Winding up petition struck out as an abuse of process where the court was not satisfied that the petitioner was a creditor.

Can a company file a notice of intention to appoint an administrator (NOI) if administration is just one of a number of potential options being explored for rescuing the company?

Are funds subject to an IVA if they are received by a debtor after a certificate of completion has been issued by the supervisor?

Should an administrator’s appointment be terminated where the motives of the appointor are improper but the statutory purpose of the administration can still be properly achieved?

This is the final installment in a three-part series on letters of credit by attorneys in Fox Rothschild’s Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice. Part I focused on the advantages of letters of credit as a credit enhancement tool.

An update on recent changes

1 October 2015 – A day of changes to insolvency law

The start of October 2015 brought about important changes in insolvency law, affecting both creditors and debtors alike. The most notable changes are detailed below.

Harmonising office holder claims in administration  and  liquidation

In its decision on the Game Station¹ appeal, the Court of Appeal has overturned the cases of Goldacre²  and  Luminar³ holding that office holders of insolvent companies must pay rent of property occupied for the  benefit of creditors on a “pay as you go” basis irrespective of when rent falls due under the lease. 

The facts

The UK’s Insolvency Act 1986 sets out in s.123 various tests to determine whether a company should be deemed unable to pay its debts. The relevance of these tests to distressed companies is obvious: deciding as they do when it is appropriate to seek an administration order or present a winding up petition. They also help determine directors’ duties, antecedent transactions and issues such as wrongful and fraudulent trading.

I just had an interesting discussion with a partner on the subject of the sale of exempt property in bankruptcy.  We concluded that even though tenant by the entireties real estate might be exempt from creditor claims in some states, nonetheless in bankruptcy it is still property of the estate under Bankruptcy Code section 541 and subject to the bankruptcy trustee’s general powers of sale under Code section 363(b).  The analysis goes like this:  section 541 creates a bankruptcy estate that includes all interests of the debtor in property without mention of exemptions, and sec

What is the impact of a bankruptcy filing on the ability of a franchisee to continue utilizing the trademarks of the franchisor?