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Myths and Misconceptions about Business Bankruptcies

There are a number of widely held myths and misconceptions about the bankruptcy process, including these:

  • Myth: There is no risk associated with selling to a debtor in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In reality, no one is guaranteed payment.  Both pre-petition and post petition balances owed are at risk when a customer is in bankruptcy.
  • Myth:  All payment received within 90 days of the bankruptcy filing date are preferential transfer that must be returned [disgorged] on demand. Fact:  Not all payments received during the look-back period are preferential transfers.  Therefore, creditors should not return such payments on demand.  Instead, they should discuss their options with their attorney if such a demand is received.
  • Myth:  Creditors are required to extend credit post-petition to a Debtor in Possession.  This is false.  Creditors are under no obligation to extend credit to a DIP.  Any decision to do so is made at the creditor company’s discretion.
  • Myth:  When filing a Proof of Claim in a Chapter 11 case, creditors are not required to list [a] open credits or [b] on-account payments.  The fact is that creditors must submit a claim for the net amount due on the bankruptcy filing date.  To accomplish this, creditors must report invoices, debits, credits and on account cash.
  • Myth:  Trade creditors can ignore all notices from the Bankruptcy Court except for the Proof of Claim form. The truth is that every document from the Court may be important. Missing a deadline, failing to perform a required task, or failing to respond in a timely manner to correspondence received may result in the dismissal of all or part a creditor’s claim against the debtor.

Copyright 2010 by Michael C. Dennis.  All Rights Reserved.