In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, businesses find themselves at the intersection of technological innovation and geopolitical and economic turbulence. Despite the increased reliance on software systems and digital infrastructure, it remains peculiar that in many EU Member States there's still no clear framework for handling software licenses in insolvency.
On 27 May 2024, the draft bill on transfer of undertaking in bankruptcy (in Dutch: Wetsvoorstel overgang van onderneming in faillissement, the WOVOF) was made available for internet consultation. The WOVOF aims to increase the protection of employees in case of bankruptcy, and more particular, in case of a restart (in Dutch: doorstart). The WOVOF introduces, amongst other things, an obligation for the acquirer in a restart to (in principle) offer employment to all employees from the bankrupt company. This and other measures will be discussed in detail in this this news blog.
The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 6 June 2024 and a date for it coming into force is awaited.
This overview includes case law since mid-2022 and provides an overview of legal amendments that have a practical impact on national and international contracts.
Insolvency-based rescission clauses
Avoidance actions are a household staple for insolvency administrators to increase the insolvency estate in Austria. The current European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive (COM (2022)702) now aims to harmonise contestation rights in insolvency across all European member states.
Gregg Galardi, Matthew Czyzyk, Natalie Blanc and Emily Ma, Ropes & Gray
This is an extract from the 2024 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.
Ken Baird, Katharina Crinson, Guilhem Bremond, Michael Broeders, Charlotte Ausema, Jan-Philip Wilde, Ana López, Silvia Angós, Mark Liscio and Samantha Braunstein, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
This is an extract from the 2024 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.
It is sometimes the case that a person who owes you money dies before they have repaid the same to you. In this article, we explore what happens to the debt and the options available to creditors who are faced with a deceased debtor.
What happens to debt after death?
The deceased’s liability to repay a debt does not cease upon his or her death. Instead, liability for the same transfers to the deceased’s estate, providing that their estate is not insolvent.
What happens to debt if the estate is insolvent
Belgium had accumulated a significant legislative backlog within insolvency law. The European Directive 2019/1023 on restructuring had to be transposed into national law by the member states by 17 July 2022 at the latest. The Belgian government did not submit a draft bill to this effect until 20 March 2023. This draft has since been voted into law and will enter into force on 1 September 2023.
Several amendments are being made to (among others) Book XX of the Belgian Economic Law. The main amendments are briefly discussed below.
过去三年中，受新冠疫情影响，大量企业面临无法清偿到期债务、资不抵债或者明显缺乏清偿能力的困境，法院受理破产清算案件的数量直线上升。最近，笔者也作为破产管理人的一员参与了一起有限合伙企业的破产清算案件，引发了笔者对于有限合伙企业及其普通合伙人共同承担合伙企业债务过程中破产的先后顺序的思考。本篇文章仅浅论普通合伙人因承担有限合伙企业对外债务的连带责任而被申请破产的情形，其因自身债务而进入破产清算程序的情况暂且不论。
- 案情简介
公司A为有限合伙企业B的唯一普通合伙人，现有B的债权人C要求A对B的对外债务承担连带责任，但A无力偿还，故C向法院申请对A进行破产清算，法院裁定受理并指定笔者所在单位作为A的破产管理人，而笔者在履行管理人职务的过程中，发现C并没有同步申请B破产，且B对外存在或有应收账款，如能悉数收回，且足以偿还对C的债务，则A可以免于被申请破产清算。此外，如A被宣告破产，则B也须及时推选或委任新的普通合伙人，否则B将因仅剩有限合伙人而陷入需要解散的境地。
在此情形下，C仅向法院申请对A进行破产清算是否合理引起了笔者的疑问。