Going bankruptcy

What

Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or entity that can’t pay the debts.

Good to know

The failure to open insolvency proceedings due to the lack of cost-covering assets leads to the withdrawal of the trade license.

Steps

STEP 1: To go bankruptcy, there has to be existence of insolvency or over-debtedness. There has to be also an asset that can cover the start-up costs of the bankruptcy proceedings.

STEP 2: Submit the application for starting the bankruptcy proceedings.

STEP 3: The bankruptcy proceedings are initiated by the court and with the opening of the insolvency file on the Internet publicly.

STEP 4: Court assigns a liquidator who will take control over all assets.

STEP 5: Submitting a restructuration plan controlled by the administrator/liquidator.

Where

You can find the responsible state court (Landesgericht) (in German): www.justiz.gv.at/web2013/html/default/8ab4a8a422985de30122a90e378661ef.de.html.

The Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) has a special office (Insolvenzschutzverband für ArbeitnehmerInnen – ISA) that offers counselling and legal representation for workers in case the employer is declared insolvent or bankrupt. You can obtain more information here: www.arbeiterkammer.at/beratung/arbeitundrecht/Insolvenz/1_Hilfe_bei_Insolvenz.html.