Last resortWhen there is no money
Insolvency and bankruptcy
Bankruptcy, restructuring and debt relief. The decisive question is rarely whether the debtor goes bankrupt — but where in the creditor queue you stand.
The process
The whole dictionaryWhere in the process
6 steps from the invoice to the bailiff’s court. The highlighted one is where you are.
The concepts
20 conceptsThe concepts in this theme
Each entry is one page: the definition, the rate and the rule behind it.
- Avoidance (omstødelse)Avoidance is when the trustee claws a transaction back into the estate — typically a payment that left one creditor better off than the others.Transactions before the cut-off dateapplies to
- Bankruptcy (konkurs)Bankruptcy is a collective winding-up of an insolvent debtor's estate, in which the creditors are paid according to a fixed order of priority.Insolvencycondition
- Bankruptcy estate (konkursbo)The bankruptcy estate is the pool of assets that remains once bankruptcy has been declared — and which the trustee must realise and distribute among the creditors.The trustee (kurator)administered by
- Bankruptcy petition (konkursbegæring)A bankruptcy petition is the creditor's request to the bankruptcy court (skifteretten) to declare the debtor bankrupt.Insolvency and a claimrequires
- Compulsory dissolution (tvangsopløsning)Compulsory dissolution is when Erhvervsstyrelsen (the Danish Business Authority) refers a company to the bankruptcy court because it fails to meet its obligations — for instance by not filing its annual accounts.Erhvervsstyrelseninitiated by
- Creditors' meeting (kreditormøde)The creditors' meeting is the meeting at the bankruptcy court (skifteretten) where the trustee reports on the estate and the creditors can vote.The trustee or the bankruptcy courtconvened by
- Cut-off date (fristdag)The cut-off date is the reference date that determines which transactions can be set aside — typically the day the bankruptcy petition is filed.The day of the petitiontypically
- Dividend (dividende)The dividend is the percentage of its claim that a creditor is paid out of a bankruptcy estate once the estate's funds have been distributed by order of priority.Often receive 0%ordinary creditors
- Estate claim (massekrav)An estate claim is a cost the estate itself incurs after the bankruptcy order — and it is paid before every claim the creditors already held.Konkursloven § 93 (the Danish Bankruptcy Act)rank
- Estate of a deceased person (dødsbo)An estate of a deceased person is the deceased's assets, which must be wound up — and where creditors' claims must be filed if they are to be covered.Skifteretten (the probate court)administered by
- Filing a claim in an estate (anmeldelse af krav i bo)Filing is the creditor's notice to the trustee that a claim exists — without it the estate is distributed as though the claim were not there.The trusteesent to
- Preferential claim (privilegeret krav)A preferential claim ranks ahead in the bankruptcy estate — it is covered before the ordinary unsecured claims, but after the estate's own costs.Konkursloven § 95 (the Danish Bankruptcy Act)ranking
- Restructuring (rekonstruktion)Restructuring is an attempt to save a distressed business through a compulsory composition with creditors or a transfer of the business, instead of bankruptcy.Bankruptcyalternative to
- Skifteretten (the bankruptcy and probate court)Skifteretten is the division of the district court that deals with bankruptcies, restructurings, debt relief cases and deceased estates.Bankruptcy, restructuring, deceased estatesdeals with
- Statstidende (the Danish official gazette)Statstidende is the official gazette in which bankruptcy orders, reconstructions and forced sales are published.Orders, reconstructions and forced salespublishes
- Statutory debt relief (gældssanering)Statutory debt relief is the insolvency court's reduction or cancellation of a private individual's debt when it is hopeless and permanently beyond reach.Private individualsapplies to
- Subordinated claim (efterstillet krav)A subordinated claim sits last in the bankruptcy queue — interest accrued after the order, fines and promised gifts are paid only if everything else has been paid in full.Konkursloven § 98 (the Danish Bankruptcy Act)rank
- Suspension of payments (betalingsstandsning)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.Replaced by reconstructionstatus
- Trustee in bankruptcy (kurator)The kurator is the lawyer appointed by the bankruptcy court (skifteretten) to administer a bankruptcy estate, realise the assets and distribute the proceeds.The bankruptcy courtappointed by
- Unsecured claim (simpelt krav)An unsecured claim is an ordinary creditor claim with no priority — it stands at the back of the queue and often receives no dividend at all.Konkursloven § 97 (the Danish Bankruptcy Act)ranking
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Where the case goes next
The steps around this one — and the themes that apply wherever the case stands.