In a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation, shareholders are at the bottom of the priority order for payment. The liquidator first pays the costs of the liquidation itself, then preferential creditors (such as employees for certain entitlements and Revenue for specific taxes), then secured creditors, and finally unsecured creditors. Only if there are surplus assets after all creditors have been paid in full will shareholders receive anything — in an insolvent liquidation, this is rare. Shareholders in a CVL typically receive nothing. Directors who are also shareholders should take advice early, as there may be options to recover some value before a CVL becomes inevitable.
