For a business filing bankruptcy, there are options that an individual may not have. There are more variables, there are other chapters to consider, as well as the dynamic with investors and partners. If you have more questions, there is help, and you can work with a business bankruptcy lawyer to ensure that you address your potential bankruptcy with accurate information and legal counsel. Need a Business Lawyer? Need a Bankruptcy Lawyer?
Individual and business bankruptcy is entirely different from each other. Businesses use bankruptcy to reorganize their company to avoid bankruptcy. This allows time to turn a profit and retain ownership of all assets. Many businesses can file under chapters 13, 7, 12 and 11 depending on their circumstance.
Limitations apply to businesses that use chapters 12 and 13. Chapter 12 is dedicated to farmers and anglers who operate family businesses. Chapter 13 pertains to proprietary business owners of a small business. Because of these limitations, most businesses file under chapters 7 or 11.
If you feel your business is failing, bankruptcy may be the answer and chapter 7 will allow you to liquidate your assets to settle debts with creditors. A court appointed trustee will help you through the process of liquidation and keeps the money to distribute to creditors after all sales are completed. Creditors are paid back according to federal bank codes.
Understanding bankruptcy in business leads us to look further at chapter 7. Creditors like chapter 7 bankruptcies because they receive as much of their money as possible through the liquidation process along with the legal liability of their claim. The company itself is responsible for taxes in most cases. The chapter 7 expenses and taxes are paid before creditors. This prevents you from incurring any more debt than you already have.
If you feel, your business can be saved but need some time to reorganize and turn a profit, chapter 11 will benefit you by allowing the business to run as usual while trying to become profitable. Any big decisions about the business must have approval from the courts. Some big businesses and corporations such as K-Mart used chapter 11 bankruptcies in order to reorganize and turn a profit. Many companies’s use this course of action and succeed, but some do not make it and lose their business and assets.
Creditors are stopped cold in their tracks from taking any further action against you once you file the bankruptcy papers and this helps a company turn a profit and pay creditors before collection actions further hamper the business. Understanding bankruptcy in business in not much different from a personal bankruptcy, but there are a few things that appear different. If a company needs some time to earn a few dollars, they can just file a chapter 11 and reorganize before losing the company. We really do not have that complete option as personal bankruptcy candidates
By: Wade Robins
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For a business filing bankruptcy, or on the verge of filing bankruptcy, information and knowledge is power. The business bankruptcy process is complex and complicated, not to mention time-consuming and even emotional for many small business owners who are facing the potential end of their small business dreams. A business bankruptcy lawyer can provide you with sound legal counsel and legal representation for this process, and may be able to help you save your business, and emerge from the business bankruptcy with a viable and profitable business.
The question of what exactly happens when a business files bankruptcy is something that any business owner should be aware of, since it is different than when a consumer files for personal or individual bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, the reality is that many businesses file bankruptcy each year. There are many reasons this happens, but outside of a partnership where one of the partners runs off with the business money (which is a legal matter), there are various reasons that this is the case. Very often this is due to inadequate market planning, and the second most common reason is financial mismanagement.
For market planning, anyone planning to open a business must do enough market research in the particular geographic area where they plan to open this business to make sure that there is sufficient demand for the products and services that will be offered. This is not just a couple of days worth of effort with surveys handed out during lunch time at the mall, but can often take weeks to complete adequately to ensure that there really is a market in this area that can sustain the business on an ongoing basis.
For financial mismanagement, this should not be construed as being necessarily a negative thing, but businesses are required to file a lot of paperwork with both the state in which they operate as well as the government. There are payroll taxes that need to be paid, filing fees, and this cannot be put off since there are rather stiff penalties that will cost even more money if these things are late. Many times a business will spend money on expansion in terms of equipment, computers, trucks, etc, before they are really ready to take on that financial obligation.
When a business files for bankruptcy, the impact is typically much more severe compared to when an individual consumer files bankruptcy, especially if the business is going to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The business must meticulously list each and every tangible asset that is attributed to the business, as well as listing all of their debt. If the business has bond holders and/or mortgage lenders that money is owed to, the business owner needs to be aware that these debts will not be discharged in a bankruptcy.
A creditor to whom the business owes money will typically secure the value of the outstanding balance via the assets of the business, and can in fact force the business to be dissolved. This can be catastrophic, especially in a smaller business since employees are usually the first ones to feel the impact, and it is not unusual for those employees to see what is about to happen and seek employment elsewhere before the axe falls. If there is outstanding payroll due any employee, unfortunately that employee must stand in line behind creditors to try to collect, and the reality is that they will never see that paycheck.
Typically, the most common type of business to go bankrupt in the US is restaurants. While a restaurant is one of the easiest businesses to open, it is also one of the most difficult to maintain and keep operationally profitable. If a restaurant does not have the customers to support the business, they have a huge amount of potential food that they have ordered and paid for which they will need to throw away. Employees are affected as well as the suppliers who sold goods to the business, and this eventually starts a chain reaction that unless the business owner is very financially savvy, can reach a point of no return before the business owner is even aware of it.
The best advice to give to a business owner considering bankruptcy is to become intimately knowledgeable about bankruptcy law. The law has changed significantly in recent years, and the more the business owner understands about his options, the less painful the whole procedure is going to be.
Author: Jon Arnold
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Arnold
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With a business filing bankruptcy, much of the success or failure of the bankruptcy is on how well you and your business interests are represented by your business bankruptcy lawyer. You need to be prepared to find the right one, using referrals, asking questions and understanding how they will counsel and represent you. Your business bankruptcy attorney works for YOU, so make sure you do your due diligence to find the best one.
You must seek the professional guidance of a business bankruptcy lawyer if you are filing for business bankruptcy. Filing for business bankruptcy is very complicated, as there are so many factors to take into consideration. You obviously want everything to go smoothly and a business bankruptcy lawyer is there to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Find A Good Lawyer
Your first job when you file for business bankruptcy is to find yourself a good and professional bankruptcy attorney who specializes in business bankruptcies. You do not want to do this at the last minute, because you would then end up settling for a mediocre attorney. Furthermore, your business bankruptcy lawyer will not have enough time to prepare your case.
To find a good attorney you can go online and do some extensive research on online bankruptcy lawyer. Make a list of names that you think are worth considering and interview each one of them. Your friends or family members, who have gone through a similar experience, can also recommend you a name. Your personal lawyer is another person whom you can ask for referrals.
If you are not clear about the kind of corporate bankruptcy legal representative or business bankruptcy lawyer you want, it would help you to spend a day or so at the bankruptcy court. Watch the lawyers representing their clients. You will then know the kind of lawyer you want.
Interview
When you go to interview a lawyer, do not hesitate asking all sorts of questions relating to your case. Inquire about his/her years of experience. Ask whether he/she has experience in handling your type of cases or not. Also pay attention to the type of office the lawyer has. An untidy and unorganized office is a negative reflection on the capability of a lawyer. Thus you should stay away from such a legal representative.
After you have chosen your bankruptcy attorney, it would help you to find out more about business bankruptcy. Your knowledge on business bankruptcy will empower you to take the right decisions at the right time. Your attorney would be able to provide you all the information that you need on the subject. Inquire especially about Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 of bankruptcy, because they deal with business bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 deals with the liquidation of assets. When you file for Chapter 7, the court will appoint a trustee, whose main job is to sell all your assets. Under Chapter 11, US Trustee will appoint one or several committees, who will come up with a reorganization plan.
Your business bankruptcy lawyer is the best person to guide you when it comes to deciding which chapter to file for. Right decision at this time will ensure that the bankruptcy process goes smoothly for you.
Author: Ashlay Tyler
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ashlay_Tyler
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