Debtor company in liquidation: how a creditor claims the debt in Lithuania

If your debtor is being liquidated, send a written claim to the liquidator as soon as you find out. Neither ABĮ Article 73 nor CK Article 2.112 sets a deadline for a creditor to submit a claim. However, assets may be distributed to the shareholders as early as 2 months after all the steps for notifying the liquidation are completed (Article 73(14) of the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania (ABĮ)). If the liquidator disputes or does not pay the debt, go to court: until the court resolves the dispute over the debts and the creditors are paid, the assets may not be distributed to the shareholders (ABĮ Article 73(15)). If a bankruptcy case has been opened against the debtor, file your claim within 30 days of the publication of the ruling (Article 41(1) of the Law on Insolvency of Legal Entities of the Republic of Lithuania (JANĮ)), and if the liquidation was initiated by the registry operator, the Centre of Registers (Registrų centras), you have one year to bring a claim from the day the entity acquired the status of “entity for which liquidation is being initiated” (Article 2.70(6) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania (CK)).

How liquidation looks from the company’s side, and the order in which the liquidator pays creditors, is described in What happens during a UAB liquidation. This article covers the same process from the creditor’s side.

How to find out that the debtor is being liquidated

The liquidator must publish the liquidation three times at intervals of no less than 30 days, or publish it once and notify all creditors in writing (ABĮ Article 73(10); CK Article 2.112(1)). So you may not receive a personal letter at all: if three public notices are chosen, the liquidator does not have to send letters to creditors.

Other sources also show the liquidation:

• The company’s documents. The documents a company in liquidation uses in dealings with others must state its status as “in liquidation” (likviduojama) (ABĮ Article 73(7); CK Article 2.44(2)). Check invoices and letters.
• The Register of Legal Entities. The registry operator’s electronic information bulletin publishes the legal status of the entity (point 245.7 of the Regulations of the Register of Legal Entities (JAR nuostatai)), and the date of the liquidator’s appointment and the liquidator’s name (JAR nuostatai point 245.6). It also publishes the date of the notice that the registry operator intends to initiate liquidation (JAR nuostatai point 245.9).

From appointment, the liquidator acquires the rights and duties of the company’s manager and board, and the manager loses their powers (ABĮ Article 73(6)). So address your claim to the liquidator, not to the former manager.

How and by when to submit the claim

Neither ABĮ Article 73 nor CK Article 2.112 sets a deadline for a creditor to submit a claim. Still, you should not wait, for two reasons:

• assets may be distributed to the shareholders 2 months after all the notification steps in ABĮ Article 73(10) are completed (ABĮ Article 73(14));
• the liquidator must complete the liquidation and deregister the company within one year of the registration of its status as an entity in liquidation, and this period can be extended by one year (CK Article 2.110(3)).

If the liquidator does not deregister the company within these periods, the registry operator deregisters it. Until 14 October 2026 this is done within five working days at the latest from the end of the periods in CK Article 2.110(3) (JAR nuostatai point 200¹). From 15 October 2026 the company is deregistered automatically within 30 days at the latest from the end of the periods in CK Article 2.110(3), unless the State Tax Inspectorate (Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija, VMI) has reported the circumstances listed in the Regulations (JAR nuostatai point 200¹, version from 2026-10-15). Those circumstances are debts to the VMI, a debt to the State Social Insurance Fund, unfulfilled obligations to customs, unterminated employment contracts, an ongoing tax investigation or tax audit, tax disputes over obligations to the state, or a concluded tax loan agreement (JAR nuostatai point 23.28¹, version from 2026-10-15). If the VMI reports that these circumstances have ended, and that information arrives after the periods in CK Article 2.110(3) have expired, the company is deregistered within 30 days at the latest from receipt of that information (JAR nuostatai point 200¹, version from 2026-10-15). A private creditor’s claim is not among these circumstances.

In the claim, state the amount of the debt, its basis (contract, invoices, acceptance certificates) and the payment details, and attach copies of the documents. Send it to the company’s registered office or to its electronic delivery box address, both of which must appear on the company’s documents (CK Article 2.44(1)(3) and (4)). Keep proof that the claim was delivered.

The liquidator pays creditors in the order set by the Civil Code (ABĮ Article 73(13)). The claim of a supplier or service provider not secured by a pledge falls into the third rank (CK Article 2.113(1)(4)), except for the claims of natural persons for payment for agricultural produce bought for processing listed in CK Article 2.113(1)(2). The full order is described in our article on the UAB liquidation process.

What to do if the liquidator ignores your claim

• Bring a claim in court. While a court dispute over the company’s debts is pending, the assets are not distributed to the shareholders until the court resolves it and the creditors are paid (ABĮ Article 73(15)). Note: this rule prohibits distributing the assets, but its wording does not prohibit deregistering the company. That is why it is worth starting the dispute as early as possible.
• Ask for the liquidator to be replaced. A creditor whose claim is at least the value set in CK Article 2.109(2) may ask the court to replace the liquidator if the liquidator acts improperly or settles with creditors dishonestly (CK Article 2.109(2)).
• Liquidator’s liability. A liquidator who fails to perform the duties set in CK Article 2.110 and the ABĮ, or performs them improperly, must compensate the resulting damage in full (CK Article 2.110(4)).
• Shareholders’ liability. If the company cannot pay the debt because of a shareholder’s bad-faith acts, the shareholder is subsidiarily liable for it with their own assets (CK Article 2.50(3)). The Supreme Court of Lithuania applied this rule to a shareholder who liquidated the company in haste without notifying a known creditor (ruling of 26 June 2024 in civil case No. e3K-3-137-381/2024, para. 42).

If the debtor is insolvent

If it turns out during liquidation that the company is insolvent, the liquidator must stop all payments and start bankruptcy proceedings without delay (JANĮ Article 7). A creditor whose claim has fallen due may also start insolvency proceedings (JANĮ Article 4(1)(2)). How this works is covered in Does bankruptcy need shareholder consent? How insolvency is established.

Once a bankruptcy case is opened, the deadline becomes strict. Submit your claim and the supporting documents to the insolvency administrator within 30 days of the publication of the ruling opening the case on the supervisory authority’s website (JANĮ Article 41(1)). If you miss the deadline, the right to claim ends (JANĮ Article 41(6)). The court may accept a late claim only if it finds the reasons for the delay important (JANĮ Article 41(4)). From the day the ruling opening the case takes effect, enforcing the debt against the company is prohibited (JANĮ Article 28(1)(2)). These JANĮ provisions do not change in the versions entering into force on 1 January 2027 and on 1 May 2028.

If the liquidation was initiated by the registry operator

In that case no liquidator is appointed (CK Article 2.70(8)), so there is no one to collect the assets and pay the creditors. A creditor has the right to bring a claim for performance of the debtor’s obligations or for the opening of insolvency proceedings within a one-year period from the day the entity acquired the status of “entity for which liquidation is being initiated”. Once the court accepts the claim, the registry operator removes that status (CK Article 2.70(6)). A creditor holding an enforcement document that has not been fully enforced may, within the same year, ask the court to revoke the liquidation being initiated (CK Article 2.70(5)).

If none of this is done within the year, the registry operator decides to liquidate the entity (CK Article 2.70(7)), and once the status “in liquidation” is registered it deregisters the company within five working days at the latest (JAR nuostatai point 200). More on this route in The Centre of Registers initiated liquidation: what to do.

More on liquidation

• Liquidation of companies: service page
• Liquidation initiated by the Centre of Registers
• Liquidation or bankruptcy: what to do when a company runs short of assets
• Does bankruptcy need shareholder consent? How insolvency is established
• Closing a Lithuanian company: liquidation, bankruptcy, merger or share sale
• The company no longer trades – do you have to liquidate it?
• Liquidation notice from the Centre of Registers: what to do and when
• Liquidating a UAB with a shareholder abroad: what can be done remotely
• Liquidation in Lithuania: archive certificate and state land lease tax
• Liquidation in Lithuania: annual financial statements and the AGM
• Shares in other companies during liquidation: act before deregistration
• After bankruptcy opens: CEO duties and what shareholders can still do

More on debt recovery

• Debt recovery in court: service page
• Debt recovery from an individual or a company in Lithuania: differences
• Writ of execution in Lithuania: how to obtain it and send it to a bailiff
• Finding a debtor’s assets and income in Lithuania: you vs the bailiff

How to start

Send us the documents supporting the debt (contract, invoices, correspondence) and the debtor’s extract from the Centre of Registers (Registrų centras), or its name and code. We will check the debtor’s position in the register, prepare the claim to the liquidator or insolvency administrator and, if needed, a statement of claim for court.

Phone +370 5 212 1506, email info@linden.lt

More about this service: Liquidation of companies.