Restructuring & Insolvency in the UAE

Restructuring and insolvency in the United Arab Emirates is governed by a layered framework: the Federal Bankruptcy Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2023) for mainland companies, the DIFC Insolvency Law and its regulations for DIFC entities, and the ADGM Insolvency Regulations for ADGM entities. The 2023 federal reforms modernised the toolkit available to distressed companies, introducing preventive settlement, financial restructuring and simplified insolvency procedures alongside traditional bankruptcy and composition mechanisms. Each regime balances the interests of creditors, shareholders, employees and the wider market, and the choice of procedure and forum often determines whether a business is rescued or wound up. At QAF Legal, our restructuring and insolvency team advises companies, directors, creditors, insolvency practitioners and investors across all three jurisdictions. We guide clients through preventive settlement applications, restructuring plans, liquidations, creditor enforcement and distressed transactions, combining commercial realism with rigorous procedural discipline. Our lawyers understand the duties and personal liabilities that attach to directors once a company enters the zone of insolvency, and we help them navigate that terrain lawfully and strategically.

Our Restructuring & Insolvency Services

Preventive Settlement & Restructuring

We prepare and advance preventive settlement applications and restructuring plans under the federal Bankruptcy Law and the DIFC and ADGM regimes, negotiating with creditors to achieve sustainable rescue.

Creditor Rights & Enforcement

We represent secured and unsecured creditors in enforcement, recovery, proof of debt, and creditor meetings, protecting recoveries across mainland and free-zone insolvencies.

Liquidation & Winding-Up

We advise on voluntary and compulsory liquidation, appointment of liquidators, realisation of assets, distribution to creditors and strike-off across mainland, DIFC and ADGM.

Director & Officer Advice

We advise directors and officers on fiduciary duties, wrongful-trading exposure and personal liability once insolvency looms, helping them act lawfully and protect themselves.

Distressed M&A & Investment

We structure distressed acquisitions, pre-pack sales, debt-for-equity swaps and rescue financing, managing regulatory approvals and disclosure in compressed timelines.

Insolvency Practitioner Support

We support bankruptcy trustees, restructuring trustees and liquidators in their appointments, powers and duties, ensuring procedural compliance and stakeholder communication.

Cross-Border Insolvency

We coordinate recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings, coordinate with foreign office-holders, and manage cross-border asset recovery and protocol arrangements.

Workout & Consensual Restructuring

We negotiate consensual workouts, standstills and inter-creditor arrangements that restructure debt without resort to formal proceedings wherever possible.

Jurisdictions We Cover

We practice across UAE Mainland, ADGM and DIFC. Mainland insolvency is governed by the Federal Bankruptcy Law with proceedings in the federal courts. DIFC insolvency is handled under the DIFC Insolvency Law before DIFC courts, and ADGM under the ADGM Insolvency Regulations before ADGM courts. We also coordinate cross-border recognition and asset recovery with foreign insolvency proceedings.

Why Choose QAF Legal

Our restructuring and insolvency practice is built on dual civil-law and common-law expertise across all three UAE regimes, which is decisive in cross-jurisdictional insolvencies. We balance rescue with creditor recovery, pursuing sustainable outcomes rather than defaulting to winding-up. Our partners remain involved from the first distress signal through resolution, providing senior-level judgment under pressure. We integrate with our banking, corporate, litigation and employment teams to manage every dimension of a distressed situation. The result is restructuring and insolvency advice that protects value, manages risk and guides stakeholders through uncertainty with clarity.

UAE Insolvency Procedures & Reforms

The UAE's insolvency landscape combines the Federal Bankruptcy Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2022), the ADGM Insolvency Regulations and the DIFC Insolvency Law, each with distinct procedures for administration, restructuring and liquidation. We advise creditors, debtors and officeholders on which regime applies and how to use it — whether through protective composition, administration, voluntary arrangement or winding-up. We guide clients through the procedures for filing, creditor meetings, officeholder appointment and distribution, and we coordinate parallel proceedings where a group straddles mainland and free-zone entities. Choosing the right procedure early preserves value and avoids the procedural defeats that sink otherwise viable restructurings.

Cross-Border Recognition & Coordination

Many UAE insolvencies have international dimensions, and we handle the recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings, the enforcement of cross-border judgments, and the coordination of officeholders and creditors across jurisdictions. We pursue and defend claims against assets located abroad, manage the interplay between UAE proceedings and foreign schemes of arrangement or Chapter 11 processes, and advise on the recognition of UAE proceedings in other jurisdictions. Coordinated cross-border handling prevents the asset flight and inconsistent outcomes that destroy recovery in international groups.

Creditor Rights & Recovery Strategy

For creditors, we pursue recovery from enforcement through proof-of-debt, avoidance actions and proceedings against directors and guarantors where grounds exist. We assess the realistic recovery before recommending action, because the cost of insolvency litigation must be justified by what is recoverable. For debtors, we protect the business from aggressive enforcement and find the consensual route that keeps value intact.