Company bankrupt owing money from tibunal settlement

[Harib0]

A former employer of mine could possibly be filing for bankruptsy soon, owing me money from a tribunal settlement.

Is there anything i can do to get my money?

I've been through the courts and got a CCJ on the company and i was in the process of trying to find out what the company finances are (court date set for 23rd May) so that i could decide which enforcement route to take.

How would i go about filing as one of the companies creditors if they do go bankrupt?

Thanks in advance

[0iD]

iirc if/when they go under you should be contacted by the official reciever & then put your case to them.

[Nick]

AYe, you have to get in touch with the recievers and lodge a claim as a creditor.

Sadly, the recievers will payt of the larger amounts first, so your claim could be well down the peccking order.

I went through this process with a company I did some work for.. I was owed about £3,000 and never saw a penny of it.

You MUST chase, chase and chase again... it's in the reciever's interest for you to lose heart and not chase them, so hassle them daily!

[Betty_Swallocks]

Unfortunately you will be lucky if you see a penny of it. When it comes to these things employees, and especially ex employees, are just slightly lower in the pecking order than the dog**** on the front step outside the company headquarters.

[JPreston]

Yes as posted above you will be very far down on the list of creditors should the company wind up. If I were you I'd try very very hard now to get your money because in practice you would get a much lower payment from the receiver, and very possibly nothing at all.

[Harib0]

If I were you I'd try very very hard now to get your money because in practice you would get a much lower payment from the receiver, and very possibly nothing at all.

I've been trying to get the money since December, going through the courts.

How would you suggest going about getting the money, the courts take ages, is there another route i could take? Unfortunately i don't know anyone big enough and ugly enough to go collect for me lol (plus the guys big and ugly himself!)

[Stormsinger]

Think ultimately your only way of getting the money off him, short of hiring some large people to go down and 'persuade' them to part with the cash there and then, is via the courts and the receiver (if they file for bankruptcy).

It may be possible that having an official court judgement against them might get you higher in the pecking order list after the Tax Man and the employees for anything else that is left after they've been paid off, otherwise, just keep in touch with the receiver's if they do file.

As far as being paid after larger creditors are paid off, other than the tax man and the employees, I think all the other creditors will receive X pence in the pound of what is left to pay with, I don't believe that the amount owed to an individual creditor makes any difference, as it's part of the receiver's job to get information on all money owed, no matter how much or little it is to the individual's to whom it's owed, and to try to work to either have someone buy/invest in the company, and/or pay off as much of that debt as is possible with the assets that the company has at the time.

Experience with my current company though could mean it might be a couple of years before you see any cash anyway, so be prepared for a long wait if they file before you can get it off them. Case my company had when I started with them three years ago, we only saw some money against that debt towards the end of last year, fortunately we had managed to keep their debt down to a nice small amount by spotting the warning signs early, good credit control is worth it , or insure against it

[Harib0]

Cheers for the info, i think i'm resigned to the fact i'm not really going to see the money, but i don't want to just sit back and let it happen either, i want to do everything i can to cause the company grief - i'm not messing with anyone elses life here, as it's a one man band who has long sacked all his workers and just pays casual staff as and when needed.

[JPreston]

I've been trying to get the money since December, going through the courts.

How would you suggest going about getting the money, the courts take ages, is there another route i could take? Unfortunately i don't know anyone big enough and ugly enough to go collect for me lol (plus the guys big and ugly himself!)

Well, no there's nothing you can necessarily do

Depending on the situation if they owe you more than £750 you can actually petition the court to wind up the company i.e. put them in compulsory liquidation yourself, but this will cost you money up front (which you may not get back)

They would have to stop trading and the companies assets would be sold off, all the proceeds put in a big pot and the liabilities met in basically the following order until the cash runs out (IIRC):

1. Liquidation expenses - expenses for selling off assets and liquidators' fees etc
2. Preferential creditors - HMRC, pension fund liabilities, loans secured on specific assets like mortgages (I think - maybe these are paid even before everything else) and employees' wages
3. Floating charges i.e. a particular type of bank loan, sort of semi-secured.
4. Trade creditors - these guys are pretty much screwed now.
5. Unsecured loans - as the saying goes 'a fool and his money are soon parted'
6. Shareholders' capital - should have read the small print, 'the value of investments can go down as well as up'

You may be a preferential debtor, or maybe not - it depends on the exact circumstances of your tribunal etc. And it all depends on their tax position to a large extent, and there may be hardly any cash at all particularly if there is no property to sell off. Naturally, if you haven't already done so take proper professional advice...or just write off the debt (of course it's worth pursuing to some extent but only you can say whether you have done enough already). Oh and don't forget, money can't buy you happiness

[Harib0]

They do owe me more than £750, But a creditors wind up is going to cost me big time.

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that i wont see the money, but at the same time i don't want to sit back and let them get away with it. So far the whole thing hasn't cost me a penny other than time, which is no big thing for me as i'm looking after my baby - it's cost them alot of time, which is a big deal as it time taken out of the working day and alot of money in solicitors fees etc..

I guess i'll just continue in the same vein and do what ever i can as long as it doesn't cost me anything.

[Paranoid2000]

There are several methods that could be used to enforce a county court judgement listed in Practice Direction – Enforcement of Judgements and Orders - you can even apply to have a company declared bankrupt yourself. The downside is that extra fees may be charged (see HMCS: County Court Fees) but if you know who the company banks with, a Third Party Debt Order can be used to claim the amount directly from their bank account.

If the company goes go into administration then your debt will be part of a long list as others have pointed out, so you should certainly consider acting quickly if you believe this is about to happen.

[Harib0]

Thanks for all the help guys, i think i'll put in a third party debt order tomorrow!