Insolvency law includes all regulations that deal with the insolvency procedure and concern the event of a debtor’s insolvency. Insolvency law is regulated by law, particularly in the Insolvency Code (InsO).
In insolvency law, a distinction must be made between standard insolvency proceedings (company insolvency) and consumer insolvency proceedings (personal insolvency).
Consumer insolvency proceedings concern the insolvency of a private individual. It is a simplified insolvency procedure under insolvency law. The aim is essentially to become debt-free after a good behavior phase of six years through the so-called “residual debt relief”.
Corporate insolvency is the legally regulated normal case in insolvency law and is therefore also referred to as standard insolvency proceedings in insolvency law. It primarily regulates the insolvency procedure for legal or natural persons who are self-employed, i.e. entrepreneurs. The purpose of the insolvency proceedings in insolvency law is, on the one hand, to satisfy the creditors of the insolvent company, but also, if possible, to preserve or restructure the company, see Section 1 InsO.
Upon application to the responsible insolvency court, the insolvency court appoints an insolvency administrator under insolvency law who carries out the insolvency proceedings and in particular takes care of the realization of the insolvency estate, i.e. the assets of the insolvent debtor.
Under insolvency law, even before a company can no longer satisfy its creditors, but this is foreseeable, an insolvency application should be filed with the insolvency court immediately in order to avoid exposing yourself to civil claims for damages or criminal prosecution.
On the following pages we will try to provide you with as much information as possible about the basic principles of insolvency law.
We also recommend the following pages on the subject of insolvency law: