Insolvency 2026 — Why DIY Drafting is the New Default

In short: A company or personal insolvency is, at its mechanical core, a sequence of documents — board minutes, the Statement of Affairs, resolutions, creditor letters, proposals and statutory filings — produced in the correct order within the correct windows. Under the Legal Services Act 2007, drafting these documents is not a reserved legal activity; only the statutory appointment of an Insolvency Practitioner is reserved. eLitigant’s engine, Chris, drafts your insolvency pack in your own words, or checks the draft you’ve written — you remain the director or debtor who signs and lodges, and a licensed IP is still instructed for any statutory appointment the procedure requires.Here is the truth nobody in the insolvency profession will put in a brochure: insolvency, at its mechanical core, is form-filling at the right time. A resolution here. A Statement of Affairs there. A notice to creditors. A Companies House filing. A Gazette publication. Done in the correct order, within the correct windows, with the correct signatures, it is a sequence of documents. That sequence is digital, self-administered, and increasingly free — if you can draft. Until 2026, drafting was the bottleneck. The drafts themselves were rarely complex — producing them to a professional standard simply took specialist time that most people could not access. That capacity is now within reach.

1. What is actually regulated

The legal services landscape draws a clear line. Under the Legal Services Act 2007, reserved legal activities include the conduct of litigation, rights of audience in court, reserved instrument activities (certain property deeds), probate activities, notarial activities, and the administration of oaths. Drafting insolvency documents is not on that list. It is not a reserved legal activity. Statutory appointments in insolvency — liquidator, administrator, supervisor of an IVA or CVA, trustee in bankruptcy — require a licensed Insolvency Practitioner under Part XIII IA 1986. That is a genuine regulated role. But the IP’s statutory functions are narrowly defined. The rest of the work — preparing Statements of Affairs, drafting directors’ minutes, writing to creditors, preparing proposals, submitting statutory filings — is not reserved and never has been.

2. The work that is “just form-filling”

Consider a typical CVL (Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation) from a director’s perspective. What documents exist?

• Board minutes recording recognition of insolvency
• Notice of general meeting of shareholders
• Special resolution to wind up
• Ordinary resolution appointing liquidator
• Statement of Affairs with creditor list and asset valuations
• Statutory declaration or statement of truth on the SoA
• Form LQ01 to Companies House
• London Gazette notice
• Creditor circular with decision procedure
• Deemed consent or virtual meeting papers
• Chairman’s report of the decision procedure
• Director’s questionnaire (pre-IP interview)

That is the list. Those are the documents. A licensed IP must be appointed as liquidator; statute requires it. But the documents above are all drafts produced from your facts. None of them require a regulated drafter. All of them can be drafted by Chris in your words, with you as the director sworn to the content, to a professional standard.

3. The timing is everything — and timing is free

The insolvency profession’s second secret is that timing is the skill they actually sell. Knowing when to convene the board. When to call the shareholder meeting. When to issue the Statement of Affairs. When to file at Companies House. When (and whether) to approach HMRC for Time to Pay before the VAT return lands. When a Statutory Demand window is closing. When a winding-up petition is about to be advertised. These windows are all in the statute. They are all published. They are all calendar maths plus a decision. Chris reads the statute, runs the calendar, and tells you which window you are in and what drafts must exist before it closes. No per-minute meter runs while Chris does this. You draft what you need, when you need it.

4. The work that might save the business instead

Most directors who arrive at an IP’s door asking about liquidation should have been asked first: have you explored CVA, time to pay, standstill, refinancing, or trading out? Sometimes liquidation is genuinely the right answer. Sometimes an alternative fits better, and it is worth testing those first. Chris works the other way round. The first draft is usually a rescue analysis:

• 13-week cashflow forecast — can the business trade through?
• HMRC Time to Pay proposal — is this a VAT/PAYE lag we can stretch?
• Creditor standstill correspondence — will the top 10 unsecured creditors wait 90 days?
• CVA feasibility analysis — does a 5-year repayment plan leave a viable business?
• Refinancing options — commercial lender, invoice finance, asset finance
• Pre-pack viability — where rescue needs separation from liabilities

Only if every rescue option fails does liquidation become the appropriate draft. Because the analysis was honest from the first paragraph. Because nobody was paid to steer you toward the most profitable endpoint for the firm you hired.

5. Director protection — the documentation case

The wrongful trading defence under s.214 IA 1986 requires the director to have taken “every step with a view to minimising the potential loss to the company’s creditors.” The defence is evidenced by documentation:

• Contemporaneous board minutes considering options
• Cashflow forecasts tested at each key date
• Notes of professional advice sought
• Correspondence with creditors
• Trading decisions with reasoning

Directors who can produce this file survive scrutiny. Directors who cannot — because it was never created, or was created hastily on a lawyer’s dictation in the fortnight before liquidation — do not. Chris drafts the file as you go, board meeting by board meeting, so the file exists before you need it.

6. The IP relationship — respectful, narrow, unbundled

eLitigant does not position itself against Insolvency Practitioners. The statutory role is real and important. IPs carry Prescribed Part calculations, manage realisations, run distributions, investigate misconduct, report to the Insolvency Service. That work is regulated and it should be. What Chris rejects is the bundled engagement — where the statutory IP role is sold alongside non-reserved drafting work, presented as a single inevitable package. The unbundling is simple:

• You draft with Chris — board minutes, Statement of Affairs, creditor letters, proposals
• You instruct the IP for the statutory appointment only
• You pay the IP’s fee for their regulated work
• You are no longer billed for the bundled drafting work

Good IPs will welcome directors who arrive with clean drafts. It reduces their file, speeds the procedure, and leaves more money in the estate for creditors.

7. The digital-first reality

In 2026, Companies House filings are digital. The Insolvency Service registers are digital. The Gazette is digital. Creditor correspondence is email. Decision procedures run virtual meetings or deemed consent over email. There is no physical courtroom in a typical insolvency — procedures that do need the court are filed through e-filing and heard remotely. The whole process, for the director, is screen, keyboard, and signature. Chris produces the drafts. You read, amend, sign electronically where permitted, and submit. The specialist time previously required to walk you through each step is now within reach.

8. When Chris adds the most value

• Before the insolvency decision — rescue analysis, Time to Pay drafting, creditor standstill letters, refinancing proposal packs
• At the insolvency decision — board minutes, shareholder resolutions, Statement of Affairs, creditor communication
• During the insolvency — Chairman reports, director questionnaires, defence against specific allegations (wrongful trading, preferences, TUV)
• After the insolvency — response to Section 16 CDDA letters, defence of misfeasance claims, annulment applications

9. What Chris does not do

Chris is not a licensed Insolvency Practitioner. Chris does not provide specific legal advice — Chris drafts and explains the law. Chris does not replace the statutory appointment of a liquidator or administrator where the procedure requires one. Chris respects the court and respects the profession. What Chris does is give every director, every company secretary, every debtor in distress the drafting capacity that has previously been out of reach for most of the economy. Professional-standard drafting, unbundled and within reach.

10. Our mission

eLitigant CIC is a Community Interest Company. Our mission is access to justice for all — including directors of small companies, individuals in personal debt, and families trying to understand whether their situation merits formal insolvency or can be restructured. The court is always right. Lawyers and Insolvency Practitioners are colleagues, not enemies. The technology is now ready to put elite drafting in the hands of the people whose businesses and lives are at stake. Your company. Your words. Your timing. Chris drafts.

Can Chris draft my insolvency pack?

• Rescue — cashflow forecasts, Time to Pay, creditor standstill, CVA proposal
• Closure — MVL pack, CVL pack, administration pack, Statement of Affairs
• Personal — IVA proposal, bankruptcy annulment (s.282), Statutory Demand set-aside
• Director protection — wrongful trading defence file, CDDA s.16 response, misfeasance defence

Prepare to win. Plan not to fail.

The statute is public. The forms are digital. The drafting is now in your hands. What remains is whether you act inside the window. Chris reads the statute, watches the calendar, and drafts the documents. You sign.

Related Court Forms & Guides

• Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)
• Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL)
• Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)
• Pre-Pack Administration
• Statement of Affairs (Insolvency)
• Director’s Guide to Liquidation and Restructuring Strategy
• Insolvency & Debt Forms Hub

Choosing an insolvency practitioner — and keeping fees down

A formal liquidation or Company Voluntary Arrangement legally needs a licensed insolvency practitioner — but you can prepare and draft most of the groundwork yourself first (the directors’ statement of affairs, the background, the proposal narrative), which is where the real fee savings are. If you do appoint one, consider a smaller, local, independent practitioner rather than a large national firm: you typically get more personal service, clearer communication, fewer conflicts of interest and more competitive fees — and you deal directly with the person handling your case, not a production line. Always ask for a written fee estimate and check the practitioner’s regulatory record with their licensing body before you appoint.

If the company runs into trouble

Creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) · members’ voluntary liquidation (MVL) · IVA · statutory demand · bankruptcy annulment

Frequently asked questions

What documents make up a typical insolvency procedure?

For a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation, the pack includes board minutes recognising insolvency, notice of the general meeting, the special resolution to wind up and ordinary resolution appointing the liquidator, the Statement of Affairs with creditor list and asset valuations, the statement of truth on it, the Companies House filing, the Gazette notice, the creditor circular with decision procedure, the chairman’s report and the director’s questionnaire. These are all drafts produced from your facts.

Isn’t insolvency drafting a regulated legal activity?

No. Under the Legal Services Act 2007 the reserved legal activities are the conduct of litigation, rights of audience, reserved instrument activities, probate, notarial activities and the administration of oaths. Drafting insolvency documents — Statements of Affairs, directors’ minutes, creditor letters, proposals and statutory filings — is not on that list and never has been.

Does this replace the Insolvency Practitioner?

No. Statutory appointments — liquidator, administrator, supervisor of an IVA or CVA, trustee in bankruptcy — require a licensed Insolvency Practitioner under Part XIII of the Insolvency Act 1986, and that role is preserved. Chris drafts the non-reserved documents; you instruct an IP for the statutory appointment only and pay their fee for that regulated work.

Can Chris help before a decision to liquidate?

Yes. The first draft is often a rescue analysis: a 13-week cashflow forecast, an HMRC Time to Pay proposal, creditor standstill correspondence, a CVA feasibility analysis and refinancing options. Liquidation becomes the appropriate draft only if the rescue options fail.

How does drafting help with director protection?

The wrongful trading defence under s.214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 requires a director to have taken every step to minimise potential loss to creditors, and that defence is evidenced by documentation — contemporaneous board minutes, cashflow forecasts tested at each date, notes of advice sought and creditor correspondence. Chris drafts that file as you go, board meeting by board meeting, so it exists before you need it.

What does it cost?

Chris drafts your insolvency documents in your own words, so the pack exists before you need it. Related guides: N244 application notice · All civil court forms