Spotting insolvency and liquidation
When an important supplier or customer fails, you often notice too late. Yet many steps of German insolvency proceedings are announced publicly. If you know them, you can act earlier.
In short
- German insolvency courts publish proceedings on insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de.
- Petition, preliminary administration and opening are different stages.
- Liquidation is not insolvency, but a sign that the company is coming to an end.
The stages of insolvency proceedings
- Petition: proceedings begin with a petition by the company itself or by a creditor (§ 13 InsO, German Insolvency Code). Grounds are inability to pay (§ 17 InsO), impending inability to pay (§ 18 InsO) and, for legal entities, over-indebtedness (§ 19 InsO).
- Preliminary proceedings: the court can order protective measures and appoint a preliminary insolvency administrator (§ 21 InsO). From this point, who may make or accept payments often changes.
- Opening: with the opening order (§ 27 InsO) an insolvency administrator is appointed. Creditors file their claims with the administrator.
- Rejection for lack of assets: if the assets are not even enough to cover the costs of the proceedings, the petition is rejected (§ 26 InsO). For creditors this is usually a particularly bad sign.
Where to find announcements
Public announcements in insolvency proceedings are made on the internet (§ 9 InsO), nationwide on insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de. Entries are deleted again after a certain time. If you only check a partner occasionally, you can therefore miss an announcement. Regular monitoring closes this gap.
Liquidation is not insolvency
In a liquidation, the shareholders decide to wind up the company in an orderly way. The commercial register then shows „aufgelöst“ (dissolved) and a liquidator. For a GmbH, creditors are publicly called upon to file their claims, and the assets may only be distributed after a blocking year (§ 73 GmbHG). For you this means: file outstanding claims in good time and do not enter into new long term commitments.
What you can do
- Check or monitor important partners regularly.
- If an insolvency petition is filed, switch deliveries to payment in advance and review open items.
- Once proceedings are opened, file your claims with the insolvency administrator within the deadline.
- Payments you received shortly before an insolvency may in some cases be challenged by the administrator. Seek advice in such cases.
Check with Valifex
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This article gives a general overview, as of November 2026. It is not legal or tax advice and does not replace an assessment of the individual case by your tax adviser or lawyer.