be appropriate, and must give you a period to respond. It may refuse only once that period has expired and it remains of that view.

The route after a refusal

That right of review sits in section 27, which is headed as further matters in relation to an award, rather than in the sections dealing with refusal. It is why so many pages say there is no appeal.

The practical step alongside it

Your certificate will usually have gone stale by then, given its 30-day life. Ask your adviser to grant a fresh one at the same time as considering a review.

A refusal may also mean a different solution fits better. Minimal Asset Process against full sequestration and our Scottish debt solutions pages cover the alternatives.

Paperwork, timing and figures that have moved. Bank statements dated at signing, a current certificate and a proper vehicle valuation prevent most of the delays people run into.

The four to watch

• A certificate granted more than 30 days before the application is made.
• Balances that crept above the asset limits between the appointment and the signature.
• A car valued from a classified listing rather than an independent recognised source.
• Debts that were missed off, which can move you over the £25,000 ceiling.

If your figures change before you sign

Eligibility is tested on the day the application is made, not on the day you first saw an adviser. A tax refund, a small inheritance or a car sale in between can change the answer.

Tell your adviser about anything that has moved. It is far easier to deal with before the application goes in than afterwards.

Be candid, and it costs you nothing

Accurate figures protect you. The Accountant in Bankruptcy warns that concealing assets or making false declarations may lead to a bankruptcy restrictions order and to discharge being refused.

That is the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own wording, and section 140 gives no power to defer a discharge while the case remains a Minimal Asset Process. Refusal of discharge operates through conversion to full administration under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1.

If enforcement is already running while you get the papers together, our sheriff officer advice explains what they can and cannot do in the meantime, and how a MAP works sets out what the award changes.