Inclusion of Claims in the Register

Despite the fact that Russian legislation provides for the possibility of conducting bankruptcy proceedings even if there is a single creditor, in most cases, bankruptcy cases are characterized by a plurality of creditors and their fierce competition.

The completeness of claims' satisfaction against a bankrupt debtor directly depends on how correctly and timely the claims are filed, as well as on the activity of participants in the bankruptcy case when implementing measures to prevent the inclusion of unsubstantiated claims in the register of creditors' claims.

In law enforcement practice, there is an unambiguous approach, according to which an increased standard of proof is applied when including claims in the register of creditors' claims. In most cases, it will not be enough to send a standard package of documents, it is necessary to provide reliable evidence for the presence and amount of debt, to refute the objections of other creditors and the trustee in bankruptcy, to comply with all deadlines. The ability to participate in the first creditors' meeting, where key decisions that significantly affect the effectiveness of the entire bankruptcy proceeding are made, depends on the timely filing of a request for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims. The percentage of satisfaction of claims declared after closing the register tends to zero.

These circumstances indicate that disputes on the inclusion of claims in the register of creditors' claims involve more thorough preparation than simple debt collection or compulsion to perform obligations in kind in a general tax procedure.

A common situation is when the register of creditors' claims tries to include unscrupulous creditors whose debt is artificially created for the purpose of controlling the bankruptcy proceeding and obtaining funds by persons affiliated with the debtor, rather than independent creditors.

A special category of disputes is the inclusion in the register of creditors' claims of corporate claims filed by persons affiliated with the debtor.

The experts of the Anti-Crisis Group "Pilot" have extensive experience in participating in separate disputes on the validity of creditors' claims for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims.

We provide the following services within this category of disputes:

• Preparation of a full set of documents necessary for recognizing claims against the debtor as justified and including them in the register of creditors' claims, calculation of penalties;
• Preparation of objections to claims of unscrupulous creditors for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims;
• Request of counterclaim to challenge the transaction on which the claim of an unfair creditor for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims is based;
• Participation in isolated disputes on inclusion in the register of creditors' claims of corporate claims of persons affiliated with the debtor, both in case of their subordination, and in case of their validity and necessity of inclusion in the register of creditors' claims.

The experts of the Anti-Crisis Group "Pilot" also have extensive experience in representing the interests of creditors on current payments.