What to do if a company goes bankrupt and you're owed money?

audioblackout

Hi everyone.

Really not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, so hopefully one of the mods can move it for me if it isn't

OK, well a company I did some work for has recently gone bust and I'm owed £1000 from them. It's really messed me up for Xmas actually. What would you guys recommend I do at this stage? I faintly remember seeing a TV show a few years back where a things get auctioned off and the profits are split between debtors. I could be wrong, but if not what would have have to do to make sure I was first in line?

Many thanks in advance!

Mark

PasturesNew

If it is a company, get in contact with the Receiver to ensure they are aware of your debt. Provide them with a copy of the invoices and anything else relevant.

Then sit back and wait.

The Receiver will look at the business as a whole, debts, assets. Then if there is any equipment to sell off, or other assets/property, then that would be auctioned off.

Eventually when every penny has been squeezed out of the dead company, they pile up all the money and start paying everybody who is owed money. The Govt get the first cut of the cake, so any taxes, VAT, money owed to any Govt department will be taken first.

After that, they look at the pile of cash left on the table and divide it equally among the people who are owed money on a pro-rata basis. This means you could get anywhere from £0.00 to £1 for every £1 you are owed.

Realistically though, beyond contacting the Receiver and making sure they have a record of the amount you are owed, all you can do is sit back and wait for the final share out of any spare cash.

So, don't count on getting anything. Write it off. Expect £0. Then one day at some future point you will get a letter from the receiver informing you how much you will get. Probably a few to several months.

It's not right. It's a b00ger it's nearly Xmas. You did the work in good faith. It's just the way things work.

If you are REALLY lucky they went to the wall because they were owed a big debt or two - and if theirs pays out you might end up with all/most of your money. But the safest thing is to assume you're getting nothing, then take as a bonus what you end up with.

Broken_hearted

Likelyhood is you won't get anything but contact them anyway anything is better than nothing.