What Does a Successful Chapter 11 Look Like?

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Video Transcribed:  Oklahoma Bankruptcy Attorney Edward Kelley here, answering your bankruptcy questions with oklahomacitybankruptcyattorney.pro, finishing up our series on Chapter 11. We’ve talked about, who is it meant for? Who can it help? We talked about, how can it help you?

Now, let’s talk about what does a successful case look like? As I mentioned, these cases can certainly take longer than any others and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say they’re exponentially more complicated and difficult than other cases.

There are a lot of them that fail. Again, mostly it’s going to come down to the realism of the assessment in the beginning. Can this business be turned around? The questions there are, do we have any assets? Do we have any demand for our product or service? Do we have creditors who will still work with us? Do we have the human resources that we need to be successful?

Even if the ship gets righted with a team effort, once the team leaves, are the employees left up to the task? These are all questions. A successful plan, and it can take years and years to get through the actual reorganization when the bankruptcy court steps out, a business should have actually transformed dramatically, and this does happen a lot.

Through that process of reorganization of having that trustee and the creditors oversee and approve, a lot of businesses will come out much more savvy about how to run a business, how to be realistic, and how to go forward.

So a successfully completed case, unlike maybe in 7s and 13s, and unfortunately I hate to say it, but a lot of people go back to old bad habits in businesses that are successful in 11, and there’s probably I think it’s safe to say fewer businesses succeed than individuals in sevens or thirteens.

You see revitalized, streamlined, much wiser companies. So if your business is struggling and you have what it takes to get through it, and again with COVID, now may be the best time, you may come out with a revitalized lean, mean business, ready to tackle the business world and do better perhaps than it’s ever done.

Of course, that’s not always the case, but that’s what you’re going for. And again, it all really begins with, how realistic are you before you go into it? And a good Chapter 11 attorney is going to be realistic with you. So these are expensive time consuming, again, exponentially more difficult bankruptcies than 7s and 13s so be careful before you go into it. Hope this helps.