Commencement and citation

1. This Order may be cited as the High Court and County Court Jurisdiction (Amendment) Order 2014 and shall come into force on 22nd April 2014.

Amendment of the 1991 Order

2. —(1)The High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991( 2 ) (“the 1991 Order”) is amended in accordance with this article.

(2) In the table of contents, in the entry for article 3, omit “— Commencement of proceedings”;

(3) Unless otherwise amended by this Order—

(a) for “A county court”, in each place, substitute “The County Court”; and

(b) for “a county court”, in each place, substitute “the County Court”.

(4) In article 1A—

(a) in paragraph (a), at the end, omit “and”;

(b) in paragraph (b), at the end, for “.” substitute “; and”; and

(c) after paragraph (b) insert—

“ (c) “the London insolvency district” means the insolvency district designated by the London Insolvency District (County Court at Central London) Order 2014 ( 3 ) . ” .

(5) In article 2—

(a) in paragraph (1), in the words which follow subparagraph (r), omit the words from “except as provided” to the end;

(b) in paragraph (7A) for “A patents county court and the county courts listed in paragraph (7B)” substitute “The County Court”; and

(c) for paragraph (7B) substitute—

“ (7B) The County Court has jurisdiction in respect of any contentious probate matter arising in connection with an application for the grant or revocation of probate or administration where—

(a) the grant or application is made through the principal registry of the Family Division or a district probate registry under section 105 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 ( 4 ) ; and

(b) it is shown to the satisfaction of the County Court that the value of the deceased’s net estate at the date of death does not exceed £30,000.

(7C) In paragraph (7B), “net estate”, in relation to a deceased person, means the estate of that person exclusive of any property the deceased was possessed of or entitled to as a trustee and not beneficially, and after making allowances for funeral expenses and for debts and liabilities. ” ; and

(d) omit paragraph (8).

(6) In article 4—

(a) in the heading to the article, omit “— Commencement of proceedings”;

(b) for “and 6B” substitute “to 6E,”; and

(c) for “county courts” substitute “County Court”.

(7) In article 4A—

(a) for “county courts have” substitute “County Court has”; and

(b) for “£25,000” substitute “£100,000”.

(8) After article 6B, insert—

“ 6C. Proceedings for the exercise of the jurisdiction to wind up a company registered in England and Wales may be commenced only in the High Court if the place which has longest been the company’s registered office during the 6 months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for winding up is in the district that is the London insolvency district for the purposes of the second Group of Parts of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( 5 ) .

6D. Proceedings under section 1 of the Variation of Trusts Act 1958 ( 6 ) may be commenced and taken only in the High Court.

6E. Proceedings under sections 98, 641(1)(b) and 645 to 651 of the Companies Act 2006 ( 7 ) may be commenced and taken only in the High Court.

6F. The enactments listed in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Order are amended as specified therein, being amendments which are consequential on the amendments in articles 6C to 6E. ” .

(9) In article 8A, in paragraph (1), for “Northampton” substitute “the”.

(10) In the Schedule—

(a) in Part I—

(i) for “Article 2(8)” substitute “Article 6F”; and

(ii) under the subheading “Acts” insert—

(b) in Part II omit the entries for S.I. 1981/1123 (the County Court Jurisdiction Order 1981( 8 )).

Transitional provision

3. The amendments made by article 2(8) and (10)(a), in so far as they apply to inserted articles 6D and 6E, do not apply to proceedings commenced before 22nd April 2014.