Petitioning for bankruptcy

When you own a business in the Netherlands and you are no longer able to pay off your debts, you can petition the court to be declared bankrupt.

Before you take this step, you may consider debt restructuring or suspension of payment. Creditors, the public prosecutor, the court, and your shareholders can also petition the court to declare you bankrupt.

Petitioning for your own bankruptcy

You can petition for bankruptcy for yourself or for the company you represent. You can do so under the following conditions:

• you have 2 or more debts, one of which is due immediately (the payment term has expired), and
• you owe money to 2 or more creditors (individuals or businesses that you owe money to), and
• you have stopped paying

How to petition for bankruptcy

You petition for bankruptcy with the court in your district. To do so, you must use the Declaration of bankruptcy Form (Eigen aangifte faillietverklaring, in Dutch). It depends on your legal structure which form you need.

You are not obliged to have a lawyer if you apply for your own bankruptcy, but you should be present when your case comes before the court.

Partner must also sign

Do you want to petition for bankruptcy for your sole proprietorship or general partnership? And are you married or do you have a registered partnership? Then your partner must also sign the petition.

Shareholders must agree

Are you a director or officer of a public (NV) or private limited company (BV) with shareholders? Then you can only petition for bankruptcy if the shareholders agree.

What if someone else applies for your bankruptcy?

Another person can petition for your bankruptcy with the court.

You can be made bankrupt if you:

• have 2 or more debts, one of which is due immediately (the payment term had expired), and
• owe money to 2 or more creditors, and
• have stopped paying

Who can petition for your bankruptcy?

The following parties can petition to have you declared bankrupt:

• your creditors
• the Public Prosecution Service, for instance if you have outstanding debts to many people
• the court, if you are involved in debt restructuring and you do not comply with the arrangements
• your shareholders

If another party petitions for your bankruptcy, you do not need to be present when your case is in court. The judge will decide during the hearing whether or not you will be declared bankrupt.

What if you do not agree?

You can object to the court if you do not agree with the bankruptcy petition (in Dutch). You must be able to prove that you can pay your debts. You can tell this to the judge during the court session, or you can write a letter.

Petition for someone else’s bankruptcy

Does a customer owe you money? And does this customer not pay, even after you have sent reminders? You can file for a customer's bankruptcy. In that case you are the creditor and the customer is the debtor.

You can apply for a customer’s bankruptcy if:

• they have 2 or more debts, one of which is due immediately (the payment term has expired), and
• they owe money to 2 or more creditors, and
• they have stopped paying

You will need a lawyer to petition the court for your debtor’s bankruptcy. And you will need to be present during the court session. The judge will decide during the court session whether or not your customer will be declared bankrupt.

What happens after you have been declared bankrupt?

If the court declares you or your company bankrupt, they will appoint an official receiver. This is the only person who is allowed to manage your company from the day that you have been declared bankrupt. The official receiver decides on the order in which your creditors will be repaid.

Find out more on what happens after you have petitioned for bankruptcy.

Administration ban

If one of the company directors has committed bankruptcy fraud, they can be banned from acting as a director for a period of up to 5 years. During that time, they cannot act as a director for a legal entity.

Your customer's bankruptcy

If one of your customers has gone bankrupt and still owes you money, their receiver will send you a letter about their bankruptcy. If you have not received this letter, make sure to contact them yourself. You may clarify your claim, when the receiver calls a meeting to discuss all outstanding accounts.

Please note: if the receiver was unable to locate all creditors, any leftover amounts will be stored in the so-called Consignatiekas (consignment office, in Dutch). It stores leftover (monetary) funds from, among others, bankruptcies and debt restructuring settlements for a period of 20 years. If you have a legitimate claim and have proof of this, you can file your claim through the Ministry of Finance (in Dutch). You can search the Ministry’s database (in Dutch) to find out if there are any funds left of your customer.

Central Insolvency Register

All bankruptcies, suspension of payments, and debts restructuring of natural persons are listed in the Central Insolvency Register (Centraal Insolventieregister, in Dutch).