Your debtor is dissolved, so how do you get your money?

Your debtor is dissolved, so how do you get your money?

Imagine you have a substantial claim against a limited liability company. It tries to outwit you by dissolving the BV. This is also called turboliquidation. Then you as a creditor can whistle for your money. The adage is that you cannot pluck a bald chicken. It is often jokingly replied that you can make soup from a chicken that is still bald. And you can even cheat it. In the case of debt collection, there is some truth in this. Because even if your debtor is dissolved, there are often still possibilities to collect your claim. Debt collection lawyer Robert van Ewijk explains how.

Debtor liquidated, now what?

The quickest and easiest way for a legal entity to cease to exist is through turboliquidation. This can and should be done only if the legal entity no longer has any assets. After turboliquidation, the legal entity is dissolved and then ceases to exist. Liquidation often occurs with empty BVs that have no assets. If the BV did have creditors, they often miss the boat.

Does income present in liquidated BV?

In case there are assets present in the liquidated BV, the law states that the legal entity then continues to exist for as long as necessary for the liquidation. Whether benefits exist can be determined from the published financial statements, or from the statement filed with the Chamber of Commerce at the time of liquidation. If so, a request can be made to reopen the liquidation.

No financial statements so no income known? Or on the contrary?

If no annual documents have been published, it is not possible to check in them whether there may have been any income at the time of dissolution. However, the absence of annual documents may, in some cases, actually lead to the existence of an income. The law states (in brief) that under circumstances the director liable is for the deficit in a bankruptcy, if the board failed to file the BV's financial statements on time. If that situation arises with a liquidated BV, then there is a potential gain in the case of bankruptcy. Namely, what the board of directors, by virtue of its directors' liability, is owed to the (creditors of the) BV. In that case, (a) the bankruptcy can be filed and (b) the trustee can seek redress from the board and thereby (partially) satisfy your claim.

Bankruptcy filing of dissolved debtor

Something similar happened to energy company Eneco. Which was also faced with a dissolved debtor and then successfully requested the bankruptcy to. The court ruled in that case that the debtor did have potential assets, because the company's management had failed to disclose the financial statements within the stipulated period. Because the Eneco debtor also had a substantial tax debt, bankruptcy was subsequently declared.

Collection lawyer when filing for bankruptcy

Do you have a difficult to collect claim against a debtor and want advice from and specialized lawyer to collect it? Then contact contact up with the debt collection lawyer of Lexys Lawyers. Even in seemingly difficult cases, they can come up with creative solutions to collect the claim. Also the file for bankruptcy is among these.