Insolvency-driven recovery

A business creditor discovers that a foreign counterparty has entered formal insolvency proceedings, and the unpaid invoice now sits inside a process the creditor did not choose and cannot control alone. Insolvency driven recovery is the disciplined route through that process – verifying the claim, filing it correctly, tracking the estate, and saying plainly when the balance left is not worth pursuing.

When creditors come to us

• A supplier or trading partner has filed for, or entered, formal insolvency proceedings abroad, and an invoice is still outstanding.
• A payment plan collapsed shortly before the filing, and the creditor suspects a transfer or a preference made to keep assets away from the estate.
• The creditor holds a foreign judgment or an arbitral award, and the debtor now claims to be insolvent before enforcement can begin.
• Several creditors along the same supply chain are racing to file proofs of claim against the same debtor, and similar supply chain debt recovery exposure exists elsewhere in the group.
• An insolvency practitioner has rejected or reduced the claim, and the creditor needs a considered position on whether to challenge it.
• The debtor entity holds assets in a country different from where the proceedings were opened, and it is unclear which forum actually controls them.

What we do

Insolvency driven recovery sits next to our broader cross-border debt recovery work, and starts from the same discipline: no filing before an assessment of what the claim is actually worth once measured against the estate.

• Verify the debtor's insolvency status and the stage the proceedings have reached.
• Assess whether the claim is likely to rank above the general body of unsecured creditors.
• Prepare and file the proof of claim within the process rules.
• Review pre-filing transfers for signs of a preference or a transaction designed to defeat the claim.
• Monitor the estate through the practitioner's reports and creditor meetings.
• Challenge a rejected or reduced claim before the competent court.
• Coordinate with local counsel on retention-of-title or security positions that improve ranking.
• Advise on a personal claim against directors, where the applicable law allows one.

How the work runs

Assessment comes first. We review the invoice, the underlying contract, and the insolvency filing, and state plainly whether the claim is worth pursuing before any cost is committed. The engagement then starts with a creditor claim assessment that fixes the scope and the fee basis before a single document is filed.

Once instructed, we prepare and submit the proof of claim within the process deadline that applies in the proceedings. We then track the estate through the practitioner's periodic reports, flag any distribution, and bring back a decision point whenever the position changes – whether to accept a partial distribution, whether to challenge a rejection, or whether to pursue directors separately. The client decides at each point; we do not act on assumed instructions.

Does insolvency close the door on the claim?

Many creditors assume that once formal insolvency proceedings open, the debt is effectively lost and no further step is worth its cost. The filing feels final, and the creditor stops chasing the file at the exact moment a filed claim would still count.

The position is rarely that binary. A claim backed by a retention-of-title clause, a security interest, or a statutory preference can rank ahead of the general unsecured pool, and estates in formal proceedings still make distributions once assets are realised. What decides the outcome is where the claim ranks and what the estate actually holds, not the fact that proceedings were opened.

What it costs

The fee basis is agreed in writing before instruction, and it reflects the stage the proceedings have reached and the work the claim actually needs – an assessment alone, a filing, ongoing monitoring, or a formal challenge before the court. It does not vary once agreed, and it is set out before we file anything on the client's behalf.

When we are not the right firm

• The unpaid amount is smaller than the realistic cost of filing and monitoring the claim through to a distribution.
• The debtor's estate has no assets and no realistic prospect of any distribution to unsecured creditors.
• The core problem is finding a person connected to the debt, rather than progressing a claim against a corporate estate.
• The matter is a personal dispute unrelated to the trade relationship that created the debt.
• The creditor needs day-to-day pre-legal collection rather than a formal filing inside an insolvency process.

Where we work

Insolvency driven recovery often runs alongside our work on enforcing a foreign judgment, since a judgment and an insolvency filing can move on parallel tracks against the same debtor. Once one process closes, the other frequently becomes the live route to the same recovery.

Where the proceedings sit in a country we do not cover directly, the filing and any court appearance are carried out by admitted lawyers and licensed providers in the jurisdiction concerned, working under our instruction and reporting through the same file. This is the same setup we use across our broader international debt recovery work, so the client receives one report regardless of how many countries the estate touches.

Common questions

Can I still recover payment if my debtor has filed for insolvency?

It depends on where the claim ranks and what the estate holds once assets are realised. A claim backed by security, retention of title, or a statutory preference has a materially better position than an ordinary unsecured claim. We assess this before advising on whether to file.

What is the difference between filing a claim and pursuing enforcement in insolvency?

Filing a claim registers the debt within the collective process and gives it a place in the ranking. Enforcement in the ordinary sense, seizing specific assets, is generally suspended once formal proceedings open, and the claim proceeds through the practitioner and the court instead.

How long does an insolvency-driven recovery take?

The timeline follows the proceedings themselves, which run at the pace set by the practitioner, the court, and the size and complexity of the estate. We report on progress at each stage rather than commit to a fixed timeline in advance.

A creditor facing a debtor's insolvency abroad usually has one real choice to make early: file correctly and monitor the estate, or wait and lose the position to creditors who moved first. Getting the route wrong before the claim is even assessed is the costliest mistake in this kind of file, more so than the proceedings themselves. We set out what the claim is actually worth before either of us commits to a course of action.