Gym & Studio Bankruptcy, Subchapter V
Subchapter V is the bankruptcy that lets a gym or fitness studio reorganize its debt and stay open. Gyms carry a long lease and a whole floor of financed equipment against dues that swing every month, with prepaid memberships on the books as promises you still owe. Subchapter V reorganizes that debt so the doors stay open and the members keep their spots.
Fixed costs, swinging dues
A gym runs on heavy fixed costs against income that moves with the season: a multi-year lease and a floor of financed cardio and strength gear that do not care how many people renewed in January. Layer in members who paid ahead and a billing processor pulling dues on autopay, and the math gets tight fast. Subchapter V reorganizes that debt into a plan you can hold.
Gym debts and contracts we deal with
- Financing on the whole floor of cardio and strength equipment
- A multi-year building lease: keep it and catch up the back rent, or hand it back and put the landlord's claim in the plan
- Build-out and renovation loans from the fit-out
- Membership-billing and card-processing contracts, kept or ended through the case
- Prepaid dues and paid-in-full memberships owed back as service
- SBA and EIDL loans carried from a down year
How Subchapter V helps gyms
- Keep the doors open and the members training
- Halt the landlord's and the lenders' lawsuits against the gym the moment the case opens (a suit against you on a personal guaranty is not stopped automatically)
- Reset the equipment loans to a payment dues can support, and keep the lease by catching up the back rent or hand back one that no longer works
- Keep the dues autopay running cleanly through the case
- Stay the owner and keep programming the floor
How it works
A clear path for gym and studio owners.
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1
Step 1 of 4
Free consultation
We look at your lease, your equipment financing, and how your dues billing runs to decide whether Subchapter V fits the gym.
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Step 2 of 4
File and stop collections
Filing triggers the automatic stay, so the landlord and the lenders have to stop their lawsuits against the gym while the members keep checking in.
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Step 3 of 4
Build the plan
We build a three-to-five-year plan sized to the recurring dues the gym can count on across a full year, not just the New Year rush.
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4
Step 4 of 4
Stay open
After the court confirms it, you fund the plan from monthly dues and keep the floor, the lease, and the membership base.
Common questions about Subchapter V for Gyms and Fitness Studios
Can I keep my equipment?
Usually, yes. The racks, cardio lines, and machines on the floor stay put, and we restructure the financing against them into a payment the monthly dues can carry, as long as the plan pays the lender at least what the equipment is worth.
What happens to members who paid ahead?
Members who prepaid for time you have not delivered yet technically hold claims in the case, and the plan deals with them, but the practical aim is the opposite of stiffing anyone: keeping the gym open is what protects their memberships. We also look hard at how your billing processor is wired, because keeping the dues pipeline running through the filing matters as much as the lease does.
My lease is the problem. Can Subchapter V help?
Often, yes. A gym lease is usually long and expensive. Subchapter V lets you hand back a box that no longer fills and cap what the landlord can claim, while holding onto the equipment and the members that still perform. If the space is worth keeping, you keep it by catching up the back rent. The landlord can agree to new terms along the way, but the case does not force that.
Can I keep running the gym during the case?
Yes, you keep running it. You stay in charge the entire time, running classes, programming the floor, and signing new members exactly as before.