What faillissement is
Faillissement is the Dutch bankruptcy procedure. A court declares it when a company has stopped paying its debts, at the request of the company itself, a creditor or the public prosecutor. From that moment the company's directors lose control of its assets: a curator, appointed by the court, manages and sells them for the creditors (Faillissementswet, article 68), supervised by a judge, the rechter-commissaris (article 64).
InsolvencyRadar shows a Dutch company as bankrupt from the court's ruling, published in the Centraal Insolventieregister, until six months after the bankruptcy ends, which is as long as the register keeps it.
What it means if the company owes you money
- Stop supplying on credit. The company's assets are frozen for its creditors as a whole.
- Submit your claim to the curator named in the official record, before the date the court sets: normally 14 days before the first claims meeting. A late claim is not verified. How to submit a claim in the Netherlands.
- Goods on retention of title: tell the curator straight away. A cooling-off period of up to four months in total can delay taking them back.
- Set-off of debts that arose before the bankruptcy, or from dealings before it, stays possible.
How a bankruptcy ends
- For lack of assets (opheffing wegens gebrek aan baten): the most common ending, 73% of the bankruptcies that ended in 2015 in the latest breakdown from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Ordinary creditors receive nothing.
- After the final distribution (verbindende uitdelingslijst): what there was has been shared out.
- With a creditor agreement (akkoord) approved by the court.
- With all debts paid: rare.
A B.V. whose bankruptcy ends for lack of assets or after the final distribution is dissolved (Burgerlijk Wetboek, article 2:19), so in practice nothing more can be recovered from it. A claim that directors mismanaged the company (article 2:248) is brought by the curator for the estate, not by an individual creditor.
When a bankruptcy is overturned
A company that was heard by the court can appeal within 8 days; one that was not heard can object (verzet) within 14 days. Other creditors and interested parties can object within 8 days (articles 8 and 10). If the bankruptcy is overturned, the company is no longer bankrupt, but what the curator did until then stays valid (article 13). InsolvencyRadar shows such a company as set aside by the court.
General information about Dutch law (the Faillissementswet, as in force since 1 September 2026), not legal advice. For a large claim, a Dutch lawyer or the curator or administrator named in the official record can confirm what applies to you.