Personal bankruptcy in Austria

The court proceedings themselves usually take only a few months: they are terminated once the court’s confirmation of the accepted payment plan becomes final (section 196(1) IO). How long it takes to get there depends above all on the assets: the payment plan may not be heard and voted on before the debtor’s assets have been realised (section 193(2) IO). The payment period in which you pay the agreed quota runs from the acceptance of the payment plan (sections 141(1) and 193(1) IO), usually up to five years; by law it may not exceed seven years (section 194 IO). In the skim-off proceedings (Abschöpfungs­verfahren), which have to be applied for at the latest together with the payment plan and which come into play if that plan does not come about (sections 199(1) and 200(1) IO), the attachable income is assigned to a trustee for five years, running from the moment the decision initiating those proceedings becomes final (Abschöpfungsplan, section 199(2) IO); as of 17 July 2026 the former three-year variant (Tilgungsplan) is no longer available to consumers unless the application was filed with the court before that date (section 283(9) IO). Unless the proceedings are discontinued early, they end with the discharge of the remaining debt (section 213(1) IO).

Section 194 IO requires as a minimum the quota matching your expected income over the following three years. That period comes from the 2021 reform, when consumers, too, could obtain the discharge of the remaining debt through a three-year redemption plan (Tilgungsplan). That came to an end on 17 July 2026 (section 283(9) IO): if no payment plan comes about, consumers go on, upon application, to the skim-off proceedings, in which the attachable part of the income goes to a trustee for five years and is distributed among the creditors (sections 199(2) and 203(1) IO). The three years in section 194 IO were not adjusted. Creditors therefore measure a payment plan against what they would receive in the skim-off proceedings.

No, an out-of-court settlement attempt has not been a precondition since 2017. It can still be the better path, as it avoids court proceedings and the entry in the insolvency database (Insolvenz­datei). We will assess together whether that is possible in your case.

Personal bankruptcy (Schulden­regulierungs­verfahren) is handled by the district court (Bezirks­gericht) for the district of your habitual residence; in Vienna, this is the district court competent in enforcement matters for your habitual residence (section 182(1) IO). If you run a business, the Vienna Commercial Court (Handels­gericht Wien) has jurisdiction instead, and the proceedings take the form of bankruptcy proceedings or restructuring proceedings; see the page on corporate insolvency. I file the application with the correct court for you.

There is no general answer to that. Whether and in what amount costs arise depends on the type and course of the proceedings: possible items are the flat court fee (Pauschal­gebühr), the remuneration of a court-appointed insolvency administrator, the remuneration of the privileged creditor protection associations and the costs of realising assets. As a rule you do not need the advance on costs that courts require in an entrepreneur’s bankruptcy proceedings: your application is not dismissed for lack of assets if you submit a detailed asset register signed in your own hand, submit an admissible payment plan and apply for its acceptance, and provide documents showing prima facie that you will fulfil the payment plan and that your income will probably cover the costs of the proceedings (sections 183(1) and (2) IO). That does not make the proceedings free of charge: costs not covered by the estate are advanced from public funds, and the court orders you to repay them to the extent that, and as soon as, you are able to do so without impairing your necessary maintenance (sections 184(1) and (3) IO). I will tell you the costs of my representation in advance in the initial consultation, along with my assessment of whether representation pays off for you.

The core of the application is the asset register (Vermögens­verzeichnis). It lists your assets and debts with amount or value, for each debt the creditor with an address, the basis, the due date and any security. It also has to state your income over the last three months, including special payments, and your current outgoings, such as housing costs, maintenance obligations and insurance premiums (section 185(1) IO). For claims of your own you must state whether they are likely to be recoverable; disputed items must be marked as such, and where a creditor or debtor is a close relative this has to be pointed out (section 185(1) IO). You must sign the register in your own hand (section 183(1) IO). You must also state any division of assets with close relatives and dispositions in their favour in the last ten years (section 185(2) IO). The information must be supported by documents as far as reasonable (section 185(3) IO), for example payslips and loan agreements. If your assets are unlikely to cover the costs of the proceedings, two things are added: an admissible payment plan together with the application for its acceptance, and documents showing prima facie that you will fulfil the payment plan and that your income is likely to cover the costs of the proceedings (section 183(1) and (2) IO). We go through the documents you need when taking stock.

A payment plan and the discharge of the remaining debt take effect in principle against all creditors whose claims already existed when the proceedings were opened, even if the claims were not lodged (sections 156(1), 193(1), 197(1) and 214(1) IO). Interest accrued since the opening and the creditors’ own costs of taking part in the proceedings can no longer be demanded afterwards (sections 58 no. 1, 156(5) and 214(1) IO). Debts that arise only after the opening, such as current rent or current maintenance, remain in place, as do fines and claims arising from gifts (sections 51, 58 nos. 2 and 3, and 156(5) IO). Pledges over assets also remain: you are released from personal liability, not from the liability of the pledged asset (sections 11(1) and 149(1) IO). Anyone holding a mortgage over your flat can therefore still obtain satisfaction from the flat. The discharge in the skim-off proceedings does not cover liabilities arising from an intentionally committed tort or an intentional omission contrary to criminal law (section 215 no. 1 IO), for instance maintenance arrears where the maintenance obligation was breached contrary to criminal law (section 198 StGB); under a payment plan this exception does not apply (sections 156(1) and 193(1) IO). If a claim was left out solely through your fault, for instance because you did not list the creditor, that creditor can demand it in full (sections 156(4) and 215 no. 2 IO). Guarantors and co-debtors are not released, and creditors can still turn to them (sections 151 and 214(2) IO). If a guarantor pays, you are released in relation to that guarantor in the same way as in relation to the creditors themselves (sections 156(2) and 214(2) IO).

You keep the attachment-free minimum of your current income (section 291a EO); where enforcement is for statutory maintenance, a lower amount is exempt from attachment (section 291b EO). Tenancy and other rights of use in living space that is indispensable for you and the family members living with you are left at your free disposal by the court (section 5(4) IO), so a rented flat is usually kept. Assets of value, such as a flat or house of your own or a car, are in principle realised. We will clarify in the initial consultation what this means for your case.

From the day after the announcement of the opening, no creditor can acquire a lien through enforcement (sections 2(1) and 10(1) IO). Liens acquired through enforcement in the sixty days before the opening lapse, except those for public charges (section 12(1) IO); older ones remain in place (section 11(1) IO). An attachment of your wages or pension lapses at the end of the calendar month in which the proceedings are opened, or at the end of the following month if they are opened after the 15th (section 12a(3) IO); an assignment or pledge of salary agreed before the opening, by contrast, remains effective for two more years after the end of the month of the opening (section 12a(1) IO). Both the attachment and the assignment or pledge revive, among other cases, if the secured claim revives (under a payment plan on the conditions of section 156a IO), if the skim-off proceedings are discontinued early, or if the discharge is not granted or is revoked; where they secure a claim that is excluded from the discharge, they revive even once the discharge is granted (section 12a(4) and (5) IO). You do not receive the attachable part of your income during the proceedings; it belongs to the insolvency estate (sections 2(2) and 187(1) no. 5 IO). In skim-off proceedings enforcement by individual insolvency creditors is not permitted (section 206(1) IO).