Your goods in the insolvency estate: check contracts, markings and delivery notes

Begin with the acquisition or manufacture of the goods. The contract, order confirmation, invoice and payment establish the underlying transaction. Ownership also depends on how possession was transferred and whether an effective retention of title remained in place. Standard terms must have become part of the contract; a later note on an invoice may be too late.

Prepare a short chain from the supplier through every intermediate stage to the insolvent customer. For leasing, commission stock, consignment or repairs, record why the debtor was entitled to hold the asset without owning it. Resolve inconsistencies between the contract, accounting records and actual delivery before contacting the estate.

A delivery demand must concern the particular asset. Serial or chassis numbers, machine plates, individual barcodes, batch numbers and permanent ownership markings are especially useful. Delivery notes, packing lists, photographs from delivery, goods receipt entries and a documented storage location can support them.

Fungible bulk goods create attribution problems. Record packaging, batch, delivery date, container and location as well as type and quantity. A new mark applied by the supplier does not prove the earlier position. Ask the insolvency administrator for a joint inventory comparison instead.

Establish who actually holds the goods. They may be at the debtor's premises, with a logistics provider, on a construction site or already with a customer. Record the last confirmed location, the responsible person and the time of the last sighting. Request photographs or an inventory report rather than entering premises without permission.

Condition matters too. Are the goods unopened, installed, damaged, partly consumed or mixed with other stock? This determines whether the same asset still exists and how a return could be organised. Preserve emails concerning relocation, release or planned use.

In the first letter, identify the proceedings, your contact details, the legal basis of ownership and every asset identifier. Attach an ordered list of evidence. Request confirmation of location and condition and ask that the goods not be processed, mixed or sold until the claim has been reviewed. Do not assert a blanket prohibition over the debtor's entire inventory.

Keep the separation claim distinct from the unpaid purchase price. Payment and delivery follow different legal paths. If separation is accepted, coordinate authority to collect, access, transport, timing and a handover record. Under section 44(3), certain expenses incurred for the asset or to obtain the proceeds may have to be reimbursed concurrently.

If material was cut, installed or turned into a new product, determine whether the original asset still exists in law and in fact. Its economic presence in the finished product does not automatically entitle the supplier to take that product. Clauses on processing, co-ownership or extended retention of title require review against the actual contract and general property law.

For mixed fungible goods, reliable evidence of quantity, share and process is required. Do not claim that any stock of the same type must be your delivery. Trace batches and production records. If only a monetary position remains, calling it a separation claim does not remove it from the insolvency estate.

Section 44(2) addresses an asset eligible for separation that was sold after insolvency proceedings opened. If the proceeds have been paid, the entitled party may demand their separation from the estate. If payment remains outstanding, the party may demand assignment of the claim for those proceeds. The statute preserves further compensation claims.

The sale and payment flow must therefore be traced. Request the voucher number, buyer, sale date, invoice, receipt and accounting entry. A sale before proceedings opened does not automatically fall within this provision. The contract, ownership position and possible claims then require a separate assessment.