Apply to a court to reinstate a company
You can apply to a court for an order that ASIC reinstate a company. This is called a court reinstatement application.
Before you start
If a company has been deregistered, you can apply to the court to have it reinstated. If it is reinstated, the company will be treated as if it was never deregistered. It will be subject to all the requirements of the law.
There are different reasons and processes for reinstatement of a company after deregistration.
Understand the reasons you can apply for a court order
Situations when you can apply for a court order include:
- ASIC is unable to administratively reinstate the company
- the company was in liquidation prior to deregistration
- the company will not have any directors on reinstatement
- the company was deregistered under a previous Companies Code or previous companies legislation.
The application must be made to a superior court such as the Supreme Court, the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court.
Make sure you are eligible
Make sure you are eligible to ask a court for an order for reinstatement.
You should understand the requirements and processes set out in:
Regulatory Guide 83 Reinstatement of companies (RG 83).
We strongly recommend you get legal advice.
Apply to the court
It is your responsibility to apply to the right court, and to meet its requirements. Different courts may have different requirements.
Applications to the court for reinstatement should be delivered to (served on) ASIC. This is because courts generally seek ASIC’s opinion before making a decision.
Get help
If you need help, email court.reinstatements@asic.gov.au.
Steps to engage with ASIC about a court order for reinstatement
Make sure your application meets the requirements
Your application to the court should meet the requirements listed in Table 4 of the regulatory guide:
Prepare your supporting documents
You will need evidence about why the court should make an order to reinstate the company.
Make sure you are ready to fully complete the application and attach all supporting documents.
We often see applications that miss crucial information. This includes forgetting to attach:
- a liquidator’s consent to act if seeking the appointment of a liquidator
- evidence of steps taken to notify all company directors at the time of the deregistration about the court application. This is required for all applications, including if the company was in liquidation at the time of deregistration
- evidence of the steps taken to notify the previous liquidator if there are orders for a new or different liquidator to be appointed or the application seeks to end the liquidation.
Send the application and supporting documents to ASIC
Send us the application and documents so that they arrive at least 28 days before the hearing. This applies to all superior court such as the Supreme Court, the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court.
Email your application to court.reinstatements@asic.gov.au
If you cannot email, you can mail it to:
Court Reinstatements Team
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
GPO Box 9827
Melbourne VIC 3001
Lodge the successful order with ASIC
If the court rules in your favour, you will be given a court order.
You must send us:
- the original court order, which has an original stamped seal of the court
- a completed Form 105:
Form 105 Cover page for office copy of a court order
These documents must be sent by post. Emailing the documents may delay the processing time.
Mail to:
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
PO Box 4000
GIPPSLAND MAIL CENTRE VIC 3841
Next steps
Once we've received the court order, we’ll reinstate the company’s registration and publish a notice in the ASIC Gazette.