Custodian for Self-Administration

In addition to advising on self-administration, our partners are regularly appointed as custodian (Sachwalter) in self-administration proceedings.

In self-administration proceedings, the right of administration and disposal remains with the management. The custodian performs tasks that the management itself cannot take on due to sometimes conflicting interests. In addition, his tasks are to monitor and accompany the companies during the proceedings.

We are convinced that constant and open communication between the custodian, management, restructuring advisors and insolvency courts is an important factor for the success of a restructuring in self-administration.

At the request of management or creditors, our partners are regularly appointed already during preliminary insolvency proceedings as custodians by the competent insolvency courts. In larger proceedings, a preliminary creditors’ committee is appointed to represent the interests of the creditors at an early stage in the proceedings. If this committee unanimously decides in favour of a certain person as custodian, the insolvency court is bound by such a proposal.

Although the powers and duties of the custodian do not go as far as those of the insolvency administrator (Insolvenzverwalter), they require the same theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the field of insolvency administration.

Insolvency Plan Procedure

The insolvency plan is an instrument under insolvency law to facilitate quickly overcoming an insolvency through a settlement with the creditors. In addition to considerably shortening the insolvency proceedings, the main advantage is the individual direction and design of continuation solutions aligned to the debtor’s commercial and personal circumstances.

The plan procedure has been strengthened by law several times in recent years. The statutory facilitation of regulations under company law in the plan considerably expands the scope of application and scope for design in insolvency proceedings of legal entities. Among other things, the law provides for the possibility of influencing the rights of shareholders through the plan.

The scope for structuring is supplemented by the introduction of group insolvency plan procedures, which enable a coordinated reorganisation, restructuring or even liquidation of several insolvent and non-insolvent companies of a group. With the admission of the plan procedure in consumer insolvencies, the insolvency plan is now also interesting for private individuals for obtaining early discharge of residual debt.

Our special expertise in insolvency plan procedures is not only due to many years of practical experience with the preparation of such plans and supporting clients throughout the entire process, but also due to an intensive academic assessment of the development of the plan procedures in legislation, case law and practice. Our lawyers Dr. Tjark Thies and Dr. Solveig Lieder have significantly contributed to the development of this pragmatic restructuring instrument with their contributions to the “Hamburger Kommentar zum Insolvenzrecht” (Hamburg Commentary on Insolvency Law) and the Handbook on the Practice of Insolvency Law.

Insolvency Administration

We also specialise in insolvency administration. Our know-how and the many years of experience of our insolvency administrators are documented by a large number of successfully completed proceedings. The partners of our firm are regularly appointed by a total of 30 insolvency courts in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Hesse and Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Our office organisation is set up to take on insolvency proceedings of companies with ongoing business operations of any size at any time. The continuation and reorganisation of the businesses and the protection of the creditors’ interests are our top priority. In this respect, we can rely on a long-standing and trusting cooperation with the most important credit institutions, major suppliers and commerical credit insurers.

In insolvency administration, independence from all parties involved in the proceedings is the basis of our actions.

Dealing respectfully with those affected and exercising the insolvency administrator’s office in a highly personal manner should go without saying and are particularly important to us. We take into account and maintain the existing know-how and structures of the company wherever possible.