What’s a lawyer to do… One of the toughest situations a lawyer can face. A good friend of yours, a client, walks into your office — they sit down and they start to have one of those conversations with you that you know you’re not going to like. And maybe they start telling you some facts that are a little difficult to swallow – the business isn’t doing so well. Employee issues. Maybe they’ve used some funds that should have been paid over to the government, maybe payroll funds.
And they’re not sure what to do. Maybe some other trust funds have been used — tax funds. And they’re not sure what to do… they want to shut down the business, and they’re looking to you for advice. Small family business. Maybe they own some other businesses too. And they just want to shut down this one business.
Maybe this isn’t an area that you deal with regularly. What to do with the end-of-life situation for companies? You’re devoted to your client. So, what do you do? You could wing it, but that’s probably a really bad idea.
Maybe the company should file for bankruptcy. You heard about the SBRA, but that was enacted in 2019, and there’s all this law developing and it’s not really what you do. Maybe you should let the company die a natural death. You know, just let it sit out there and let the creditors come after it. But what about personal liability? There were trust funds. That could be a problem.
You’re getting the picture. There are a lot of issues here. This is an area you may want to think about co-counseling with somebody who focuses their practice in this area.
On the site, we talk about where to find resources all the time:
- American bankruptcy Institute (ABI)
- Commercial Law League of America (CLLA)
- Turnaround Management Association (TMA)
- Your local Bar Association
You will find a lot of professionals in this area who operate on a nationwide basis. You will also find professionals in your area. But it’s an area where if you’re not exactly sure what to do, you may want to reach out. SmallBizReorg. We’re here for you.
