Companies rarely die suddenly; they die slowly and then all at once — and everything that matters legally happens in the slow part. The directors who come in during those months choose between rescue, orderly wind-down and sale; the directors who come in after the petition choose between kinds of damage. This page is the case for the earlier phone call.
Mary Molloy Solicitors are solicitors, not accountants or tax advisers. Nothing on this page is tax, accounting or financial advice — engage your accountant on those questions, and both advisers together where matters straddle the line. Company law procedures, CRO practice and filing deadlines change frequently, and reform of the law governing owners’ management companies and charities is ongoing; confirm the current position before acting on anything here.
The Options, in Descending Order of Time Required
- Informal restructuring: negotiated arrangements with Revenue and creditors — available while relationships and credibility survive;
- SCARP: the statutory rescue for viable small companies inside broken balance sheets, process-adviser-led and court-light (SCARP explained);
- Orderly wind-down or sale: the finished business ended or transferred deliberately — failure administered, not endured;
- Liquidation: lawful, orderly, and vastly better entered prepared than dragged into — because the liquidation’s conduct writes the director’s personal exposure file.
The Twin-Track Method
Every distressed-company file runs two tracks at once. The company’s track: the honest viability assessment (with the accountant — the numbers are theirs, the consequences ours), the option chosen deliberately, creditors engaged before they engage you. The directors’ track: decisions documented, creditor interests visibly weighed, no preferences, no odd asset movements — the stewardship record that answers any later s.819 scrutiny before it is raised (the duties). Where the distress traces to a shareholder or boardroom war — deadlock starving decisions while the company burns — the dispute file and this one run together, because resolving the war is usually the rescue.
Trading Well but Owing Too Much - or Just Done?
Both deserve the same thing: honest options talk with the accounts on the table, months before the letters arrive.
Call 01 5827148