Debtor monitoring (overvågning af skyldner)
Also known as debtor watch, case monitoring, dormant case, skyldnerovervågning, sagsovervågning, passiv sag
Monitoring is the continuing follow-up on a debtor with no ability to pay — the case is not closed, but reopened once there is something to go after again.
- The claim survives
- 10 years with a judgment
In practice
An unsuccessful attachment is not the end. It means there is nothing to collect right now.
If you hold a judgment, the claim lives for ten years. In those ten years the debtor can find a new job, inherit, sell a property or start a new company. Monitoring is the decision to be there on the day it happens — instead of writing the claim off and never looking at it again.
It is also the right decision when the bailiff’s court would otherwise cost more than the case is worth: wait until there is something to go after, and then move.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- The claim is written off in the accounts and forgotten in law. Those are two different decisions. You may provide for a full loss and still keep monitoring.
- Monitoring runs but the limitation period is not kept alive. A case left untouched for three years is no longer a claim.