The right to offset the claims in accordance with the law on bankruptcy of the Republic of Serbia and in the region

Abstract

This article discusses a concept of legally permitted and limited offsetting in bankruptcy according to the law of the Republic of Serbia, with comparison to earlier regulations where the offsetting occurred by the force of law, as the legal consequence of initiating bankruptcy proceedings. Legal provisions, legal practice, opinion of the jurisprudence on general and special terms about the right to offset the claims in bankruptcy in the Republic of Serbia, as well as in the countries in the region, have been presented. Relevant legal solutions from laws on bankruptcy of Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, Republic of Croatia, and the Republic of Slovenia have been reviewed. Offsetting claims in bankruptcy proceedings are in principle allowed in regional countries as well. Regarding the effect of bankruptcy on the right to offset the claims, there is a great similarity among the legal solutions in regulations of above mentioned countries, except for the Republic of Slovenia. The Republic of Slovenia retained the broadest concept of legal compensation as a legal consequence of initiating bankruptcy proceedings, which constitutes an important difference compared to restrictive solutions of the Serbian bankruptcy law and regional legislation. This article aims to show to the business entities operating in the region, through comparative legal analysis, different conditions and procedure of offsetting in bankruptcy in national legislation, bearing in mind the importance of this legal institution, which allows the creditors to fully collect their claims outside the bankruptcy payment lines, and regardless of the number of available funds in the bankruptcy estate.

Keywords

• bankruptcy
• offsetting claim
• set-off
• cession
• insolvency
• creditor