Section 72: Declaration of dividends

72. Declaration of dividends (1) After payment of all preferential claims and of all other sums ordered to be paid out of the bankrupt’s estate and, subject to the retention of such B4 – 31 [Issue 1] Bankruptcy Act sums as may be necessary for the costs of administration or otherwise, the trustee shall, with all convenient speed, declare and distribute, in the prescribed manner, dividends among the creditors who have proved their debts to his satisfaction. (2) Any dividend declared by the trustee shall consist, subject to this section, of all money in his hands at the time of the declaration of the dividend. (3) Except as provided in section 75, the first dividend, if any, shall be declared and distributed within 4 months after the appointment of the trustee, unless the trustee satisfies the committee of inspection or the Official Receiver, as the case may be, that there is sufficient reason for postponing the declaration of the dividend to a later date. (4) Subsequent dividends shall, in the absence of sufficient reason to the contrary, be declared and distributed at intervals of not more than 6 months.