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How To Find Out If A Company Filed Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Information For Consumers

Bankruptcy & Foreclosure : How to Find Out if Someone Filed Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy is a federal legal process through which individuals or businesses who are in debt may seek to eliminate the debt, repay some or all of it, or liquidate their assets to obtain relief from their financial troubles and start over.

It is important that consumer creditors be aware of deadlines related to a Bankruptcy filing. ;You may call the Bankruptcy Court where the business filed to obtain more information and specifics about a claim as a consumer creditor.; There are three offices of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts that are located in Boston, Worcester and Springfield.; The contact numbers for each are as follows:

Boston 748-5300

Springfield 785-6900

How Do I Find Out If Somebody Has Filed For Bankruptcy

To find out if somebody has been declared bankrupt, you can search the Individual Insolvency Register for their details. You can search by an individuals name or by company name.

Here, you will be able to find the records of any individual who has an existing bankruptcy or one that has ended in the past three months. You can find out an individuals case number and who is aiding them with their debt solution.

If Your Company Is In Liquidation

Liquidation can be a stressful time for debtor companies, particularly for their directors and owners. It is essential to keep in mind that when your company initiates the liquidation process, your liquidator will usually lodge the necessary notices with ASIC on your behalf. A range of information will become available to your creditors, trading partners, customers, and the general public.

If you have any concerns about you and your liquidators obligations to keep creditors informed about your status, it is a good idea to obtain advice from an insolvency advisor, so that you are fully aware of your responsibilities at each stage of the process.

Australian Debt Solvers are leading Australian experts in Business Liquidation;and Voluntary Administration. Contact us;now for advice if your business is in financial difficulties.

In this artical

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What Is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Some companies are so far in debt or have other problems so serious that they can’t continue their business operations. They are likely to “liquidate” and file under Chapter 7. Their assets are sold for cash by a court appointed trustee. Administrative and legal expenses are paid first, and the remainder goes to creditors. Secured creditors will have their collateral returned to them. If the value of the collateral is not sufficient to repay them in full, they will be grouped with other unsecured creditors for the rest of their claim. Bondholders, and other unsecured creditors, will be notified of the Chapter 7, and should file a claim in case there’s money left for them to receive a payment.

Stockholders do not have to be notified of the Chapter 7 case because they generally don’t receive anything in return for their investment. But, in the unlikely event that creditors are paid in full, stockholders will be notified and given an opportunity to file claims.

Who Will Know About My Bankruptcy

fifthcolordesign: How To Find Out If A Business Filed ...

In most cases, only your Trustee, your creditors, and the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada will know you have filed for bankruptcy.

If you apply for credit with another lender while the credit bureaus still have a record of your bankruptcy, that lender will learn about your bankruptcy from a credit bureau.

Nobody else is likely to know about your bankruptcy, unless something causes them to suspect it and they take the trouble to search OSB records.

You need not fear the embarrassment of your friends or relatives seeing any bankruptcy records about you, except those you choose to tell. With this reassurance, you can contact a Licensed Insolvency Trustee near you now, for a free, confidential consultation. Your first appointment is free. We have trustees everywhere from Calgary to Montreal and more. Get a free consultation and solve your money problems today!

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What Will Happen To My Stock Or Bond

A company’s securities may continue to trade even after the company has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. In most instances, companies that file under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code are generally unable to meet the listing standards to continue to trade on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. However, even when a company is delisted from one of these major stock exchanges, their shares may continue to trade on either the OTCBB or the Pink Sheets. There is no federal law that prohibits trading of securities of companies in bankruptcy.

Note: Investors should be cautious when buying common stock of companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is extremely risky and is likely to lead to financial loss. Although a company may emerge from bankruptcy as a viable entity, generally, the creditors and the bondholders become the new owners of the shares. In most instances, the company’s plan of reorganization will cancel the existing equity shares. This happens in bankruptcy cases because secured and unsecured creditors are paid from the company’s assets before common stockholders. And in situations where shareholders do participate in the plan, their shares are usually subject to substantial dilution.

Do You Have To Disclose Your Bankruptcy To Your Employer

You don’t have a proactive duty to tell your current employer that you filed for bankruptcy in the past. However, because your bankruptcy filing is a public record, your employer can find out about it through a public record search or credit check. Also, if you are in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and fail to make your monthly plan payments, in some states, the court or the bankruptcy trustee will send your employer a wage deduction order to withhold the payments directly from your paycheck.

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Dealing With Your Vehicle

One of the forms you will file with the bankruptcy court is called the Statement of Intention. In this form, you tell the court what you plan to do with property that is securing a debt you owe, like real estate or a vehicle.Â;

If you own your vehicle but are still paying on the loan, you have a few options on how to deal with it in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.Â;

Reaffirmation

You can reaffirm the debt, keep your vehicle, and continue making payments. This means the debt will not be discharged and you will continue making monthly payments during and after bankruptcy. If you miss future payments the lender will have the right to repossess the vehicle and possibly try to collect on any deficiency between the balance you owe and the amount they get when selling the vehicle.

If you select this option in your Statement of Intention, your car lender will send you a reaffirmation agreement for you to complete and return. In some bankruptcy cases a reaffirmation hearing will be scheduled.

Surrender

If you choose to surrender your vehicle, then it will be repossessed and the debt will be discharged in your bankruptcy. Filers with high car payments they can’t afford often choose to surrender their car to get out of the debt.Â;

Redemption

How To Find Out If Someone Filed Bankruptcy In Illinois

How Can Someone Find Out If I Filed Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy, although a highly personal matter for some, is not considered private by the judicial system. When an individual or company files for bankruptcy, that bankruptcy petition becomes a matter of public record. A public record of the bankruptcy exists regardless of whether or not the debtor ever receives a bankruptcy discharge. If you know where to look, you can find out if someone filed for bankruptcy no matter which state he lives in.

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How To Research Bankruptcy Filings

Generally, bankruptcy filings are public record, available to anyone who wishes to review them. You can access the case documents online through PACER, an electronic public access service of United States federal court documents. Alternatively, you can search the bankruptcy records in person at the relevant bankruptcy court clerk’s office. Bankruptcy filings consist of all the documents that are filed in a particular case. Some important motions for which you should watch are motions to dismiss the case or motions to convert to another type of bankruptcy proceeding. These motions reflect a possible failure on the part of the debtor to follow bankruptcy rules and may affect your rights if the debtor owes you money.

Coronavirus Could Create A Bankruptcy Pandemic

Stuart Gilson

With a pandemic temporarily closing many businesses and stifling consumer demand, whole industries, especially those that recently leveraged their balance sheets to take advantage of near-zero interest rates, are seeing their profits disappear virtually overnight, leaving too little cash flow to cover debt payments owed to creditors.

This could set up the perfect storm for a huge wave of bankruptcies in the weeks and months ahead, says Stuart C. Gilson, the Steven R. Fenster Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

There is a realistic probability that we could indeed see a pandemic of bankruptcy filings in the near future, Gilson says. The pandemic analogy is particularly apt, in that if the number of new filings is sufficiently high, the bankruptcy courts, like hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, could be overwhelmed.

Several US businesses have already filed since the coronavirus started rocking the US economy in mid-March, including Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Dean & DeLuca, CMX Cinemas, and Golds Gym. The latest: JCPenney on May 15 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after 118 years in business.

As Gilson explains in this Q&A, bankruptcy doesnt necessarily mean the death of a company, and in fact, it can actually be the very thing that saves a business, assuming the courts can handle the flood that is likely coming.

THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

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Acceptance Of The Plan Of Reorganization

As noted earlier, only the debtor may file a plan of reorganization during the first 120-day period after the petition is filed . The court may grant extension of this exclusive period up to 18 months after the petition date. In addition, the debtor has 180 days after the petition date or entry of the order for relief to obtain acceptances of its plan. 11 U.S.C. §;1121. The court may extend or reduce this acceptance exclusive period for cause. 11 U.S.C. §;1121. In practice, debtors typically seek extensions of both the plan filing and plan acceptance deadlines at the same time so that any order sought from the court allows the debtor two months to seek acceptances after filing a plan before any competing plan can be filed.

If the exclusive period expires before the debtor has filed and obtained acceptance of a plan, other parties in interest in a case, such as the creditors committee or a creditor, may file a plan. Such a plan may compete with a plan filed by another party in interest or by the debtor. If a trustee is appointed, the trustee must file a plan, a report explaining why the trustee will not file a plan, or a recommendation for conversion or dismissal of the case. 11 U.S.C. §;1106. A proponent of a plan is subject to the same requirements as the debtor with respect to disclosure and solicitation.

How Long Does Bankruptcy Stay On Your Credit Report

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A Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays on your credit report for ten years after your filing date. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy gets removed after seven years because debtors repay at least some of their debt. While the bankruptcy information remains on your credit report, anyone who pulls your credit can learn of your filing. So an employer or credit provider that doesn’t directly ask you about previous bankruptcies on your application can find out through a credit check.

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Filing For Chapter 13 Or Chapter 11 Subchapter V As A Sole Proprietor

If you want to continue operating a company, consider filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy . Youll be able to continue operating the business as long as the business has enough cash flow to meet the required Chapter 13 monthly payments, which can be more affordable than the current obligations in many cases.

Because you dont give up property in Chapter13, it can work well if you need more property to run your business than you could keep under Chapter 7, or if the Chapter 7 trustee would sell your business.

Keep in mind, however, that this benefit comes at a price. You must pay creditors an amount equal to the value of your nonexempt property through the repayment plan. And you must be able to prove that you have sufficient self-employment income to support the bankruptcy case. So if your business requires expensive equipment that you cant protect with a bankruptcy exemption and the business doesnt earn enough to pay the equipments value through the plan, a Chapter 13 wont be feasible.

If your business is closed and you dont qualify for Chapter 7, consider Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You can pay off your debt over three or five years without worrying about creditor collection actions.

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Corporate Bankruptcy: What Every Investor Should Know

By FindLaw Staff | Reviewed by Maddy Teka, Esq. | Last updated April 05, 2021

Companies sometimes must file for bankruptcy protection, either to restructure and reemerge debt-free or to wind down operations. But an investors interestsÂ;can be greatly affected when publicly traded corporations go bankrupt.

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What To Do If A Company Goes Bankrupt And Owes Your Business Money

Cash flow the money coming in via accounts receivable and going out via accounts payable is the lifeblood of your business. Whenever you consider extending credit to a client, you take a risk that the client will not pay and your cash flow will be interrupted. Key customers that struggle financially or who declare bankruptcy put your business at risk of being unable to manage financial obligations. A good business risk management plan should include ways to limit your businesss exposure to a company that has gone into administration or bankruptcy and owes you money.

Modern Law And Debt Restructuring

How Often Can You File Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

The principal focus of modern insolvency legislation and business debt restructuring practices no longer rests on the elimination of insolvent entities, but on the remodeling of the financial and organizational structure of debtors experiencing financial distress so as to permit the rehabilitation and continuation of the business.

For private households, some argue that it is insufficient to merely dismiss debts after a certain period. It is important to assess the underlying problems and to minimize the risk of financial distress to re-occur. It has been stressed that debt advice, a supervised rehabilitation period, financial education and social help to find sources of income and to improve the management of household expenditures must be equally provided during this period of rehabilitation . In most EU Member States, debt discharge is conditioned by a partial payment obligation and by a number of requirements concerning the debtors behavior. In the United States , discharge is conditioned to a lesser extent. The spectrum is broad in the EU, with the UK coming closest to the US system . The Other Member States do not provide the option of a debt discharge. Spain, for example, passed a bankruptcy law in 2003 which provides for debt settlement plans that can result in a reduction of the debt or an extension of the payment period of maximally five years , but it does not foresee debt discharge.

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Bankruptcy And Insolvency Records Search

  • basic debtor information of all bankruptcies and proposals registered in Canada since 1978
  • all receiverships registered with our office since January 1993
  • all petitions recorded at our office; and
  • all companies that have been granted protection under the Companies´ Creditors Arrangement Act since September 18, 2009.
Date modified:;

How To Find Out If Someone Filed For Bankruptcy In Texas

The following instructions are about how to find a bankruptcy case. To find out if a person or business filed for bankruptcy in Texas, to view bankruptcy filings, or to check the status of your own bankruptcy, sign up for a PACER account and search by the name of the debtor or the case number, if known.

As stated on the federal governments PACER website, PACER is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and the PACER Case Locator via the Internet. PACER is provided by the federal Judiciary in keeping with its commitment to providing public access to court information via a centralized service.

How to look up bankruptcy cases is as simple as joining PACER and searching. To join PACER, . Access the PACER Case Locator here.

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Chapters 11 And 13: Process

Once your local jurisdiction receives your official petition, you can then file your reorganization plan. In addition to your repayment strategy, your plan must include details about your businesss liabilities, assets, and current partnerships . Its relatively similar to the lengthy business plans required for traditional business loans.

If your creditors approve your reorganization plan, a date for a confirmation hearing will be set. Its here where the bankruptcy court will either accept or reject your proposed plan. If approved, you can continue running your business and put your reorganization plan into action. From the moment your plan is approved until all debts are paid off, the bankruptcy court must approve virtually all business decisions.

You will also probably have to send financial statements to the court periodically. This will prove that you follow the strategies laid out in your plan and are on track to achieving your repayment goals.

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