One of the most important moments for creditors in insolvency and recovery proceedings is the claiming and verification of credits.
Creditors must always request the verification of their credits, even if their credits have already been listed/indicated by the debtor himself, or recognised by a definitive court ruling in other proceedings, and regardless of their nature.
For example, in the case of labour claims, if the employer is declared insolvent, the employee will no longer be able to file a declaratory action against the employer, but will have to claim his credits in the insolvency proceeding.
The credit claims – whether the proceedings are insolvency or recovery – must be presented in a form of a request, addressed to the Judicial Administrator.
On insolvency proceedings, the deadline for the creditors to assert their claims is fixed by the court in the sentence that declares the insolvency.
On recovery proceedings, the deadline is 20 days from the court order that appoints the Provisional Judicial Administrator.
After the deadline for complaints is over, the Judicial Administrator must present a list of recognised and unrecognised claims, which may be contested by any interested party, such as creditors or the debtor himself.
The challenge of such list is judicial, i.e., it must be submitted to the Court, which must rule on it, and may be afterwards responded by any interested party who takes a contrary position.
It is possible for creditors to have their credits recognised, even if if they don’t comply with the time period originally set to present their claim – this is the case of the subsequent verification of credits in insolvency proceedings.
As the name implies, this is a claim made at a later time than originally determined for the claim of credits, which can only be admitted if:
- it is made within 6 months of the final judgment declaring the insolvency, or within 3 months of the emergence of the claim; and
- it can only be submitted by creditors who have not been notified of the list initially presented by the insolvency practitioner.
