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Priority to Assets Between Bondholder and Judgment Creditor
In regard to the financial principal of "priority to assets between bondholder and judgment creditor rights", quite a bit depends on what is going on with the business or firm involved at the time of judgment, as liquidations occur in Chapter 7 bankruptcies—not Chapter 11. The company or firm almost always will have filed for protection under the federal government with a load of devastating debts preventing them from operating any further, with the assets of the company or firm being sold off to pay off outstanding debts to creditors and investors.
What is not usually acknowledged by the general public is the investors, or secured creditors, who take the least risk in the business are always paid first, so the priority to assets between bondholder and judgment creditor will be given to the bondholder, after the secured creditor being paid first. The reason for this is because they have extended credit to the now-bankrupted company backed already by collateral, which can involve things like mortgages or other company assets. They fully realize they will get their money first through bankruptcy Chapter 7 proceedings if the business goes under.
Bondholders will always be chosen first above shareholders or judgment creditors, as receiving first priority to assets between bondholder and judgment creditor, as the bonds represent the company's debt. When the loan was originally made, the company had already agreed to pay the bondholders back with interest and their full principal, through written contracts.
Unfortunately, the stockholders own the company and will take the greatest risk, with priority to assets between bondholder and judgment creditor placing the stockholder beneath both of them in receiving the balance of what is left after the company's liquidation process. Assets are divided in bankruptcy in specific ways, with bankruptcy laws determining who gets paid in a specific payment order:
• Secured Creditors
• Usually a bank or lending company will "always" get paid first
• Unsecured Creditors
• Banks, suppliers, and bondholders will receive money after the secured creditors
• Stockholders
• These are the owners of the company, and have the last claim on assets, possibly never receiving anything if the Secured and Unsecured Creditors are not fully paid off.
During and after bankruptcy, no interest or principal payments will be given to the bondholders, and the dividends will no longer be given to the stockholders. A priority to assets between bondholder and judgment creditor is no longer in question, but a matter of who gets paid "when and what" after bankruptcy is filed according to federal law, with the bondholder getting all their money first after the secured creditors. Therefore, all debts will be paid, if the asset sales will financially allow it, once the secured and unsecured creditors have received their money out of the liquidation process.
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