A German counterparty that has stopped paying can still move funds, sell stock or reassign receivables before a judgment exists. Interim relief asset preservation Germany procedures – the Arrest for money claims and the einstweilige Verfügung for other claims – exist to stop that movement, but only when the creditor can show urgency and a real risk of loss before the main case is decided.
The creditor applies to the competent civil court for either an Arrest, which freezes assets to secure a future money judgment, or an einstweilige Verfügung, which orders specific conduct such as delivery or disclosure of information. The application sets out the underlying claim and the circumstances that make delay dangerous – a transfer already announced, stock about to leave a warehouse, a company quietly winding down its operations.
German courts frequently decide such applications without hearing the debtor first, because advance notice would defeat the purpose of the order. Once granted, the order is served and enforced immediately, typically against a bank account or a specific asset named in the filing. This sequence sits inside our wider interim relief and asset preservation practice, run on the same logic across every jurisdiction where we act.
Two things persuade a German court: a claim that looks sound on the papers, and a concrete reason to believe the debtor will place assets beyond reach before a final judgment. The contract, the invoice, the delivery record and any exchange in which the debtor concedes the debt or announces a sale carry the most weight. A claim that turns on disputed facts, rather than on documents, is a weaker candidate for this route.
Because the debtor is usually not heard before the order is made, the court relies entirely on what the creditor puts before it. Gaps in the paper trail, or a claim that is really a running dispute about quality or performance, tend to surface later when the debtor applies to have the order lifted. We test the file against that risk before any application is filed on the creditor's behalf.
Where a claim needs a clearer view of the debtor's assets or corporate structure, that work is legal research and corporate intelligence drawn from public registers, official filings and licensed commercial databases. It is carried out by admitted lawyers and licensed providers in the jurisdiction concerned, working from the company's own filings and disclosures. We do not track a person's movements or private affairs; the picture stays on the company, its holdings and its stated position.
SOLUTIO assesses the claim, decides whether interim relief is the right route, and instructs the German lawyer who files the application and appears before the court. The fee basis for that work is agreed before instruction, not calculated as a share of whatever is recovered, because German rules on lawyers' fees restrict arrangements of that kind. We remain the single point of contact for the creditor throughout, so instructions and evidence move in one direction instead of several.
This division of labour is the same one we apply across our wider cross-border recovery in Germany work, whether a file starts with a freezing order or with a claim already filed in the ordinary courts.
Interim relief is a sharp tool, not a routine one, and it fits a narrow set of situations.
Yes, in the right circumstances. An Arrest or an einstweilige Verfügung can secure or shape a position before the main claim is filed, provided the creditor can show both a sound underlying claim and a real risk that waiting would cause loss.
Speed decides most of the outcome here. If assets move before service, the order has nothing left to attach, which is why the application and the evidence behind it are prepared before the debtor has any reason to expect it.
No. Interim relief preserves a position; it does not decide the underlying dispute or secure payment on its own. Recovery still depends on the main claim, the debtor's remaining assets and, in many cases, enforcement steps that follow later.
An exporter watching a German buyer's account run down has a narrow window before that account is empty and the invoice becomes uncollectable on paper, however sound the contract was. Interim relief measures that window; it does not repair a weak claim or a customer who never intended to pay. The immediate question is whether an application filed now would survive the debtor's first objection, not whether relief is available in the abstract.