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A general assignment or assignment is a concept in bankruptcy law in which an insolvent entity's assets are assigned to someone as an alternative to a bankruptcy. One form is an "assignment for the benefit of creditors", abbreviated ABC or AFBC.
In the United States, a general assignment or an assignment for the benefit of creditors is simply a contract whereby the insolvent entity ("Assignor") transfers legal and equitable title, as well as custody and control of its property, to a third party ("Assignee") in trust, to apply the proceeds of sale to the assignor's creditors in accord with priorities established by law.[ citation needed ]
An assignment for the benefit of creditors is a relatively well-established common law tool and is one alternative to a bankruptcy. An assignment for the benefit of creditors is designed to save time and expense by concluding the affairs of a bankrupt company. The assignment for the benefit of creditors is a state form of bankruptcy action versus a federal form of bankruptcy action. The assignment for the benefit of creditor's process is similar in character to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and parallels some of the same procedures, but is not an actual "bankruptcy". The creditors do not get any input into the procedure and a court is not needed either, so the process is faster. [1]
The assignment for the benefit of creditors is a common law contract between the board of directors and the assignee in which the board "assigns" the assets and liabilities of the company to the assignee, a third party. The assignment for the benefit of creditors contract is usually recorded the public record at a town, a city, a county or a state level. Each state will differ on recording requirements for the assignment for the benefit of creditors contract.[ citation needed ]
The physical filing of the assignment usually occurs after: the board of directors has spoken with local insolvency counsel; a board of directors authorization of some nature has been enacted; an appropriate assignee chosen; and the contract has been written. The assignee's primary goal is to try to make the creditors whole. The assignee performs duties similar to a trustee under federal bankruptcy. The assignee has a similar, if not equivalent, fiduciary role as the bankruptcy trustee. The assignee has the primary responsibility to: liquidate the assets of the company; vette creditor claims; and issue a dividend to the creditors. The creditors are the assignee's top priority, not shareholders. Shareholders by definition have a residual claim on assets once all creditors are satisfied.[ citation needed ]
The assignee, once the assignment process is completed, issues a dividend. The dividend is derived from the sale of assets, collection of receivables, recovery of the bankrupt company's assets and cash. Certain creditors may or may not receive a dividend. The assignee's hope is to provide a one-to-one redemption of the creditor's claims; however, this depends on the amount of cash an assignee can marshal in the liquidation process.[ citation needed ]
The claims process is similar to a standard bankruptcy action in which creditors submit claims to the assignee for review and acceptance. The acceptance and vetting of claims is an important process to ensure that no one creditor has overstated their claim. There are rare occasions in which an assignee may issue a non-cash dividend as part of the overall dividend to creditors on their claims, but a dividend of this type is not common. If all the creditors are made whole, shareholders would then have a claim on the remainder of the dividend. This holds true only if there are no other classes of equity that have priority senior to the shareholders.[ citation needed ]
The order of creditor's claims usually follows the normal bankruptcy order prescribed in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, generally secured, and unsecured in descending order. The assignee, depending on the specific state law may use Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code as needed. Neither the federal bankruptcy court nor a state court usually oversee this process, however the assignee is subject in most cases to a look back provision within the state the assignment took place.[ citation needed ]
A Federal Bankruptcy Court judge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy must approve the sale of the bankrupt company's assets, thus adding time and expense on to the entire liquidation process. The assets sold in an assignment for the benefit of creditor process do not usually require a judge's intervention. It is this removal of the court from the liquidation process which increases the speed of the assets sold in an assignment process. This is one substantial difference from a regular bankruptcy.[ citation needed ]
Secured and unsecured creditors constitute the creditor body. Both secured and unsecured creditors are ahead of shareholders as noted earlier. A secured creditor is a creditor, who has a priority claim on an asset or assets of a company. A lien on the specific asset or assets places the secured creditor's claim ahead of the unsecured creditor. Once a secured creditor is satisfied, the unsecured creditor is then the next priority. This is again the normal order of priority in a bankruptcy.[ citation needed ]
If there has been a determination by company management and interested parties such as a secured creditor that even after restructuring, a "going concern" may still not be viable, a secured creditor or group of secured creditors frequently may encourage the company's senior management to pursue this liquidation mechanism. Secured creditor(s) may encourage this type of action to relieve themselves of the legal costs and risks associated with the foreclosure and sale of its collateral. One specific risk a secured creditor wants to avoid is preference or the perception of preference in the liquidation process (see fraudulent transfer).[ citation needed ]
In situations where the liquidation value of the assets exceeds a secured creditor's lien, the assignee is not normally required to obtain the consent of a secured creditor or any other creditor prior to the assignment process. Cooperation of the secured creditor may however affect the assignee's ability to liquidate an asset. An assignee in practice may obtain the consent of the secured creditors in advance of the assignment to ensure that the assignee can liquidate the asset or assets in a timely manner without a secured party stopping or holding up the assignment process. Secured party consent in this case is optional, not necessary.[ citation needed ]
In situations where the liquidation value of the assets is less than a secured creditor's lien, the assignment process can be done, however a vast number of legal questions need to be reconciled before the assignment process can possibly be initiated. There unfortunately is no concise answer in this particular situation.[ citation needed ]
Secured creditors may in certain instances assume the senior management roles within the bankrupt company, however noted earlier this situation occurs when the secured creditor(s) have foreclosed on their lien. Large secured creditors again may influence the decision making process, but that secured creditor can not enter into that contract on behalf of the bankrupt company. Only the bankrupt company's senior management and/or board of directors have the power to do an assignment.[ citation needed ]
The dividend is hopefully the payout that the assignee issues, once all creditors' claims have been vetted and all the assets have been sold. The assignee hopes to generate enough cash to provide a one for one redemption of a creditor's claims. This is the hope the reality varies vastly, depending on the price the assets fetched when sold. Most dividends are in the form of cash back to the creditor, but not necessarily all. There may not even be a dividend in certain instance, thus no creditor receives any payment. There is no way to determine the cash value of an asset in the assignment process, regardless of past estimates. Tangible assets cash value can usually, but not always, be reasonably estimated. Intangible assets such as intellectual property or processes are much more difficult to evaluate.[ citation needed ]
Noted earlier this is a state form of bankruptcy, not federal form. The assignment process or any bankruptcy process for that matter is a legal matter. The state attributes of an assignment process may be understood by any attorney however a local/regional bankruptcy attorney in the specific state usually is best equipped to handle the legal end of the process for the company making the assignment. This is not asserted to diminish an attorney's capabilities, but to stress the legal niche that this legal instrument falls within, bankruptcy. Non legal staff familiar with bankruptcy and the assignment process can also affect the speed validity of the process.[ citation needed ]
The general rule is that any debtor may make an assignment. This would include any individual, partnership, corporation or limited liability company that owes anything to anyone. Any debtor owning property has the common law right to make an assignment.[ citation needed ]
In other common law countries, general assignments usually refer to any general assignment of existing or future book debts by a natural person (including, in some cases, partnerships). A general assignment made by a natural person who is subsequently adjudged bankrupt is void against the trustee in bankruptcy as regards any book debts which have not been paid prior to the presentation of the bankruptcy petition. [ citation needed ]
The definition of book debts includes "debts which in the ordinary course of business would be entered in a well-kept trade book", [2] future debts and future rents under a hire purchase agreement. Bills of exchange also fall within the definition of book debts, [3] but a bank balance does not. [4]
Under (for example) English law, any general assignment, either absolute or by way of security, of book debts is void unless registered under the Bills of Sale Act 1878. A trustee would not be able to attack an assignment under this section which relates to debts due from specified debtors or debts becoming due under specified contracts or where the debts were assigned as part of a bona fide transfer of a business or the assignment is for the benefit of creditors generally.[ citation needed ]
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor.
A creditor or lender is a party that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property and service. The second party is frequently called a debtor or borrower. The first party is called the creditor, which is the lender of property, service, or money.
In the United States, bankruptcy is largely governed by federal law, commonly referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code" ("Code"). The United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States". Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, including through adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended, codified in Title 11 of the United States Code and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA).
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet insolvency.
In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the terms for repayment. Unsecured debts are sometimes called signature debt or personal loans. These differ from secured debt such as a mortgage, which is backed by a piece of real estate.
A floating charge is a security interest over a fund of changing assets of a company or other legal person. Unlike a fixed charge, which is created over ascertained and definite property, a floating charge is created over property of an ambulatory and shifting nature, such as receivables and stock.
In finance, a security interest is a legal right granted by a debtor to a creditor over the debtor's property which enables the creditor to have recourse to the property if the debtor defaults in making payment or otherwise performing the secured obligations. One of the most common examples of a security interest is a mortgage: a person borrows money from the bank to buy a house, and they grant a mortgage over the house so that if they default in repaying the loan, the bank can sell the house and apply the proceeds to the outstanding loan.
An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is a formal alternative in England and Wales for individuals wishing to avoid bankruptcy. In Scotland, the equivalent statutory debt solution is known as a protected trust deed.
The vast majority of all second lien loans are senior secured obligations of the borrower. Second lien loans differ from both unsecured debt and subordinated debt.
An unsecured creditor is a creditor other than a preferential creditor that does not have the benefit of any security interests in the assets of the debtor.
An unfair preference is a legal term arising in bankruptcy law where a person or company transfers assets or pays a debt to a creditor shortly before going into bankruptcy, that payment or transfer can be set aside on the application of the liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy as an unfair preference or simply a preference.
In finance, senior debt, frequently issued in the form of senior notes or referred to as senior loans, is debt that takes priority over other unsecured or otherwise more "junior" debt owed by the issuer. Senior debt has greater seniority in the issuer's capital structure than subordinated debt. In the event the issuer goes bankrupt, senior debt theoretically must be repaid before other creditors receive any payment.
Subordination in banking and finance refers to the order of priorities in claims for ownership or interest in various assets.
United Kingdom insolvency law regulates companies in the United Kingdom which are unable to repay their debts. While UK bankruptcy law concerns the rules for natural persons, the term insolvency is generally used for companies formed under the Companies Act 2006. "Insolvency" means being unable to pay debts. Since the Cork Report of 1982, the modern policy of UK insolvency law has been to attempt to rescue a company that is in difficulty, to minimise losses and fairly distribute the burdens between the community, employees, creditors and other stakeholders that result from enterprise failure. If a company cannot be saved it is "liquidated", so that the assets are sold off to repay creditors according to their priority. The main sources of law include the Insolvency Act 1986, the Insolvency Rules 1986, the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, the Employment Rights Act 1996 Part XII, the Insolvency Regulation (EC) 1346/2000 and case law. Numerous other Acts, statutory instruments and cases relating to labour, banking, property and conflicts of laws also shape the subject.
Bankruptcy in Irish Law is a legal process, supervised by the High Court whereby the assets of a personal debtor are realised and distributed amongst his or her creditors in cases where the debtor is unable or unwilling to pay his debts.
British Virgin Islands bankruptcy law is principally codified in the Insolvency Act, 2003, and to a lesser degree in the Insolvency Rules, 2005. Most of the emphasis of bankruptcy law in the British Virgin Islands relates to corporate insolvency rather than personal bankruptcy. As an offshore financial centre, the British Virgin Islands has many times more resident companies than citizens, and accordingly the courts spend more time dealing with corporate insolvency and reorganisation.
Cayman Islands bankruptcy law is principally codified in five statutes and statutory instruments:
Anguillan bankruptcy law regulates the position of individuals and companies who are unable to meet their financial obligations.
Australian insolvency law regulates the position of companies which are in financial distress and are unable to pay or provide for all of their debts or other obligations, and matters ancillary to and arising from financial distress. The law in this area is principally governed by the Corporations Act 2001. Under Australian law, the term insolvency is usually used with reference to companies, and bankruptcy is used in relation to individuals. Insolvency law in Australia tries to seek an equitable balance between the competing interests of debtors, creditors and the wider community when debtors are unable to meet their financial obligations. The aim of the legislative provisions is to provide:
Hong Kong insolvency law regulates the position of companies which are in financial distress and are unable to pay or provide for all of their debts or other obligations, and matters ancillary to and arising from financial distress. The law in this area is now primarily governed by the Companies Ordinance and the Companies Rules. Prior to 2012 Cap 32 was called the Companies Ordinance, but when the Companies Ordinance came into force in 2014, most of the provisions of Cap 32 were repealed except for the provisions relating to insolvency, which were retained and the statute was renamed to reflect its new principal focus.