Personal liability (personlig hæftelse)
Also known as personal liability, personal responsibility, hæftelse, personligt ansvar
Personal liability means that a natural person is liable for the debt with their entire personal wealth — not only with the assets of the company.
- For an ApS/A/S
- No personal liability
- For a sole proprietorship
- Full personal liability
In practice
The corporate form decides everything. If the debtor is an ApS or A/S (Danish private or public limited company), the owner is not personally liable — if the company goes bankrupt, the claim is gone, however wealthy the owner may be privately. If the debtor is a sole proprietorship, the proprietor is liable with their entire private wealth.
It is the first thing to look up when a claim goes to collection: who is actually the debtor, and what do they stand behind the debt with? The answer determines whether the case is worth pursuing.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Pursuing an empty ApS without checking whether a guarantee exists. Without personal liability or a guarantee, there is nothing behind the claim.
- You assume a sole trader is always the safer bet. Personal liability is only worth something if there are assets behind it.