Also known as a dividend. The process of giving out an entity's assets or cash to its equity holders. The ability of a governing body to make a distribution may be regulated by the laws of the entity's jurisdiction and any organizational documents (such as a corporation's by-laws or a limited liability company's LLC agreement). Distributions may be periodic (such as a quarterly distribution), under a contract (such as a stockholders' agreement or partnership agreement), or as a one-time event when an entity has a surplus or before the dissolution and winding up of an entity.

In bankruptcy, payments made from the property of the debtor's estate to:

(Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3021).

The priority scheme under section 507 of the Bankruptcy Code dictates the order in which distributions are made to claimants, interest holders, and indenture trustees in bankruptcy.