Insolvency proceedings
Winding up, bankruptcy petitions and protecting your position as a creditor.
How we can help
- Advising on winding up and bankruptcy petitions as a recovery route
- Assessing the realistic prospect of recovery before you spend
- Proving in an insolvency and dealing with office holders
- Advising on retention of title and other security you may hold
- Defending petitions presented against your business
- Advising directors on their duties where insolvency is a real possibility
What happens next
- Tell us the debt, the debtor and what security or title you may retain.
- We advise on the realistic recovery and whether a petition is worth presenting.
- We act on the petition or on protecting your position as creditor.
Fees for this work
Quoted individually. We will always tell you the realistic prospect of recovery before you commit to petition costs.
Common questions
Is presenting a petition a good way to get paid?
It can be extremely effective against a debtor who can pay but will not. Against one who genuinely cannot, it usually just means you fund an insolvency for the benefit of everyone else. The distinction is the whole question.
Where do we rank as a creditor?
Ordinary trade creditors rank behind secured creditors, insolvency costs and certain preferential claims. Recovery for unsecured creditors is frequently a small fraction of the debt, which is why security and retention of title matter so much.
Can we get our goods back?
Possibly, if you have an effective retention of title clause and can identify the goods. This is the point at which businesses discover whether their terms were drafted properly.
Our company is struggling. What are our duties as directors?
They shift as insolvency becomes likely — from acting in shareholders’ interests to protecting creditors. Continuing to trade and incur credit at that point carries personal risk. Take advice early; the directors who get into difficulty are usually the ones who waited.
Tell us what's happened
Confidential, reviewed by a solicitor, answered within one working day.