Arst Avocats designed this mini-series to give you an inside look at a judicial reorganization procedure.
By Morgan Jamet, Partner Attorney — Insolvency Law
Published on August 22, 2026
"We're filing for bankruptcy." The phrase is on everyone's lips, even hers, even though it doesn't have a very precise legal meaning. What we're actually filing is a declaration of cessation of payments, accompanied by a file much thicker than a simple form—and it's this file that will occupy Marc, the accountant, and me for the ten days following our first evening call.
The list, emailed the very next day, fits on a single page, but each line requires hours of work: an up-to-date company registration certificate (Kbis extract), annual accounts for the last three fiscal years, a statement of the company's assets and liabilities, a detailed statement of receivables and payables with the identity of each creditor, a summary inventory of assets, the exact headcount as of the filing date, and a cash flow forecast for the coming months. "I don't even have some of these figures on hand," Marc wrote to me one evening, after spending two hours searching for a bank statement from last year. The accountant went through the file receivable by receivable, line by line, while Marc unearthed invoices in files he hadn't opened for months.
It was in the middle of this list, one Tuesday evening, that Marc called me, his voice different than usual—not panicked, but weary, like someone who had just made a calculation they hadn't dared to make before. "What if I file this, and the court looks at the file and decides it's too late, that it's all over, and orders immediate liquidation? Maybe I'd rather not file anything and try to hold on a little longer, right?" It was the question I had been dreading since the first evening, and it was also the one I had to answer with the utmost honesty.
I calmly explain to him the difference between the two outcomes. The court initiates receivership proceedings as soon as recovery appears genuinely possible—this isn't wishful thinking; it's what the case must demonstrate, supported by figures: an order book, cash flow that, even if strained, isn't depleted, and clients who continue to pay. Liquidation proceedings, on the other hand, are only initiated if the situation is clearly and irretrievably compromised—no real activity whatsoever, no credible prospect of continuing. "That's not your situation, Marc. That's precisely why we're building this case with such care: so that the court sees, from the very first reading, a company that has a real chance." I can't guarantee him anything—I never have, and I won't start tonight. But waiting has a definite cost: each week of delay worsens the cash flow, and beyond forty-five days after the date of cessation of payments, not having declared becomes a fault in itself, with its own consequences.
Marc hung up without making a decision. He called me back the next morning. "I thought about it last night. We'll drop it." Nothing more. Just those four words, spoken in a voice that had regained its firmness.
The filing itself, once the decision is made, feels almost anticlimactic after so much hesitation: an online declaration on the court portal, the complete file attached, an acknowledgment of receipt arriving within a minute. Marc stares at the screen for a long moment, as if he expects something to happen immediately. Nothing happens. Just an email, and a court date that will arrive in the coming days.
“It’s done, then.” Yes. His fate is no longer truly in his hands, from now on—it’s in the hands of the court, which will call him in the coming weeks. What remains to be done, until that date, is to prepare what he will say that day, not hastily, but calmly, several times, until the words come without trembling. Marc hangs up that evening with, for the first time in weeks, something that feels less like anguish and more like anticipation. That’s significant.
—
(Marc is a fictional, composite character.)
SEEN FROM THE INSIDE, a series about bankruptcy proceedings told in a concrete way.
Next episode: in the courtroom, on opening day.
Morgan Jamet,
founding partner of Arst Avocats, advises business leaders on commercial law, insolvency law, restructuring, and business litigation.
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