Provisional interruption (foreløbig afbrydelse)
Also known as provisional interruption of limitation, temporary interruption
Provisional interruption puts the limitation period on hold while a case is pending — it only starts running again if the case collapses.
- Occurs on
- Filing and procedural steps
- Effect
- The period is put on hold
- Legal basis
- Forældelsesloven §§ 16-20 (the Danish Limitation Act)
In practice
There is a difference between interrupting the limitation period and provisionally interrupting it. The real interruption — the debtor’s acknowledgement, a judgment — resets the period and starts a new one. The provisional kind does something milder: it stops the clock while the case runs.
File a payment order or a writ the day before the period expires, and the claim is saved for as long as the case is pending. If it ends in a decision in your favour, the interruption becomes final and a new period begins.
If the case collapses instead — it is dismissed, or you withdraw it — the old period runs on. The law then grants a short additional period in which to bring the claim again, but short is the operative word.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Waiting until the last day. If the writ is dismissed over a formal defect, only the additional period is left.
- Assuming a letter is enough. Writing to the debtor does not interrupt — not even from a lawyer. It has to be a procedural step.