Reclaims of paid invoices by insolvency contestation in Germany

As part of an insolvency procedure, the insolvency administrator will always check whether he can reclaim debts paid by the company (art. 133 (1) InsO, German Insolvency Code). Often this will relate to bills paid up to 10 years before the application for the opening of insolvency proceedings, and afterwards. However, two conditions must have been met for this:

1. Creditors disadvantage by the debtor - the other creditors of the insolvent company were deliberately disadvantaged by the payment of this customer/supplier.
   
2. Positive knowledge of the debtor's intent on the part of the opponent of the contestation - the paid customer/supplier must have known with certainty that the insolvent company wanted to prefer him. ​
   

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The insolvency administrator may also challenge contracts for a pecuniary interest that the insolvent company has concluded with associated persons (art. 133 (2) InsO). The contestation is precluded if
a) the contract was concluded earlier than two years before the application for the opening of insolvency proceedings, or
b) if the other contractual partner was not aware at the time the contract was concluded that the insolvent company wanted to deliberately disadvantage other creditors.

​In addition, the intent to discriminate against creditors can have criminal consequences for all parties involved, e.g. for embezzlement, forgery of certificates, etc. A fake invoice and a forged contract are forged certificates. 

Postponement of priority declaration and ban on recognising provisions for anticipated losses for German corporations

Emergency management of corporations in Germany