Bankruptcy lawyer

The insolvency of an individual entrepreneur or legal entities of any organizational and legal form is the inability to fulfill obligations to creditors and repay all debts and make mandatory payments. 

Bankruptcy proceedings require patience and time, as bankruptcy status can only be obtained through a court of law. Such a procedure should begin with the search for a professional, experienced bankruptcy lawyer. 

RegService employs qualified bankruptcy attorneys and lawyers with experience in effective legal instruments and commercial procedure law. 

When do you need the help of a bankruptcy lawyer? 

Our specialists provide their services not only in Kyiv but also in other regions of Ukraine. After analyzing the situation, we will develop an effective action plan aimed at reorganizing economic activities or saving the business in order to minimize the negative consequences. 

You may need our help in the following cases: 

• accumulation of loan debts; 
• inability to make mandatory payments; 
• the company is declared bankrupt in court; 
• claims from contractors, creditors, and regulatory authorities. 

Services of a lawyer for bankruptcy of companies and sole proprietors 

Legal experts of the Registration Service Company offer a full range of legal and consulting services, including 

1. Legal control of the work of the insolvency officer.
2. Detailed study of the situation. 
3. Legal examination of documents. 
4. Organization of pre-trial settlement of the dispute. 
5. Legal advice. 
6. Drafting agreements aimed at changing the terms of debt repayment, debt restructuring. 
7. Support and representation of interests in negotiations with counterparties. 
8. Legal support of actions aimed at restoring solvency. 
9. Valuation of property and its sale to repay obligations to creditors. 
10. Preparation of a package of documents for applying to the commercial court. 
11. Representation of interests in court hearings. 
12. Providing services of an insolvency officer. 
13. Appeal against the court decision (if necessary). 
14. Full legal support until the company's bankruptcy is registered in the Unified State Register. 

Why should you contact us? 

The lawyers of our company are professionals in bankruptcy. We cooperate with any clients - debtors, creditors of all organizational and legal forms. 

With our help, you will be able to minimize the loss of finances and neutralize the negative consequences as much as possible.You should contact us for the following reasons 

• we work openly and honestly, without intermediaries; 
• we find an individual approach to each client, we do not use generally accepted clichés and standards in our work; 
• our team includes highly specialized specialists with experience in various branches of law; 
• we keep attorney-client privilege over all information received from the client; 
• control the activities of the insolvency receiver; 
• we provide comprehensive services after a company is declared bankrupt (unblocking accounts, appealing against the actions of banking institutions, lifting the arrest, etc.) 

If you need a bankruptcy lawyer, contact RegService. We know how to help you!

Bankruptcy under the Ukrainian Bankruptcy Code: the rules in force in 2026

Bankruptcy cases of legal entities are heard by the commercial court at the debtor's registered address. The governing law is the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures No. 2597-VIII, in force since 21 October 2019. The Code has been amended substantially since then: in 2023 the rules for opening and closing a case were revised, in 2024 a separate book on preventive restructuring was added, and in 2025 an article on liability for fictitious bankruptcy, bringing a company to bankruptcy and concealing it. We work with the current wording of the Code, including the 2026 amendments.

For a debtor that is a legal entity, the Code provides three court procedures (Art. 6):

• property administration — introduced when the case is opened, for up to 170 calendar days; the insolvency officer keeps the register of creditors' claims, takes an inventory and analyses the debtor's financial position (Art. 44);
• rehabilitation (sanation) — a plan to restore solvency, approved by the creditors and confirmed by the court (Art. 50–52);
• liquidation of the bankrupt — sale of assets and payments to creditors; the court sets the term, which may not exceed 12 months (Art. 58).

The choice between rehabilitation and liquidation is made by the creditors' meeting before property administration ends (Art. 49). That is why we build the client's position from day one: the way the register of claims is formed decides who holds the deciding vote at the meeting.

Before any court case, owners can use preventive restructuring (Book Three of the Code). It is initiated by the debtor, a legal entity or a sole proprietor, and the commercial court confirms the plan agreed with creditors. It suits companies with a realistic prospect of repaying their debts on an agreed schedule.

Bankruptcy at the initiative of the debtor

A debtor applies to the court in two situations: when insolvency has already occurred and when there is a threat of insolvency, meaning circumstances confirming that over the next 12 months the company will be unable to meet its payment obligations on time (Art. 1, Art. 8(3)).

Once a company is insolvent, filing becomes a duty. The application must be filed within one month, in particular when paying one creditor would make it impossible to pay the others, or when overdue obligations exceed the value of the assets (Art. 34(6)). If the management bodies miss this deadline, they are jointly and severally liable for the creditors' unpaid claims. Even earlier, within 30 days of spotting signs of insolvency or its threat, the director must inform the founders (Art. 4).

The debtor's application must be accompanied by (Art. 34(4)):

• the decision of the highest management body to apply to court, and the constituent documents;
• the balance sheet as of the latest reporting date;
• a list of creditors with amounts, grounds and due dates, with penalties shown separately;
• a list of assets with their book value, with pledged or otherwise encumbered assets shown separately;
• a list of the debtor's own debtors, and details of all bank, securities and e-money accounts;
• evidence of insolvency or of its threat;
• proof that the insolvency officer's fee has been paid in advance for three months.

The debtor files only if it has enough assets to cover the costs of the proceedings (Art. 34(5)). From the client we need access to the accounts and primary documents, contracts with creditors and information about assets. We prepare the rest of the package and check it against Art. 34 of the Code before filing.

Bankruptcy initiated by a creditor (involuntary bankruptcy)

A creditor may apply to the commercial court to open bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor (Art. 8(2)). The application may combine several obligations of the debtor to that creditor, and several creditors may file one joint application (Art. 34(3)). It must include proof of payment of the court fee, advance payment of the insolvency officer's fee and service of a copy on the debtor (Art. 34(2)).

The court checks the claims at a preparatory hearing. It will refuse to open proceedings if the claims reveal a dispute about the right itself or if the debtor pays them in full before the hearing (Art. 39). That is why we analyse the documents proving the debt before filing and, where needed, first recover it through ordinary litigation.

Once the case is opened, a moratorium applies: enforcement against the debtor is suspended and penalties on the claims covered by the moratorium stop accruing (Art. 41). A creditor with recognised claims votes at the creditors' meeting and oversees the procedure. For creditors we prepare the claims, defend them before the property administrator and in court, and challenge the debtor's transactions made to the detriment of creditors, including those made within three years before the case was opened (Art. 42).

If an application has been filed against your company, much depends on the response filed before the preparatory hearing (Art. 36): the debtor may prove that it can meet its obligations and repay the debt (Art. 39(3)). We handle this defence as well.

Liquidation of a company through bankruptcy

Companies take this route when their debts exceed their assets. If a voluntary liquidation shows that the assets will not cover the creditors' claims, the legal entity must follow the procedures set by law (Art. 110(3) of the Civil Code of Ukraine), and insolvency obliges it to apply to the commercial court (Art. 34(6) of the Code). Companies that can pay all their creditors can use liquidation in the general procedure.

Once the court declares the debtor bankrupt (Art. 59):

• penalties, interest and other financial sanctions stop accruing;
• arrests on the debtor's assets are lifted and new ones are not allowed (except those imposed in criminal proceedings);
• the powers of the director and management bodies end, and documents, seals and valuables are handed over to the liquidator within 15 days.

The liquidator sells the assets at electronic auctions (Art. 68) and pays creditors in the order set by Art. 64 of the Code. Claims left unpaid because the assets ran out are deemed settled (Art. 64(7)). After approving the liquidator's report, the court issues a ruling on the termination of the legal entity, and the state registrar records it in the Unified State Register (Art. 65).

The procedure is transparent to creditors and the court, so preparation should start early. The Code provides for liability for fictitious bankruptcy, bringing a company to bankruptcy and concealing bankruptcy (Art. 9-1). If the bankruptcy was caused by the founders or the director, the liquidator or a creditor may claim subsidiary liability from them (Art. 61(2)). Before filing, we review the company's transactions that could be challenged in the case and assess these risks in advance.

How we handle a bankruptcy case

1. We analyse the company's debts, assets, receivables and transactions and assess the risks for the director and founders.
2. We propose a route: agreement with creditors, preventive restructuring, or bankruptcy with rehabilitation or liquidation.
3. We prepare the application and documents and arrange the advance payment of the insolvency officer's fee.
4. We represent the client in the commercial court, at creditors' meetings and before the creditors' committee, and oversee the insolvency officer.
5. We support the sale of assets, the payments and the closing of the case until the entry in the State Register.

RegService has handled company liquidations and bankruptcies since 2012. We work remotely with clients across Ukraine and abroad: documents are accepted electronically with a qualified e-signature, filings go through the Electronic Court system, where attorneys are required to have an e-cabinet (Art. 6(6) of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine), and we can take part in hearings by videoconference (Art. 197 of the Commercial Procedure Code).

Related services: insolvency officer services, company rehabilitation, financial analysis in bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy of a legal entity (debtor service), bankruptcy of a sole proprietor, liquidation of an LLC.

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