YARD Law Co. · 2026 · YARD Law Legal Team
Recovering a commercial debt in Bulgaria is rarely a single procedural step. It is a sequence of decisions — pre-claim security, the main lawsuit, possible appeals, bailiff enforcement, and the parallel risk of the debtor entering liquidation or insolvency. The map below sets out what happens at each stage, the statutory windows that apply, and the points at which a creditor still has — or loses — strategic flexibility.
From the moment a creditor first asks the court to freeze assets, through judgment and appeals, to the bailiff collecting actual money. Each stage has its own statutory window — and its own opportunities to act or to be barred.
Application under GPK 390. The court reviews probable merits, the need for security, and proportionality. Possible measures include bank attachment, real-estate prohibition, or another suitable measure. A guarantee may be required as a condition.
Court acts urgently · future-claim deadline up to 1 monthThe bailiff sends bank attachments; the Property Registry records prohibitions. Assets are blocked — but the creditor is not yet paid. The debtor may appeal once they have notice of the imposed measure.
Claim for the secured amount. The court reviews fee, power of attorney, translations, corporate authority, claim calculations, jurisdiction and admissibility. Defects are usually curable.
A — Original security survives. Proof of the main claim is accepted in time, so attachments and prohibitions remain in force.
B — Original security is cancelled. The merits case continues, but assets become unprotected. A fresh application under GPK 389 may be filed before the court hearing the pending claim. A new guarantee may be required.
C — Replacement or reduction. Either party may seek substitution, cancellation or additional measures, subject to proportionality and the prohibition on over-security.
Three structured rounds. Defendant response, claimant supplementary claim, defendant supplementary response. Strict preclusion rules apply to anything left out — this is the most heavily front-loaded phase of Bulgarian commercial procedure.
2 + 2 + 2 weeksPreparation order; evidence admission; expert report; document production; hearing(s); written submissions. Settlement remains possible at any time.
Appeal: 2 weeks from service. Cassation before the Supreme Court of Cassation: 1 month, subject to VKS admission. An appellate condemnatory judgment may already support enforcement.
A final judgment, court settlement, or another enforceable act. A writ of execution is then applied for. A partial claim produces a title only for the awarded part.
The bailiff pursues actual payment: bank accounts, receivables, movables, vehicles, shares and real estate. Valuation, auction, distribution and payment.
Voluntary liquidation is normally initiated by the owner/shareholders or another statutory dissolution event — not by an ordinary trade creditor. The liquidator winds up the company and pays creditors before distributing any remainder.
Insolvency may be initiated by the debtor, the liquidator, a commercial creditor, the NRA in statutory cases, or the Labour Inspectorate in wage-default cases. Opening insolvency generally stays pending monetary suits and individual enforcement.
What a creditor can still add, change, secure or challenge — and what becomes difficult or barred — at each procedural stage.
Seek proportional measures; submit written evidence; offer guarantee; appeal refusal.
Security is not payment — the same secured claim must be filed and proved to the security court.
No merits case yet.
Correct defects; file fee receipt; seek pending-claim security under GPK 389.
Failure to cure can cause return; major changes may break identity with the secured future claim.
Old security survives only if statutory conditions remain met.
Prepare supplementary pleading; challenge denials and documents.
Defendant faces preclusion for omitted defences or evidence without exceptional reason.
Additional or replacement security may be requested.
Clarify and supplement; seek amendment; join third parties and related claims; submit newly available evidence.
The safest structured opportunity for substantial clarification in commercial procedure.
Security remains available.
Address the new defence at hearing or through permitted later submissions.
Further new allegations or evidence face strict preclusion.
Security disputes continue separately.
Change factual basis if the court considers defence rights protected; change relief without changing basis; settle.
Later changes of factual basis become highly restricted.
Can still request security.
Increase or reduce the amount; switch declaratory or condemnatory relief; claim accrued interest; complete admitted evidence.
After closure, increase of the principal amount is ordinarily barred.
Existing security does not automatically expand with the claim.
Appeal adverse parts; file cross-appeal; defend favourable parts; seek security until close of appellate evidence.
Appeal is not a new first trial — new facts and evidence are limited.
Security normally continues unless separately cancelled.
Seek VKS admission and review; oppose admission; settle.
No automatic third instance; no new security after appellate evidentiary phase closes.
Existing security may continue.
Start or expand full enforcement; seize newly found assets; join distributions.
Cannot collect beyond the enforceable title; unclaimed remainder needs its own title.
Security is no substitute for actual enforcement.
The amount may be increased only until the end of the first-instance evidentiary phase. Extra court fee is due on the increase. Existing security remains capped at its original secured amount unless separately enlarged.
Settlement is possible at every stage. Record payment allocation precisely: principal, interest and costs. A court settlement is enforceable; a private payment plan is not automatically an enforcement title.
Only statutory response and appeal periods are fixed. Hearing dates, expert reports and judgment delivery vary. A contested case can take many months per instance; insolvency can extend recovery significantly.
The same bailiff may be involved, but the legal purpose and powers are different. Track A only freezes assets; Track B is what actually moves money to the creditor.
Individual enforcement against insolvency-estate assets is generally stayed. If the creditor's claim is accepted in insolvency, the individual process loses its central role. Ordinary attachments and prohibitions do not equal mortgage or pledge priority in insolvency.
Cash exists: relatively quick collection. Competing creditors: distribution by priority. Encumbered property: earlier mortgage or pledge may absorb most value. No assets: monitor, consider insolvency, avoid inactivity termination.
The debtor may challenge only specified bailiff acts and usually within short periods — typically valuation, sale, distribution, exempt property, termination and third-party ownership. An appeal does not always suspend enforcement.
Synchronise three live files: (1) merits case docket; (2) security case and bailiff file; (3) asset and registry monitoring log. Any payment, new lien, transfer, appeal, insolvency petition or cancellation request can change the optimal next step immediately.
Who can initiate each process, and what happens to the claim, the freezes and the bailiff case once it opens.
Who starts it: owners/shareholders by dissolution resolution, expiry, or another statutory dissolution ground. An ordinary trade creditor does not initiate voluntary liquidation merely because it is unpaid.
Who acts: the registered liquidator replaces management for winding-up functions.
Notify the liquidator formally, provide the claim and evidence, demand recognition or a reserve, continue the pending lawsuit, monitor asset sales and oppose deletion or distribution if the debt is unpaid. If the company cannot pay all creditors, consider an insolvency petition instead.
Who may file: debtor, liquidator, creditor under a commercial transaction, NRA in statutory cases, or Labour Inspectorate in statutory wage-default cases.
Grounds: inability to pay due obligations, or over-indebtedness where applicable.
The pending monetary case and individual enforcement are generally stayed. The creditor must file its claim in the insolvency proceeding even if the merits case already exists. If accepted, it participates in meetings, plans and distributions. If rejected, objection and Article 694 litigation may follow.
Liquidation, but solventNotify the liquidator, continue the claim and preserve enforcement.
Objective inability to payModel insolvency recovery, creditor priority and costs before filing.
Insolvency already openedImmediately docket the 1-month claim-filing deadline and adapt the merits and bailiff strategy to collective proceedings.
GPK arts. 214, 367–378, 389–403, 404–408, 428, 450 · Commerce Act arts. 266–274, 625–632, 637–638, 685–694. Statutory deadlines shown; actual court duration varies.
This roadmap was prepared by the legal team at YARD Law Co., a full-service law firm based in Sofia, Bulgaria, with deep experience in commercial litigation, security and enforcement, and creditor representation in liquidation and insolvency. It is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on a specific case.
Facing an unpaid commercial debt in Bulgaria?
YARD Law represents creditors at every stage of the map above — from pre-claim security to bailiff enforcement to insolvency.