Lincoln
Insolvency Practitioners in Lincoln.
Lincoln is our home town. We had an office in the city for years, and we still work across Lincoln and the wider county every week. If you are a director here weighing up what to do next, you will be speaking to a licensed Insolvency Practitioner from the first call.
Independent, and what that changes for you
We are an independent practice. Charles and Arabella Ranby-Gorwood are both licensed Insolvency Practitioners, with more than eighty years of experience between them, and they are the people you will deal with.
That shapes how the work is done.
- Whoever gives you the initial advice is the one who acts. Charles and Arabella both take appointments, individually or jointly. The first conversation is with the practitioner who would handle the matter.
- The same team stays with you from the first conversation to the last. You will not be handed on, and you will not have to explain the position twice.
- We neither pay nor accept referral or lead-generation fees. Nobody has bought your enquiry before it reaches us, and nobody is paid for passing you on. If we suggest you speak to someone else, it is because you should.
- We will tell you if you do not need a formal procedure. Quite often that is the answer, and it is the advice we give.
None of that changes the statutory work. A liquidation is a liquidation. What it changes is who picks up the phone when you have a question at nine o’clock on a Tuesday, and whether they already know your case. Our office number diverts out of hours, so it is nearly always answered. And after a first enquiry we aim to meet you within a few days — rarely more than a week.
If you are not sure you need us yet
Most people who ring us are not certain they have a formal insolvency problem. That is the normal position, and working it out is most of what a first conversation is for.
- Can the company meet its debts as they fall due? Not eventually, and not if one particular customer pays. As they fall due — including the tax you have not paid yet.
- Is the underlying business viable? Stripped of its historic debt, would it make a sustainable profit? A company can be deeply insolvent with a perfectly good business underneath, and it can be paying everything on time with no viable business at all.
- Has a creditor already started something? A statutory demand, a petition, a frozen account. This one overrides the other two, because options close as court action progresses.
If your answer to the second question is “I don’t know”, that is the usual answer, and it is a reason to have the conversation rather than to wait until it becomes obvious. The insolvency tests and warning signs set this out in more detail.
Which court, if it comes to that
Most of what we do never reaches a courtroom. But if a creditor has petitioned, or you are weighing up how much time you have, it helps to know where matters would actually be heard.
For a Lincoln company, insolvency proceedings are heard locally — at Lincoln, or at Grimsby or Hull depending on the case. Larger matters go to the High Court, and the nearest sitting for this part of the country is Leeds.
The practical point is not the geography. It is that once a petition is presented the timetable stops being yours: the hearing date is set, and the advertisement in the Gazette that follows is usually how your bank finds out. Almost every option that was available before that point is narrower afterwards.
How meetings actually work
Most matters are handled perfectly well by telephone, video and email, and that is usually quicker for everyone. Where it genuinely helps to meet, we come to you — we are in Lincoln regularly and it is not a special trip.
If you would rather not meet at your business premises, say so. It is a common request and easily arranged.
Read first, call later, if you prefer
We have written nine guides and put them on the site with no sign-up, no email address and no gate in front of them. They are free, and they are longer and more direct than most things of their kind. If you would rather understand the options before you speak to anybody, start there.
- Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation: A Guide for Directors
- Company Administration: A Guide for Directors
- Company Voluntary Arrangements: A Guide
- Closing a Solvent Company: An MVL Guide
- Bankruptcy: A Guide for Individuals
- Individual Voluntary Arrangements: A Guide
- Overdrawn Director’s Loan Accounts
- Is Your Business Viable? The Decision Path
- A free 13-week cash-flow forecast template
Next step
Directors rarely regret asking early. They frequently regret asking late.
The first conversation is free of charge, confidential, and commits you to nothing. You do not need to work out which procedure applies before you call.