My company is involved in an insolvency dispute

It is important to deal with statutory demands as soon as possible to avoid winding-up proceedings being presented against your business. For demands served on companies, a company will have 21 days from the date of service to protect its position.Vardags will consult with you to work out a commercially viable strategy best suited for your business. This can involve advising businesses on obtaining injunctions to restrain the presentation of winding proceedings, injunctions restraining the advertisement of proceedings and defending proceedings.

If your business is owed money by an insolvent entity then you will understandably be concerned about recovery of that money. Vardags can advise on the procedure and commercial reality of recovering funds from insolvent entities.

It is important to seek legal advice as soon as a winding-up petitions is served on your business. Vardags can assist you with working out a commercially viable strategy for your business to deal with the insolvency proceedings.Vardags can advise businesses in relation to injunctions restraining the advertisement of proceedings, defending proceedings and/or negotiating with the creditor(s) to withdraw or dismiss the petition.

A business is insolvent if it has insufficient assets to discharge its debts and liabilities. Trading whilst insolvent can lead to allegations of wrongful trading against its directors. Vardags can advise businesses of the consequences of trading insolvent and the options available to businesses to deal with corporate insolvency, including options which would allow the business to avoid closure.

If a company goes into insolvent liquidation or insolvent administration and the director(s) ought to have known that there was no prospect of avoiding the insolvency, the director could be made liable to contribute to the assets of the company. This is known as a director’s personal liability for wrongful trading.Alternatively, if it appears that business has carried on with the intent to defraud creditors, then liability could arise for fraudulent trading. Directors are not the only people who could be liable for fraudulent trading, anybody who is a party to the business carrying on trading with the intention to defraud creditor could be liable too. For fraudulent trading, the court may order the accused party to contribute towards the creditor’s pool of assets available for distribution.Vardags can advise on director(s) liability for wrongful trading and fraudulent trading and advise on applications made by an administrator against them.

If you fail to meet your responsibilities as a director (as outlined in the Companies Act 2006), then you could be disqualified from acting as a director. Disqualification can occur when a director is deemed ‘unfit’ to fulfil his duties in that role. Various organisations can apply to disqualify a director; these include the Insolvency Service and the courts.If you are facing director disqualification proceedings, Vardags can assist. We advise individuals and company boards alike on the implication of disqualification proceedings and defending proceedings.

Working alongside our elite team of divorce lawyers, Vardags can advise on all aspects of insolvency during divorce or intended divorce proceedings. Combining inter departmental knowledge, Vardags can provide expert advice if you are considering divorce proceedings whilst facing an insolvency situation either in your personal capacity or with your business.