I'm young and naive. Please tell me why there is no way for you to receive your money? Are they not contractually bound to give you a specific sum? Is getting t

I'm young and naive. Please tell me why there is no way for you to receive your money? Are they not contractually bound to give you a specific sum? Is getting that money just too much legal hassle and money spent on court fees? The biggest problems are: * The client doesn't have any money to get - especially common with startups. * The company disappears - bankruptcy almost always means that you will see nothing to very-little since you're likely one of many debtors. * The amount of time it takes. Every hour you spend on dealing with debt collection, legal issues, etc. is an hour you're not spending on making clients happy, finding new work, developing your own product, etc. The most cost effective solution is often to just write it off - and learn from the mistake you made in picking a client who could not pay. Occasionally you can sell the debt on to a third party for some %age of the total figure - but that only works if the company looks like it can pay, and still involves admin work on your part.