Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

BANKRUPTCY ACT 1966 - SECT 139

  (1)   Where:

  (a)   the trustee has seized or disposed of any goods in the possession or on the premises of a bankrupt without notice of any claim by any person in respect of those goods; and

  (b)   the goods were not, at the date of the bankruptcy, the property of the bankrupt;

the trustee is not personally liable for any loss or damage arising from the seizure or disposal, or for the costs of proceedings taken in respect of the seizure or disposal, unless the court in which the claim is made is of the opinion that the trustee has been guilty of negligence in respect of the seizure or disposal.

  (2)   The trustee is not personally liable for any rates, land tax or municipal or other statutory charges imposed by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory upon or in respect of property forming part of the estate of the bankrupt, being rates, land tax or municipal or other statutory charges that fall due on or after the date of the bankruptcy, except to the extent, if any, of the rents and profits received by the trustee in respect of that property on or after the date of the bankruptcy.

  (3)   Where a trustee of the estate of a bankrupt carries on a business previously carried on by the bankrupt, he or she is not personally liable for any payment in respect of long service leave or extended leave for which the bankrupt was liable or for any payment in respect of long service leave or extended leave to which a person employed by him or her in his or her capacity as trustee of the estate of the bankrupt, or the legal personal representative of such a person, becomes entitled after the date of the bankruptcy.

  (4)   This section does not affect any liability of the trustee of the estate of a bankrupt other than personal liability.