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Business Law Library & Tracker
Bankruptcy, company distress, cross-border insolvency, creditor risk and practical restructuring checkpoints for small businesses.
Sources last reviewed 8 June 2026
Main law guides
307
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
22
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
496
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
110
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Check the linked official source before you rely on a specific section, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpMain laws
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth)
Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth)
Insolvency Practice Rules (Corporations) 2016 (Cth)
Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth)
Insolvency Practice Rules (Bankruptcy) 2016 (Cth)
Bankruptcy Regulations 2021 (Cth)
Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth)
Tracker
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for related-party asset transfers before liquidation and payroll-tax unfair preference recovery. The practical theme is insolvency evidence discipline: sale processes, valuations, payment plans, tax arrears, related-party dealings and creditor communications need to be recorded before a later liquidator, creditor or court has to reconstruct them.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for director settlement enforcement, voidable transaction investigation windows, liquidation funding and group administration timing. The practical theme is insolvency record discipline: settlement deeds, payment records, labour hire arrangements, asset registers, employee entitlements and entity maps need to be clear before a liquidator or administrator has to reconstruct them.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for voluntary administration timing and security for costs in commercial litigation. The practical theme is cash-flow pressure under legal process: creditor meetings, prepaid customers, employee entitlements, possible business sales and litigation security can all become urgent commercial issues once a dispute or insolvency process starts.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for shareholder schemes, re-domiciliation, patent opposition evidence, patent validity, liquidation recovery timing and listed-company disclosure. The practical theme is evidence before the event: deal disclosure, investor forecasts, patent specifications and related-party transaction records need to be good enough before a court or regulator tests them.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for PPSR information requests, indemnity and novation disputes, Fair Work pleading discipline, Fair Work costs, retail underpayment litigation timing and patent amendment strategy. The practical thread is records before disputes: secured finance records, settlement deeds, payroll records, employment decision trails and patent specifications need to be clear before a court has to reconstruct them.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for brand ownership, composite trade marks, scheme disclosure, ASIC company records, corporate trustees, employee priority claims in liquidation and investor class-action amendments. The practical theme is evidence discipline: ownership records, transaction updates, trustee files, payroll records and financial reporting need to be good enough to survive later scrutiny.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for derivative actions, confidential contracts in restructuring disputes, joint venture accounting, employment settlement releases, therapeutic goods compliance and product patents. The practical theme is governance before conflict: keep the authority trail clean, verify regulated claims, document revenue and settlement records, and make IP filings match the real product.
This batch adds official Federal Court explainers for group-company service contracts, director loan accounts, related-party insolvency claims, restraint disputes, creative attribution and bankruptcy-notice enforcement. The practical thread for small businesses is source-backed record discipline: write who is liable, document where money goes, keep exit and credit evidence clean, and make formal enforcement steps precise.
This batch adds selected explainers for employment discovery, supplier preference claims, trading trust insolvency, derivative company litigation, ASIC travel restraints and urgent freezing orders. The practical thread for small businesses is evidence discipline: keep the records that prove who decided what, where money went, what assets exist and how the business responded when a dispute became formal.
This batch adds current official-source explainers for workplace injunctions, shareholder-deed control, secured-property enforcement, business insurance disclosure, DOCA funding and member-organisation oppression. The practical thread for small businesses is governance discipline: keep decision reasons, insurance disclosures, meeting notices, funding authority and enforcement records clear before a dispute becomes urgent court work.
This batch adds official-source explainers for live Federal Court and Full Court decisions involving subcontract disputes, winding-up review steps, freezing orders, enterprise agreement approval challenges, voluntary administration trading, product marketing claims and regulated digital platforms. The business theme is control: keep records current, keep public claims matched to evidence, and get legal help before a dispute or regulator process becomes procedural damage control.
The selected cases section now adds ten more official-source explainers covering shareholder sale confidentiality, related-entity employment structures, company-books inspection, derivative actions, AGM communications, DOCAs, environmental obligations in administration, privacy complaint files, late PPSR registration and administrator appointment records. The batch is focused on business operators, directors, founders, lenders, investors and advisers who need the practical story behind recent judgments.
The selected cases section now includes another current Federal Court batch for employment dismissal process, probation and notice handling, customer-claim insolvency distributions, cross-border liquidator examinations, employee-created brand ownership and security documents under bankruptcy pressure. These are operator-friendly case stories for employers, founders, directors, finance teams and businesses holding customer money or valuable IP.
Businesses, directors and creditors can now browse a stronger insolvency and restructuring cluster covering company distress, PPSR priority, personal bankruptcy exposure, external administration process, trustee communications, creditor meetings, proofs of debt and practical records to collect before getting legal help.
Business owners now have richer selected-case explainers for product safety claims, restricted-purpose funding, company reinstatement, restructuring deeds, shareholder litigation planning, director duties, construction contracts, misleading loan promises, fuel advertising and consumer guarantee claims after resale.
This is directly relevant to directors of distressed small companies. The reforms introduced a small business restructuring pathway and simplified liquidation process, while also allowing more external administration documents to be handled electronically. It belongs in the Corporations Act history because it changes the choices directors and creditors may face before liquidation becomes the only practical option.
This is useful background for anyone dealing with administrators, liquidators or trustees. The reform changed important parts of insolvency practitioner registration, discipline, committee, creditor and practice rules. For small businesses, the practical point is that insolvency is not just a court process. It has a regulated professional framework around who can act and how information and creditor rights are managed.
Cases
Related-entity payroll structures should be documented properly. If one company is named as employer but another company funds wages and receives the labour,...
Financial advice businesses need controls over referral models, conflicts, client files and product recommendations. A company entering liquidation does not stop...
When a business group collapses, creditors need more than a headline answer. Administrators must work out employee entitlements, secured creditor positions, asset...
Company directors cannot assume being overseas puts insolvency examinations out of reach. Liquidators can seek overseas service and substituted service orders,...
Commercial confidentiality in litigation needs evidence, precision and a real link to the administration of justice. A party cannot simply point to a confidential...
Settlement deeds, indemnities and novations need to say exactly who carries the risk after a transaction. If the wording and surrounding conduct leave room for...
Director loan accounts are only as useful as the records behind them. If related-party money moves across borders, through family members or between connected...
Carbon, emissions and clean-energy schemes can keep generating regulatory risk after a company enters liquidation. Registry account controls, authorised...
Employee underpayment claims can affect the whole liquidation waterfall. Creditors should watch how liquidators classify wage claims, because priority treatment can...
Administrators may need Court orders before trading a distressed company through a rescue transaction. Suppliers, employees and directors should watch who bears...
Security documents and asset transfers made under financial pressure need precise drafting and real due diligence. Calling something a caveatable interest, mortgage...
Once a company is in liquidation, directors lose control over company powers unless the Corporations Act or the Court allows a specific step. If a winding-up order...
Freezing orders can reach beyond the main defendant where related companies or asset transfers create a real risk that a judgment will go unpaid. Business groups...
A DOCA and creditors trust can help a business exit external administration, but messy drafting creates expensive uncertainty. The deed needs to say exactly what...
Rescue funding during a DOCA needs clean authority and clear risk allocation. Administrators, directors and funders should document why funding is needed, who...
Late PPSR registration can put a secured creditor at risk if the grantor later enters external administration. Security workflows need to happen when the deal is...
A PPSR registration deadline is not admin trivia. If a business supplies equipment, stock or financed assets on credit, someone needs to know exactly when...
A statutory demand is not a normal invoice reminder. If there is a real dispute about whether the debt is due, the amount owed or the timing of repayment, directors...
If a company collapses after related-party transactions, liquidators can seek extra time to investigate and bring recovery claims. Directors and related entities...
Trading through a trust can become complicated fast when the corporate trustee enters administration. Directors, creditors and administrators need to know whether...
Payroll tax, payment plans and insolvency do not sit in separate boxes. If a company pays old tax debts shortly before liquidation, those payments can be attacked...
Environmental obligations can shape an administration or sale process. If a distressed business operates a site with permits, hazardous materials or pollution...
Group service contracts should identify every company that is actually on the hook for fees. If one company is only the payroll or administration vehicle, suppliers...
Bankruptcy notices and statutory enforcement steps are deadline-driven. If a debtor says there is a set-off, cross-claim or defect, the evidence has to connect...
Trade credit and retention-of-title clauses need PPSR discipline. If goods, equipment or inventory are supplied on credit, the paperwork and registrations should...
Voluntary administration is not just a pause button. For a small company, the second creditors' meeting can decide whether the business is sold, rescued through a...
Liquidation claims against directors can turn into settlement enforcement very quickly. If a director settles claims for insolvent trading, director-related...
If a company appoints an administrator, the board resolution and insolvency opinion need to be properly recorded. A messy appointment can create avoidable...
A deed of company arrangement can reshape contract rights that look future-facing. If your business relies on royalties, caveats or transfer restrictions,...
If a company acts as trustee, liquidation can become messy fast. Trust deeds, appointment powers, asset records and family or beneficiary disputes should be clear...
Poor company records and unexplained related-party payments do not disappear when a company goes into liquidation. They can give liquidators more reason to seek...
Businesses paid by a customer that later enters liquidation should not assume an unfair preference claim will arrive as a standalone case. Liquidators may try to...
A liquidation can need external funding before creditors see any recovery. Where a liquidator wants to enter a funding agreement or legal retainer that will run for...
When a customer-facing financial business collapses, records, claim assessment processes and communication plans become the difference between an orderly...
Money routed through related companies may be commercially suspect, but the legal claim still has to fit the statute. Liquidators, assignees and creditors need to...
Selling business assets to a related party right before liquidation is high-risk, especially where tax debts, unpaid creditors and undervalue allegations are...