Legal Q&A · Debt Recovery

How and by when should a claim be registered in bankruptcy?

Law as at 10 September 2026

Short answer

A creditor pursues a claim against a bankrupt debtor by registering it. Registration must be submitted within the basic 45-day period after the bankruptcy declaration, electronically using the designated form to the trustee's electronic mailbox; it must be authorised or it will be disregarded. Late registration restricts the creditor's rights; a security right, however, must be properly asserted within 45 days or it will be disregarded. Registration has the same effect on limitation as pursuing the right in court.

What is the registration deadline?

Once the debtor enters bankruptcy, the creditor no longer recovers the claim individually but registers it in the bankruptcy (Section 28(1) of Act No. 7/2005 Coll. on Bankruptcy and Restructuring). Registration must be submitted within the basic 45-day registration period after the bankruptcy declaration, electronically through the designated form to the trustee’s electronic mailbox; it must be authorised or it will be disregarded (Section 28(2)). The same 45-day period applies to asserting a security right (Section 28(4)).

What if the creditor misses the deadline?

A late registration is considered subject to the conditions in Section 28(3), but the creditor loses voting and other rights attached to the claim and receives distributions only from proceeds included in a distribution schedule whose preparation was announced after the registration was delivered. The consequence is stricter for security: the security right must be properly asserted within the basic 45-day period or it will be disregarded in the bankruptcy (Section 28(4)). The consequence is therefore not limited to losing voting rights. Registration has the same effect on limitation and extinction of rights as pursuing the right in court (Section 28(6)). For a foreign creditor, the applicable EU-law rules must be assessed separately; the domestic electronic procedure cannot automatically be applied without that assessment.

What must the registration contain?

The registration must contain the statutory particulars and correctly state the claim’s legal basis, ranking and amount, broken down into principal and accessories, with supporting documents attached. Formal errors may cause all or part of the registration to be disregarded. We prepare and submit registrations and continue to assert creditor rights in the proceedings through our registering a claim in bankruptcy service.

How this relates to recovery

Registering in bankruptcy is one recovery route, sometimes the last realistic one where the debtor has no other assets. If you are unsure which route best suits your claim, our debt recovery overview can help, as can representation in commercial and court disputes where the basis of the claim is contested.

This answer provides general information on the law as at 10 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.

More legal questions

All questions and answers
  1. The debtor company failed with no assets. Can we sue its managing director directly? Yes, the law gives the creditor a direct claim. Anyone required to file a bankruptcy petition for the company who failed to do so in time is liable for the resulting loss to creditors. The law assists the creditor with a rebuttable presumption: unless otherwise proved, the loss equals the unpaid portion of the claim. The claim is subject to limitation, so do not delay.
  2. The debtor transferred assets to family members to avoid paying. Can anything be done? Yes. The Civil Code gives creditors an avoidance action: the court declares that a transaction prejudicing the creditor is legally ineffective against them. The transfer is not cancelled and the assets do not return to the debtor, but the creditor can enforce directly against the assets transferred as though the transfer had never occurred. For transfers to close persons, the law significantly eases the creditor's evidential burden; the action must be brought within three years of the transaction.
  3. The debtor says nothing is owed because it set off its own claim. Is that valid? A unilateral set-off may extinguish a debt if the mutual claims are eligible for set-off and a definite declaration has been delivered to you. Maturity is generally required, but the Commercial Code provides exceptions in Sections 359 and 360. The mere fact that a counterclaim is disputed does not make it ineligible for set-off; its existence, amount and the other conditions must be examined. If the conditions are not met, the set-off does not extinguish the debt.
  4. The trustee disputed our registered claim. What should we do, and by when? The only defence is an action to establish the disputed claim, known as an incidental action. It must be filed within 30 days of publication of the dispute in the list of claims and directed against everyone who disputed the claim. Missing the deadline extinguishes the right and permanently excludes the disputed part from satisfaction, although it continues to exist under substantive law.

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Mgr. Patrik Tulinský, LL.M. Czech and Slovak attorney · SAK 300422 · ČAK 19654

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