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Contingent and late claims in bankruptcy proceedings

February 20, 2026

Articles

The recognition of credits is one of the key stages in bankruptcy proceedings, since on the one hand, it determines who are the creditors who will assert their credit rights before the Board of Creditors, and on the other, it establishes which of these claims will be taken into account for the final settlement made by the Board. There are, however, some types of credit that generate greater certainty regarding their collection than others, for example; credits recognized as such by the Board, have a guaranteed place in the final agreement adopted by creditors, while, on the other hand, a contingent credit or a late credit imply by definition (although to a different degree) controversy over their recognition and subsequent collection before the Board of Creditors.

According to the procedure established by Law No. 27809 - General Bankruptcy System Act, in its article 34, creditors have a period of thirty (30) days after the date of publication of the notice informing about the bankruptcy situation, to request recognition of their claims before the Board of Creditors and, if they do not comply with the documentation that properly supports the credit, or to do so late, the credit could be classified as a contingent credit or as a late credit.

In the first case, contingent claims are understood to be those that are the subject of judicial, arbitral or administrative controversy and registered by the Commission under that qualification, and their situation may be elucidated in a jurisdiction other than bankruptcy, for reasons of the exclusive competence of the authority in charge. These credits, despite being included by the Board in the final agreement reached, do not enjoy the same priority as a recognized credit, and they entail the risk that the dispute over their collection will not be resolved during the bankruptcy or an adverse judgment will be issued to the creditor. Therefore, although they are taken into account by the Board, contingent credits still pose a high degree of uncertainty for their creditor.

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Contingent claims are those that are the subject of a dispute judicially, arbitrarily or administratively and registered by the Commission under that qualification,

In the second case, a request for late credit recognition (or late credit) is one that is submitted after thirty (30) days from the notice of bankruptcy status and whose recognition will not proceed because it is extemporaneous. In this case, there is no possibility that the credit will be recognized later by the Board, but, having failed to meet an essential requirement of the request for recognition, it is declared inadmissible and no decision is issued on the merits of the claim. Here there is an absolute degree of certainty that the credit, having been requested unexpectedly, will not be recognized by the Board.

Therefore, in order to ensure the collection of their claims before the Board, Creditors must adopt diligent behavior in submitting their requests for credit recognition to the Board. A first step, of course, would be to ensure that you submit your application within thirty (30) days of the publication of the notice of bankruptcy status. Secondly, to have the documentation to prove the right to credit that they have over the debtor, and if you do not have it, try to initiate the judicial, arbitral or administrative proceedings where the merits of the dispute over the credit are clarified as soon as possible, since this could depend on the fact that the credit ends up being recognized by the Board before the end of the bankruptcy by a favorable ruling from the decision-making entity.