Provisional liquidation

Provisional liquidation is a process which exists as part of the corporate insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions whereby after the lodging of a petition for the winding-up of a company by the court, but before the court hears and determines the petition, the court may appoint a liquidator on a "provisional" basis. (The provisional liquidator is appointed to safeguard the assets of the company and maintain the status quo pending the hearing of the petition.) Unlike a conventional liquidator, a provisional liquidator does not assess claims against the company or try to distribute the company's assets to creditors, as the power to realise the assets comes after the court orders a liquidation.

In practice most instances of applications for a provisional liquidator involve some type of allegation of fraud or other misconduct relating to the company.