Suspension of payments (betalingsstandsning)
Also known as notified suspension of payments, stopped paying
Suspension of payments was the old Danish regime for a company in difficulty — it was replaced by reconstruction, but the word lives on in everyday speech.
- Status
- Replaced by reconstruction
- Today usually means
- Simply that payments have stopped
- The formal regime
- Reconstruction
In practice
If you hear that a customer has “filed for suspension of payments”, it is worth asking what is meant. The formal regime of that name no longer exists in Danish law; it was replaced by reconstruction, a different and more closely supervised process with an appointed administrator.
In everyday speech the word is still used, and it usually covers something less formal: the company has simply stopped paying while it tries to work something out. There is then neither an administrator nor a court involved, and none of the protections — or obligations — that a reconstruction brings.
The difference is practical. Where there is a reconstruction, there is a defined process and a deadline. Where there is not, there is only an intention, and your claim runs on as before.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Waiting because there is a “suspension of payments”. Without a formal regime nothing stops your deadlines — limitation keeps running.
- Confusing it with bankruptcy. It is neither, and the company may well carry on.