The public petitions system has now closed ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May 2026. It is not possible to submit a new petition to the Scottish Parliament or sign a petition until after the election.
The petitions system will reopen at the start of the new parliamentary session.
For more information about the petitions process, please contact the committee team at petitions.committee@parliament.scot.
For more information about the election campaign period and the dissolution of the current parliament, please visit the Scottish Parliament’s Election 2026 webpage: https://www.parliament.scot/msps/elections/election-2026
Closed petition PE2192: Prevent domestic abusers from using bankruptcy to escape debt
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 so that debt owed by domestic abusers to their survivors cannot be written off by sequestration.
Background information
Bankruptcy in Scotland was intended as a safety net for the “honest but unfortunate” debtor – the farmer whose crops failed, the small business ruined by misfortune. It was never meant to be a shield for abusers. Yet in practice, sequestration is now being used to wipe out debts and awards arising from domestic abuse.
In one case, a survivor was awarded £289,900 via arbitration registered in the Court of Session under Section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006. This recognised the financial harm and coercive control she had suffered. However, the award was extinguished by sequestration, allowing her abuser to escape responsibility.
This outcome denies survivors the benefit of lawful decrees, re-victimises them through state processes, and places Scotland in breach of international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Reform is urgently needed.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
104 signatures