Bills and Laws

A judicial factor is a person appointed by the court to manage property. A judicial factor can be appointed in cases where property is not being managed properly.

The Bill clarifies the role of the judicial factor. This includes—

• How a judicial factor is appointed
• Circumstances where an interim judicial factor may be appointed
• How a judicial factor should be paid for the work that they do
• What activities a judicial factor can do
• What powers the judicial factor has to do those activities
• When and how the appointment of the judicial factor should end

The Bill also makes clear the role of the Accountant of Court in overseeing the work of the judicial factor.

This includes—

• The appointment of the Accountant of Court
• The appointment of a Depute Accountant of Court
• How the Accountant of Count should be paid for the work that they do
• What tasks the Accountant of Court is responsible for in relation to supervising the judicial factor
• How the Accountant of Court will check the accounts that the judicial factor has completed
• Publishing an annual review of the Accountant of Court's activities in relation to judicial factors

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service employ the Accountant of Court.  

Read more about what this Bill does in the Explanatory Notes (267KB, pdf) posted 05 December 2023

Why the Bill was created

The Bill aims to modernise the law, making the role of the judicial factor clearer.

Judicial factors have been in use since at least the 17th century in Scotland. The main existing legislation on judicial factors is from 1849 to 1889. There have been no new laws specifically in this area since then.

This led to some doubt on how the law should operate and what powers judicial factors have.

Read more about why this Bill has been created in the Policy Memorandum (296KB, pdf) posted 05 December 2023