joint administration
joint administration. Bankruptcy. The management of two or more bankruptcy estates, usu. involving related debtors, under one docket for purposes of handling various administrative matters, including notices to creditors, to conclude the cases more efficiently. • A bankruptcy court can order a joint administration when there are two or more cases pending involving a husband and wife, a partnership and at least one partner, two or more business partners, or a business and an affiliate. The intent should be to increase the administrative efficiency of administering the two cases; the substantive rights of creditors should not ordinarily be affected. Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1015. — Also termed procedural consolidation. See ADMINISTRATION(3). Cf. substantive consolidation under CONSOLIDATION. [Cases: Bankruptcy 2311. C.J.S. Bankruptcy § 53.]
