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Your German Debtor asks for Relief from Payment?

Then you should use this opportunity to obtain a so called “abstraktes Schuldanerkenntnis” (an autonomous acknowledgement of debt) from your German debtor. This is sometimes also called “selbstständiges Schuldanerkenntnis” or “Schuldversprechen”.

In other words: You agree to grant the debtor a moratorium (or a deferred payment) of a few weeks or months, but only under the condition that the debtor signs a Schuldanerkenntnis (a formal “I owe you”).

Such a written debt acknowledgment according to section 781 German Civil Code improves the legal position of the creditor tremendously in case the debtor still does not pay after the delayed payment deadline. Firstly, this is because you can then sue the debtor in a so called “Urkundsverfahren”, which is an accelerated procedure under section 592 German Civil Procedure Rules in court. Secondly, the debtor is no longer allowed to raise objections against the validity of the initial debt.

However, such a debt acknowledgement is only accepted in court if it is in writing, i.e. it needs to be a physical document and contain the (“wet ink”) actual signature of the debtor acknowledging the debt. Emails or scanned signatures are not valid. Thus, you need to have the debtor sign the document (ideally in your presence) and you need to then obtain the original version of that IOU for your files, because you will have to submit the original document to the German court should you later decide to sue the debtor in the accelerated Urkundsprozess.

This is a very brief and simple example of a “Schuldanerkenntnis” (obviously we do not accept any liability and do not recommend that you use such a template without obtaining proper legal counsel first).

Formal acknowledgement of debt (IOU) under German law rules

More information on litigation and legal fees in Germany is available in these posts:

For more on German business and corporate law see these posts:

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Experts on German-British and German-American Legal Matters

Since 2003, the German business and corporate law firm Graf Partners LLP specialises in British-German and US-German legal cases. Our German business and corporate lawyers are native speaker level fluent in English, have many years of practical experience with clients from Britiain and the USA and are part of a well established network of law, tax and accounting firms.

Managing partner Bernhard Schmeilzl was admitted as German Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law) to the Munich Bar in 2001 and specialises in international cases ever since, with a focus on German-American and German-English commercial, corporate and also probate cases. In addition to obtaining his German legal exams with distinction, he also graduated from the English University of Leicester where he obtained his Master of Laws degree in EU Commercial Law in 2003.

In 2014, Graf Partners LLP has set up the international litigation department GP Chambers which focuses on providing professional litigation services to British and US-American clients, both on a commercial and a private client level. The Graf Partners litigation lawyers regularly appear before German law Courts throughout the country and provide specialist legal advice, support and advocacy services in all commercial and civil law matters, ranging from contract disputes, corporate litigation and employment, to damage claims, divorces and contentious probate. If you wish us to advise or represent you in a German or cross border case, or if you need an expert report on German law, please call +49 941 463 7070.

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