Your German customer is insolvent. What now?

If a company in Germany owes you money and enters insolvency, your claim does not disappear — but you have to register it, in writing, within a deadline set by the court. This page explains how German insolvency proceedings work and what you need to do. It is not legal advice.

How a German insolvency proceeding works

A debtor or a creditor files a petition with the competent local court (Insolvenzgericht). The court first examines whether the debtor is insolvent and whether the estate covers the cost of the proceeding. Two outcomes matter to you:

The proceeding is opened (eröffnet). The court appoints an insolvency administrator (Insolvenzverwalter), who takes over the power to manage and dispose of the debtor's assets. Creditors register their claims with that administrator.

The petition is dismissed for lack of assets (Abweisung mangels Masse, § 26 InsO). No proceeding is opened and, as a rule, nothing is distributed. Registering a claim serves no purpose here; your remaining options concern securities you hold and possible liability of the management.

Registering your claim

Send your registration to the insolvency administrator — not to the court — before the registration deadline (Anmeldefrist) stated in the court's announcement. State the amount, the legal grounds and the date your claim arose, and attach copies of the invoices, the order and the delivery documents. German is the language of the proceeding; a German-language registration avoids delays.

Two points are easy to miss. If you retained title to goods (Eigentumsvorbehalt) or hold other security, say so separately — such rights are asserted outside the ordinary quota. And if you delivered shortly before the petition, the administrator may later challenge payments you received (Insolvenzanfechtung); keep your documentation.

What you can realistically expect

Unsecured creditors usually receive a small percentage of their claim, and often years later. That is not pessimism, it is how the distribution works: secured creditors and the costs of the proceeding come first. Treat the registration as inexpensive insurance rather than as a payment plan.

How this site can help

InsoTicker publishes and researches German insolvency announcements. For each case you can look up the court and file number, the current stage of the proceeding, the appointed administrator with contact details, the registration deadline and the review date, plus company data from the commercial register. Search for your customer by name on the home page. Some details are part of the paid full profile.

Need the data in a system rather than in a browser? See German insolvency data and API.

If you believe we publish something incorrect about you or your company, please use our correction and objection form (German). Last updated: 27. Juli 2026.