Now more than ever, you or your busi­ness can eas­ily find your­self cast as an unwill­ing par­tic­i­pant in a per­sonal or busi­ness bank­ruptcy pro­ceed­ing. In such a case, you should con­sult with an attor­ney as soon as pos­si­ble to pro­tect your rights.

Filing Proofs of Claim

In gen­eral, cred­i­tors must file a “Proof of Claim” in order to obtain a dis­tri­b­u­tion from the pro­ceeds of a Bank­ruptcy Estate. There are strict dead­lines for the fil­ing of a Proof of Claim, and our Firm can assist with the prepa­ra­tion and fil­ing of these documents.

Obtaining Relief from the Automatic Stay

The fil­ing of a bank­ruptcy peti­tion invokes an auto­matic stay, pre­vent­ing essen­tially all actions against the debtor or prop­erty of the estate. The auto­matic stay pre­vents chaos among cred­i­tors seek­ing repay­ment upon the ini­ti­a­tion of a bank­ruptcy case and is an effort to strike a com­pro­mise between the rights of affected par­ties and the oppor­tu­nity of the debtor to reha­bil­i­tate or liq­ui­date in an orderly man­ner. Com­ple­ment­ing the stay are pro­ce­dures to pro­tect lenders, land­lords and other secured cred­i­tors whose col­lat­eral is uti­lized by the debtor dur­ing the bank­ruptcy case and pro­vi­sions enabling the debtor or trustee to obtain financ­ing on a going-forward basis. The Firm fre­quently rep­re­sents Secured Lenders and Land­lords in Com­mer­cial Cases to help them obtain relief from the auto­matic stay to con­tinue com­mer­cial fore­clo­sure and evic­tion pro­ceed­ings, and also rep­re­sents Post-Petition Lenders to pro­vide DIP Financ­ing to Chap­ter 11 Debtors.

Creditors as Defendants in Adversary Proceedings

Fre­quently, either the Chap­ter 7 Trustee or the Chap­ter 11 Debtor will ini­ti­ate a post-bankruptcy law­suit, known as an “Adver­sary Pro­ceed­ing” in order to attempt to recover money or prop­erty for the Bank­ruptcy Estate. Adver­sary Pro­ceed­ings may also take the form of lien avoid­ance actions, actions to avoid pref­er­en­tial payments/transfers or actions to avoid post-petition trans­fers. The Firm can rep­re­sent you in these actions and help you for­mu­late a defense.

Creditors as Plaintiffs in Adversary Proceedings

Cred­i­tors may like­wise file Adver­sary Pro­ceed­ings such as com­plaints to deter­mine the pri­or­ity of a lien, to revoke an order of con­fir­ma­tion of a plan, to deter­mine the dis­charge­abil­ity of a debt, to object to dis­charge, to obtain an injunc­tion or to sub­or­di­nate a claim of another cred­i­tor. The Firm can act as coun­sel in such an action to pro­tect your rights.

Monitor the Status of the Bankruptcy Case

Some bank­rupt­cies are dis­missed for the debtor’s fail­ure to com­ply with the require­ments of the Code. When that hap­pens, cred­i­tors are free to pur­sue col­lec­tion accord­ing to state law. In those instances, the Firm can assist you with your renewed col­lec­tion efforts and state court litigation.