Insolvency proceedings in France: advice and court representation
For a French company in difficulty, a foreign creditor or a buyer, insolvency proceedings in France follow their own rules, set out in the French Commercial Code.
An insolvency law firm in France for companies, creditors and buyers
FACCHINI Law Firm acts in Lyon, in Paris and throughout France in French insolvency proceedings (procédures collectives).
In English, these procedures are often called bankruptcy.
We act for businesses, whether companies or sole traders, and never for the personal over-indebtedness of private individuals (surendettement des particuliers).
Maître Angélique FACCHINI, a French avocat and member of the Lyon Bar (Barreau de Lyon), assists directors, foreign parent groups, foreign creditors and buyers.
Insolvency proceedings are one part of the business law practice of FACCHINI Law Firm, where companies also find a French business lawyer for company law, commercial contracts and debt collection.
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What are insolvency proceedings in France?
French insolvency proceedings (procédures collectives) are court procedures for businesses in financial difficulty.
Once they open, creditors can no longer act individually to recover claims that arose before the opening.
The company may no longer pay debts that arose before the opening judgment, which is published in the BODACC, the French official gazette of civil and commercial notices.
French law provides three main procedures, depending on the seriousness of the situation: safeguard proceedings (procédure de sauvegarde), which also exists in an accelerated form, judicial reorganisation (redressement judiciaire) and judicial liquidation (liquidation judiciaire).
The court appoints the officers of the procedure: a supervising judge (juge-commissaire), a creditors’ representative (mandataire judiciaire), where applicable a court-appointed administrator (administrateur judiciaire), and a judicial liquidator (liquidateur judiciaire) in a judicial liquidation.
Before insolvency proceedings: mandat ad hoc and conciliation
Two confidential procedures, distinct from insolvency proceedings, help a company negotiate with its creditors:
- Mandat ad hoc (Article L. 611-3 of the French Commercial Code): at the company’s request, the president of the court appoints a mandataire ad hoc and sets the task, usually to negotiate with creditors before cessation of payments; the agreement binds only the parties who accept it.
- Conciliation: a conciliator appointed by the president of the court helps reach an agreement within 5 months at most, if the company has not been in cessation of payments for more than 45 days; the court can approve the agreement.
Cross-border insolvency proceedings: the EU Regulation
Annex A to the EU Insolvency Regulation, as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2073, lists four French proceedings: safeguard (sauvegarde), accelerated safeguard (sauvegarde accélérée), judicial reorganisation (redressement judiciaire) and judicial liquidation (liquidation judiciaire); mandat ad hoc and conciliation are not listed.
Safeguard, judicial reorganisation and judicial liquidation in France
A French judicial reorganisation lawyer works on the reorganisation plan or the sale of the business, acting for the company, a creditor or a buyer.
A French judicial liquidation lawyer defends the directors, files and follows the claims of creditors, and assists buyers of the company’s assets.
| Procedure | When it opens | Who manages it | Possible outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safeguard proceedings (sauvegarde) | The company faces difficulties it cannot overcome but is not in cessation of payments; only the company can apply. | The directors keep running the business; the court appoints a creditors’ representative and an administrator to supervise or assist them, an appointment that is optional below size thresholds set by decree. | A safeguard plan of up to 10 years, or conversion into judicial reorganisation or judicial liquidation. |
| Accelerated safeguard (sauvegarde accélérée) | The company is in conciliation and has drawn up a draft plan likely to win broad support from the affected creditors; its accounts are certified by an auditor or prepared by a chartered accountant. | The directors keep running the business, with a court-appointed administrator in every case. | Adoption of the plan within 2 months, extendable to 4 months at most; otherwise the procedure ends. |
| Judicial reorganisation (redressement judiciaire) | The company is in cessation of payments but recovery remains possible; the company, a creditor or the public prosecutor can apply. | The directors, assisted or replaced by a court-appointed administrator where one is appointed; a creditors’ representative acts for the creditors; observation period of up to 6 months, renewable once and, exceptionally, extended at the public prosecutor’s request, up to 18 months in total. | A reorganisation plan of up to 10 years, a sale plan, or judicial liquidation. |
| Judicial liquidation (liquidation judiciaire) | The company is in cessation of payments and recovery is manifestly impossible. | A judicial liquidator, who replaces the directors, under the supervision of the supervising judge. | Activity stops, save a limited continuation allowed by the court; assets are sold individually or through a sale plan. |
Insolvency lawyer in France for directors, foreign creditors and buyers
Companies, directors and foreign parent groups
We help directors, or the foreign group that owns the company, choose the procedure and prepare the court filing.
We represent the company at hearings, negotiate with the officers and creditors, and build the safeguard or reorganisation plan.
We defend directors facing liability for insufficient assets (action en comblement de passif), a ban on managing a company (interdiction de gérer), faillite personnelle (a sanction that bars a director from running a business, unrelated to consumer bankruptcy) or banqueroute (a criminal offence).
Foreign creditors
When a French customer enters insolvency proceedings, we handle the filing of claims (déclaration de créances), follow their verification and challenge any rejection.
Before any insolvency, unpaid invoices are handled through our debt collection services in France.
Filing deadline: 2 months from publication in the BODACC, 4 months for creditors domiciled outside metropolitan France.
Buyers of a French business in difficulty
We assist foreign companies and investors who want to take over a French business through a sale plan (plan de cession), in judicial reorganisation or judicial liquidation, and draft their takeover offer (offre de reprise).
As a rule, the buyer takes over the assets and contracts listed in its offer but not the company’s previous debts, unless the offer expressly includes them.
By exception, where a loan that financed an asset taken over is secured on that asset, the buyer pays the instalments falling due after the sale (Article L. 642-12 of the French Commercial Code).
Key point: once filed, the offer is irrevocable.
Cessation of payments in France (cessation des paiements)
Cessation of payments (cessation des paiements) is the situation of a company unable to meet its debts that are due with its available assets (Article L. 631-1 of the French Commercial Code).
The company must apply for judicial reorganisation or judicial liquidation within 45 days of cessation of payments, unless it has requested conciliation within that period (Articles L. 631-4 and L. 640-4 of the French Commercial Code).
Insolvency courts in Paris and Lyon
Since 1 January 2025, 12 commercial courts have been renamed tribunal des activités économiques (TAE) for a 4-year pilot scheme (Article 26 of Law No 2023-1059 of 20 November 2023; ministerial order of 5 July 2024).
In those areas, the TAE has jurisdiction over amicable procedures and insolvency proceedings opened since that date, whatever the debtor’s status or activity, except for lawyers, notaries, commissaires de justice (formerly bailiffs and judicial auctioneers), commercial court clerks, court-appointed administrators and mandataires judiciaires.
Elsewhere, the commercial court (tribunal de commerce) has jurisdiction over commercial and craft businesses, and the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire) over other activities.
Insolvency proceedings in Paris
The Paris TAE, formerly the Paris commercial court, is one of the 12 courts in the pilot scheme.
Since 1 January 2025, it has had jurisdiction over the amicable procedures and insolvency proceedings opened for the businesses within its area.
In the Paris region, the courts of Nanterre and Versailles are also part of the pilot scheme.
Insolvency proceedings in Lyon
The Lyon TAE, formerly the Lyon commercial court, has also been part of the pilot scheme since 1 January 2025.
It has jurisdiction over the amicable procedures and insolvency proceedings opened since that date for the businesses within its area, including non-commercial activities.
FACCHINI Law Firm is based a few minutes from the court and appears before it regularly.
Why choose FACCHINI Law Firm as your insolvency lawyer in France
Our practice covers every stage, from amicable procedures to insolvency proceedings in France and the defence of directors.
We work in French, English, Italian and Spanish, and you receive a reply within one hour.
Our recognised expertise in insolvency proceedings in France
In 2025, FACCHINI Law Firm received the Trophée d’Or (gold award) of the Palmarès du Droit, organised by Le Monde du Droit in Lyon, in the Entreprises en difficulté - Restructuring category (businesses in difficulty and restructuring).
Trophée d’Or
Entreprises en difficulté - Restructuring
Palmarès du Droit
Lyon 2025
The role of an insolvency lawyer in France
FAQ: insolvency proceedings and bankruptcy in France
1. Is there bankruptcy for companies in France?
French law has no single bankruptcy procedure: it provides safeguard, judicial reorganisation and judicial liquidation, together called insolvency proceedings.
In the United Kingdom, “bankruptcy” refers to individuals.
If you are looking for a bankruptcy lawyer in France, FACCHINI Law Firm handles these procedures.
We act for businesses, whether companies or sole traders, and never for the personal over-indebtedness of private individuals (surendettement des particuliers).
2. Does France have an equivalent of Chapter 11?
Chapter 11 is a procedure of US law; French law has its own procedures.
Those that keep a viable business going under court supervision, with a plan of up to 10 years, are safeguard and judicial reorganisation.
3. What is the difference between safeguard and judicial reorganisation?
Safeguard opens before cessation of payments, at the company’s request only.
Judicial reorganisation opens after it, at the request of the company, a creditor or the public prosecutor, and an administrator may then assist or replace the directors.
4. Is receivership the same as redressement judiciaire?
No.
In the UK, receivership is mainly a remedy for a secured creditor, who appoints a receiver to realise the assets charged to it; redressement judiciaire is a collective court procedure, opened when the company is in cessation of payments, that stops individual creditor action and seeks a plan for all creditors.
We therefore translate it as judicial reorganisation.
5. How does a foreign creditor file a claim?
Claims that arose before the opening judgment are filed with the creditors’ representative or the judicial liquidator named in that judgment.
The time limit is 2 months from its publication in the BODACC, or 4 months for creditors domiciled outside metropolitan France.
A creditor who misses the deadline is excluded from distributions unless the supervising judge grants relief (relevé de forclusion).
The request must be made within 6 months of publication of the opening judgment and show that the delay was not the creditor’s fault or was due to the debtor’s omission (Article L. 622-26 of the French Commercial Code).
6. What happens to the directors?
In a judicial liquidation, a director whose management fault contributed to a shortfall of assets may have to bear all or part of that shortfall; mere negligence is not enough (Article L. 651-2 of the French Commercial Code).
In judicial reorganisation or judicial liquidation, misconduct listed by law, including knowingly failing to file within 45 days, can lead to a ban on managing a business for up to 15 years (Articles L. 653-8 and L. 653-11 of the French Commercial Code).
7. Can a foreign company buy a French business in insolvency?
Yes: any person may submit a takeover offer, except the debtor, its de jure or de facto directors, their relatives and in-laws up to the second degree, and creditors appointed as controllers (Article L. 642-3 of the French Commercial Code).
The court may lift this bar at the public prosecutor’s request, except for the debtor itself and the controllers.
The court retains the offer that best secures lasting employment, the payment of creditors and the guarantees of performance (Article L. 642-5 of the French Commercial Code).
8. What is a pre-pack sale?
A pre-pack sale (prepack cession) prepares, confidentially, the sale of all or part of a business before insolvency proceedings open (Article L. 611-7 of the French Commercial Code).
A conciliator or mandataire ad hoc looks for buyers; once proceedings open, the court rules on the sale, and other offers can still compete.
9. Does the EU Insolvency Regulation apply?
Yes, where the company’s centre of main interests is in an EU Member State, such as France: Regulation (EU) 2015/848 determines jurisdiction and the applicable law, and the proceedings are recognised in the other Member States, except Denmark.
Directive (EU) 2026/799 (Insolvency III), to be transposed by 22 January 2029, will also make cross-border creditors eligible to sit on a creditors’ committee where one is set up.
10. In which language are the proceedings conducted?
In French: hearings, court filings and decisions are in French, and documents in another language may need a translation.
We work with you in English, Italian or Spanish.
11. How are fees set in insolvency proceedings?
Whatever your role (company, director, creditor or buyer), fees are set in a written fee agreement signed before work begins.
Depending on the matter, they are fixed, based on time spent, or include a part linked to the result.
A confidential first discussion comes before any proposal.
12. How quickly can you act in an insolvency case?
You receive a reply within one hour.
Some deadlines are short, so acting early keeps every option open.
Insolvency proceedings in France for clients abroad
We assist companies, creditors and buyers based outside France, whether in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia or elsewhere in Europe.
Contact Maître Angélique FACCHINI and receive a reply within one hour.
Insolvency law firm in Lyon, acting throughout France
Find us opposite the Rhône Prefecture in Lyon.
FACCHINI Law Firm
Contact Maître Angélique FACCHINI: insolvency lawyer in France
Need advice on insolvency proceedings in France, a claim to file or a takeover offer to prepare?
Contact Maître Angélique FACCHINI by phone, by email or through the form below for a confidential first discussion: you will receive a reply within one hour.