Guide
A company that owes us
is going under
When a company in Pakistan that owes you money stops paying everyone, the question changes. It is no longer how to make it pay, but where you stand in the line, and whether anything can be done before the line forms. This page is about that.
Where this applies This page covers companies in Pakistan that cannot pay their debts. The rules for a person who cannot pay are different.
What this is about
A company that cannot pay can be wound up, by the court or by its own members, and a liquidator then sells what it has and pays the creditors in an order the law sets. Secured creditors come first. Ordinary trade creditors usually come late, and often get little.
What changes the outcome is speed: a claim filed before the winding up, security taken while it was still possible, or a settlement reached while the company still had something to settle with.
What has to be in place
What has to be clear.
What you are owed, and on what papers.
Whether you hold any security.
Where the company has reached: still trading, in difficulty, or already in liquidation.
Note Your advocate confirms which of these apply to your case.
The documents you will be asked for
What an advocate asks for.
- The contract, invoices and correspondence.
- Any security document.
- Anything you know about the company’s state.
How an advocate helps from where you are
What an advocate does.
- Finds out where the company has reached, and what that means for your claim.
- Files your claim with the liquidator, in the form and by the time required.
- Where there is still time, acts to secure or settle the debt first.
What to ask before you agree
- Where has the company reached, and what does that mean for our claim?
- By when does the claim have to be filed with the liquidator, and in what form?
- Is there still time to secure or settle the debt first?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Money owed to the business
Also relevant
Words you will meet
- insolvency
- Not being able to pay debts as they fall due.
- liquidation
- Selling a company’s assets to pay its creditors.
- creditor
- Someone the company owes money to.
Written
11 September 2026
Pakistan.