Mélanges - Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean-Luc Vallens - 1re - 440

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DISCHARGE OR DEBT RESCHEDULING OF NATURAL PERSONS IN DENMARK

applicant's debts, he or she is summoned to a court meeting. At the meeting, the
court will decide whether to open a rescheduling case for the applicant or to
refuse it. Over all, only secured debts are exempt from rescheduling but certain
types of debts, like debts from criminal activity or tax or child support may not
"qualify" for rescheduling and may prevent the debtor from obtaining a rescheduling of the debts all together, at least if the debts are recent. Also recent consumer debts will generally prevent a debtor from getting his or her debts rescheduled. It is not for the debtor to decide which of his or her debts should be
rescheduled ; generally speaking, all debts have to qualify for a rescheduling to
pass through the legal system. If some of the debts do not qualify because they are
too resent, the application will be refused in all. However, the debtor may apply
again when the debts are less resent.
If a case is opened, the court will appoint an administrator (a lawyer specialized in these types of cases, paid for by the court) to gather more information
about the debts and to assist the debtor making a proposal to the creditors. An
advertisement to the creditors showing that the case has been opened appears in
the official newspaper "Statstidende".
All known creditors are notified by the administrator. The creditors have to file
details of their claim with the administrator within eight weeks or they lose their
claim. After the eight weeks, the administrator will calculate a rescheduling plan for
the debtor based on his or her income and necessary expenses. Generally, all debts
- except the secured debts - will be included in the plan. The administrator will also
calculate the dividend that the debtor is able to pay to the creditors within the five
(three) years of payments. Under the plan, the debtor will commit to accrue every
month an agreed amount of money which will be distributed to the creditors
annually. If the debtor, for example, has total liabilities of 120,000 euro and can pay
200 euro every month, the annual payment will be 2,400 euro, which will make a
total dividend of 10% to the creditors over five years.
If the court is satisfied with the rescheduling plan, another court meeting
will be held and all the creditors are invited. The creditors may object to the
plan which may actually be modified as late as at the meeting. At that meeting,
the court will finally decide whether to grant the rescheduling of the debts
according to the plan. It is for the court to make a decision on the basis of all
known facts. Debts secured by co-debtors or security from third party collateral
are included in the plan but creditors' claims against any co-debtor or third
party collateral will remain unchanged. The administrator's job finishes when
the court makes the final ruling. The debtor himself/herself is responsible for
making the payments to the creditors.
Both creditors and the debtor can appeal the court's decisions on rescheduling
cases to the Appeal Court (depending on where in Denmark, either "Østre
Landsret" in Copenhagen or "Vestre Landsret" in Viborg [Jutland]).
Generally speaking, a debt rescheduling in Denmark includes all claims including foreign claims. Foreign creditors will not be able to enforce the rest of their
claim in Denmark and will have to respect the court decision like the Danish

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