Sederunt book meaning

In Scottish bankruptcy (sequestration), the sederunt book is the trustee’s running file that forms the official, permanent record of the administration of the estate. Scottish bankruptcy legislation requires the trustee to keep it, and practitioners use the term across sequestrations to describe the statutory record of what was done, when, and on what authority. Typically it contains court interlocutors and directions, minutes of creditors’ meetings (sederunts), claims and their adjudication, asset valuations and realisations, the trustee’s accounts of intromissions and distributions, remuneration approvals, and key notices, consents and correspondence. It underpins the audit of the trustee’s accounts, the fixing or challenge of remuneration and outlays, dispute resolution, and the orderly closure of the sequestration. Creditors, the debtor and the Accountant in Bankruptcy may inspect it, and the trustee must preserve it for the period specified by insolvency regulation. The term is specific to Scotland. In England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, insolvency office-holders keep equivalent estate records and accounts, but these are not referred to as a “sederunt book” and are governed by their own statutory and procedural rules.