The bailiff's court record (fogedbog)
Also known as court record, bailiff court minutes
The record is the bailiff's court's account of what happened at the hearing — who attended, what the debtor stated, and what was attached.
- Contains
- The course and outcome of the hearing
- Written by
- The bailiff's court
- Used later
- As documentation
In practice
The record is the case’s memory. The hearing is short, and what was said is hard to reconstruct six months later — but it is in the record: did the debtor attend, what did he state about his finances, was anything attached, and what.
For a creditor two things in particular are worth reading. Whether the debtor made a declaration of insolvency, because a period then runs during which the case generally cannot be reopened. And what he actually stated — that account binds him if assets he did not mention turn up later.
A transcript is obtained from the court and is what you put forward if the case is to be taken further.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Reading only the outcome. What the debtor said about his circumstances is often worth more than the result itself.
- Not obtaining the transcript. Without it the content of the hearing is a recollection, and that does not hold up at the next stage.