Vordering (claim) in Dutch law: meaning and enforcement

A vordering in Dutch law is a claim: the enforceable right of a creditor (schuldeiser) to demand a performance from a debtor (schuldenaar), such as payment, delivery or an act. It exists only if there is a legal basis for it, usually a contract, a wrongful act or a statutory rule, and it can only be enforced once it is due and, in most cases, once the debtor is formally in default. Below we explain what a claim consists of, the main types, how long it lasts, how you enforce it and which mistakes cost creditors their money.

What is a vordering, and what is it not?

Creditor and debtor: what a vordering means in Dutch law

A vordering is one side of a legal relationship between two parties. The other side is the debt.Book 6 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW) calls that relationship an obligation (verbintenis). Seen from the debtor’s side it is a debt (schuld). Seen from the creditor’s side it is a claim. Both describe the same relationship from opposite ends. That is why a defence that destroys the obligation destroys the claim with it.This has a practical consequence that people often miss. A claim is also an asset. Dutch law treats a claim as a property right. You can sell and assign it, pledge it as security, and your own creditors can attach it. On bankruptcy or death it forms part of the estate. A business with a portfolio of receivables owns something it can finance. A business whose customer becomes insolvent owns something that may have lost most of its value overnight.It also explains what a claim is not. It is not an invoice. An invoice is evidence of a claim and a request for payment. The claim exists because goods were delivered or a service was performed under a contract, not because a document was issued.Nor is a claim the same as a demand. Sending a letter does not create a right. A party without a legal basis has no claim, however firmly it writes. Our related article on what a claim is looks at the same subject from the point of view of a creditor pursuing payment.

Which three elements must every claim have?

The elements of a valid claim under Dutch law

Every claim needs identifiable parties, a defined performance and a legal basis. In a dispute, the weakest of these three usually decides the outcome.The first element is the parties. There must be an identifiable creditor and an identifiable debtor. That sounds obvious. In practice, claims are regularly brought against the wrong company in a group, or against a director personally where the contract was concluded with the company. Sometimes the contracting party has merged or been dissolved in the meantime. Establishing who owes the obligation, and checking that against the Dutch trade register (Handelsregister), is the first step in any file. It is also the step most often skipped.The second element is the performance (prestatie). Dutch law requires that the performance is determined or at least determinable. A court can give judgment for a specific sum of money, for the delivery of a described consignment, for completion of the work set out in a specification, or for a defined act to stop. A vague claim to be compensated for inconvenience is not enforceable as it stands. A court cannot order something that has not been defined.The third element is the legal basis (rechtsgrond). Dutch law is closed on this point: obligations arise only where the law says they do. In practice, that means one of a limited number of sources.

Contract. An agreement that was validly concluded binds the parties. The resulting obligations follow from what was agreed and from what reasonableness and fairness (redelijkheid en billijkheid) add to it.
Wrongful act (onrechtmatige daad). Under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, a person who commits a wrongful act that can be attributed to him must compensate the damage the other party suffers as a result.
Statute. Some obligations follow directly from a rule of law. Maintenance obligations in family law, tax debts and statutory duties towards employees are examples.
Unjust enrichment and undue payment. A party that is enriched at another’s expense without a reasonable ground must compensate that loss to a reasonable extent. Money paid without any legal ground can be reclaimed as an undue payment (onverschuldigde betaling).
Voluntary intervention (zaakwaarneming). A person who reasonably looks after someone else’s interests without being obliged to do so may recover the costs incurred.

Identifying the correct basis is not an academic exercise. It determines who has to prove what, which limitation period applies, how damages are measured, and often which court hears the case.

Which types of claim are there, and why does the difference matter?

Types of claim under Dutch law and their ranking in insolvency

Dutch practice distinguishes claims by what is demanded and by the security or priority attached to them. Both distinctions have direct financial consequences.By content, there are three main categories: a claim for payment of a sum of money, a claim for performance in kind (nakoming) and a claim for damages (schadevergoeding). A creditor facing a counterparty that does not perform can usually choose between them. That choice is strategic.Demanding performance keeps the contract alive. It is the right route if the counterparty can still deliver something you actually want. Terminating the contract (ontbinding) and claiming damages puts you, financially, where you would have been if the contract had been performed. That is the right route if the relationship has broken down.Dutch law also gives a creditor two tools that often work better than litigation. You may suspend your own performance while the other party fails to perform (opschorting). And you may set off mutual debts (verrekening), so that what you owe the other party is reduced by what it owes you.By ranking, the distinction that decides how much money a creditor actually sees is between secured, preferential and ordinary claims. The table below sets out the categories that matter when the debtor turns out to be insolvent.

Category	What it is	Typical example	Position on insolvency
Secured claim	A claim backed by a right of pledge or mortgage over specific assets.	A bank loan secured by a mortgage over business premises.	Strongest. The secured creditor may in principle enforce its security as if there were no bankruptcy.
Estate debt	A debt incurred by the estate after the bankruptcy order.	The trustee’s fees, and rent and wages for the period after the order.	Paid out of the estate before pre-bankruptcy claims.
Preferential claim	A claim to which the law attaches priority.	Certain tax debts owed to the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) and claims of the UWV.	Paid before ordinary creditors, after estate debts.
Ordinary claim	A claim with no security and no statutory priority.	An unpaid supplier invoice or a consultancy fee.	Paid pro rata from whatever remains, which is often little or nothing.
Subordinated claim	A claim that the parties have agreed ranks behind the others.	A shareholder loan subordinated in favour of the bank.	Last in line.

The lesson for suppliers is uncomfortable but simple. An ordinary claim is the weakest position in the queue. The moment to improve it is when you conclude the contract, not when the customer stops paying.Three tools are available for that. A retention of title clause (eigendomsvoorbehoud) keeps ownership of goods with you until they are paid for. A right of pledge over receivables or stock turns an ordinary creditor into a secured one. And a right of retention (retentierecht) allows a contractor or repairer to hold on to goods until the bill is settled. The ranking of creditors on the Dutch government business portal sets out the order in which the trustee distributes the estate.

When can you enforce a claim?

From due date to default: the lifecycle of a claim in the Netherlands

You can enforce a claim once it is due and payable and, for most remedies, once the debtor is in default. Having a claim and being able to enforce it are two different things.The first threshold is that the claim must be due and payable (opeisbaar). If the parties agreed a payment term, the claim becomes due when that term expires. If they agreed nothing, the claim is in principle due immediately. Between businesses, statutory commercial interest then runs from 30 days after the debtor received the invoice, under Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code.The second threshold is default (verzuim). Interest, damages for late performance and extrajudicial collection costs generally only start to run once the debtor is in default. Default normally requires a written notice of default (ingebrekestelling) that sets a reasonable final period for performance (Article 6:82 of the Dutch Civil Code).Under Article 6:83 of the Dutch Civil Code, default arises automatically, without any notice, in three situations. The first is where a fixed date for performance has passed without performance. The second is where the obligation is to pay damages for a wrongful act. The third is where the creditor may conclude from a statement of the debtor that it will not perform.The notice of default is the most common procedural failure in Dutch claim files. A creditor that terminates a contract or claims damages for late performance without properly putting the debtor in default risks losing the entire claim. The debt was owed, but the step that made it enforceable was never taken.Against consumers there is an additional step before any collection costs may be charged. Under Article 6:96(6) of the Dutch Civil Code, the consumer must first receive a written reminder that gives fourteen days to pay and states the costs that will be claimed. Our guide to debt collection in the Netherlands explains how that letter must be drafted.

How do you prove the claim?

You prove a claim with documents, and in Dutch procedure the party that relies on a legal consequence bears the burden of proof. The creditor proves the contract and the delivery; the debtor proves payment, limitation or any other defence.In practice, a claim is won or lost on the file rather than on the argument. You will need the agreement and any general terms and conditions (algemene voorwaarden), with evidence that those terms were actually provided before or at the time of contracting. Add the order confirmation, proof of delivery or performance, the invoice with proof that it was sent, and the correspondence in which the debtor did or did not dispute the invoice.Silence has evidential weight. A debtor that receives invoices for months without protest, and then disputes the quality of the work, faces an obvious question: why was nothing said at the time?The same logic applies in the other direction. Under Article 6:89 of the Dutch Civil Code, a party that received a defective performance may no longer rely on the defect if it did not complain to the other party within a reasonable time after it discovered, or should reasonably have discovered, the defect. A customer who wants to withhold payment because of poor work should therefore say so promptly and in writing. A creditor facing a late complaint can rely on that rule.

How long does a claim last?

Most contractual claims lapse five years after they became due, unless the limitation period is interrupted in time. No claim in Dutch law lasts indefinitely, and limitation (verjaring) destroys more claims than any defence on the merits.The main periods are these.

A claim for performance of a contractual obligation to give or to do lapses five years after the day following the day on which it became due (Article 3:307 of the Dutch Civil Code).
A claim for damages lapses five years after the day following the day on which the injured party became aware of both the damage and the person liable, and in any event twenty years after the event that caused the damage (Article 3:310 of the Dutch Civil Code). Different rules apply in specific cases, for example to injured parties who were minors and to claims for personal injury.
In a sale, claims based on a defect in the goods lapse two years after the buyer notified the seller of the defect (Article 7:23(2) of the Dutch Civil Code). In a consumer sale, the seller’s claim for payment of the price also lapses after two years (Article 7:28 of the Dutch Civil Code).
Where no special rule applies, the general period is twenty years (Article 3:306 of the Dutch Civil Code).

Limitation can be interrupted (stuiting). Under Article 3:317 of the Dutch Civil Code, a written demand, or a written communication in which the creditor unequivocally reserves its right to performance, interrupts limitation of a claim for performance. Starting proceedings and an acknowledgement of the debt by the debtor have the same effect. After an interruption a new period starts to run.What does not interrupt limitation is an internal reminder, an unanswered telephone call, or a statement of account sent without any indication that payment is still claimed. Keeping dated copies of every demand is the cheapest protection available. Our article on the statute of limitations in Dutch law works through the periods in detail.A judgment changes the picture. Under Article 3:324 of the Dutch Civil Code, the right to enforce a court judgment lapses only twenty years after the day following the judgment, and that period can also be interrupted. A judgment obtained against a debtor who has nothing today therefore remains useful if the debtor’s circumstances improve later.

How do you get from a demand to a judgment?

A claim travels from an unpaid demand to money in your account in two phases: the amicable phase and the court phase. Most claims never leave the first.The amicable phase (minnelijk traject) consists of a reminder, a formal demand, and where necessary a notice of default and a payment arrangement. You may instruct a collection agency at this stage. Since 1 April 2024 the Debt Collection Services Quality Act (Wet kwaliteit incassodienstverlening) sets quality requirements for such agencies, and since 1 April 2025 they must be registered with Justis, the screening authority of the Ministry of Justice and Security.What an agency cannot do is compel anything. It has exactly the powers of the creditor that instructed it: the power to write and to negotiate.The court phase (gerechtelijk traject) begins with a writ of summons (dagvaarding). A bailiff (gerechtsdeurwaarder), a public official, serves it on the debtor.Money claims below €25,000 are heard by the subdistrict court judge (kantonrechter), who also hears employment, tenancy, consumer credit and consumer sale cases regardless of the amount. You do not need a lawyer there. Larger and more complex claims go to the civil section of the district court (rechtbank), where representation by a lawyer is compulsory.If the debtor does not appear, the court gives judgment in default (verstek). If the debtor does appear, there is an exchange of written statements, usually an oral hearing, and then judgment.

How do you enforce the judgment?

You enforce a judgment through a bailiff, who can attach income, bank accounts and assets once the judgment has been served. A judgment gives the creditor an enforceable title (executoriale titel).The bailiff first serves an official copy of the judgment on the debtor, together with a demand for payment. Only after that may enforcement follow. The bailiff can then attach wages or benefits in the hands of the employer or the paying body, attach bank accounts, seize and auction movable property, and register an attachment on real estate leading to a forced sale. Shares in a company can be attached as well.The law sets limits on those powers, and a creditor should factor them into its expectations. An individual debtor must keep a protected minimum income, the beslagvrije voet, which the bailiff calculates. Goods needed for daily life and the tools a debtor needs to earn a living cannot be seized. There is no imprisonment for being unable to pay a debt.Where several creditors enforce at the same time, bailiffs coordinate their attachments and the proceeds are shared under the statutory rules. Being first in time therefore matters less than being realistic about what there is to collect.

Can you transfer or pledge a claim?

Yes. Because a claim is a property right, you can assign it to someone else or pledge it as security, and businesses do this constantly, often without describing it in those terms.Assignment (cessie) transfers the claim to a new creditor. Dutch law knows two forms, both in Article 3:94 of the Dutch Civil Code.

Disclosed assignment. The claim is transferred by a deed and the debtor is notified. From that moment the debtor can only discharge the debt by paying the new creditor.
Undisclosed (silent) assignment. The transfer is made by a notarial deed or by a private deed registered with the tax authorities, without notice to the debtor. This is how receivables financing is often structured: the customer keeps paying the original supplier until the financier decides to disclose the assignment.

A right of pledge over receivables works in the same way. It is the most common security a Dutch bank takes over a trading business. Here too the pledge may be disclosed or undisclosed. An undisclosed pledge is usually refreshed periodically, so that newly issued invoices are covered.Two limits are worth knowing.First, a contract may restrict or exclude assignment. In Coface/Intergamma (Supreme Court, 21 March 2014, ECLI:NL:HR:2014:682) the Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) held that such a clause in principle has only contractual effect, unless its wording, interpreted objectively, shows that the parties intended to make the claim itself non-transferable. For business-to-business money claims the position has since changed. Under the Act abolishing pledge restrictions (Wet opheffing verpandingsverboden), in force since 1 July 2025, clauses that exclude or restrict the transfer or pledge of money claims between businesses are in principle ineffective. For clauses agreed before that date, this applies from 1 October 2025. Consumer contracts fall outside that rule, so the precise drafting still matters there.Second, the debtor keeps its defences. An assignee acquires the claim as it stands, including any right of set-off, any dispute about the quality of the performance and any agreement to defer payment. Buying a claim without seeing the underlying file is buying a lawsuit.

Which law and which court apply to a cross-border claim?

Within the European Union, EU regulations decide which law governs the claim and which court may hear it. Those two questions come before the merits whenever the creditor and the debtor are established in different countries.For contractual claims, the applicable law is determined by the Rome I Regulation. The parties are in principle free to choose. If they have not chosen, the regulation points to the law of the country where the party that provides the characteristic performance has its habitual residence. For a sale of goods that is the seller; for a service contract, the service provider. Claims based on a wrongful act are governed by the Rome II Regulation, which generally points to the law of the country where the damage occurs. Our article on applicable law in international contracts discusses both regulations in more detail.Jurisdiction is governed by the Brussels I bis Regulation. A defendant domiciled in a member state can be sued in the courts of that state. For contractual claims, it can also be sued in the courts of the place where the goods were delivered or the services were provided. A jurisdiction clause in the contract normally overrides both.Once judgment has been given, it is recognised and enforced throughout the Union without a separate declaration of enforceability (exequatur). That makes a Dutch judgment directly useful against a debtor established elsewhere in Europe.For undisputed cross-border money claims there is a simplified route: the European order for payment procedure. For smaller claims, the European small claims procedure runs largely in writing. Both are cheaper than ordinary proceedings and neither requires a lawyer. It is still worth taking advice on which route to use before you send the first letter.

Which mistakes cost creditors a good claim?

Most claims that fail were sound when they arose. They were lost afterwards, usually in one of the following ways.

The creditor lets the limitation period run while negotiating, assuming that talking preserves the claim. It does not. Only a written demand or reservation of rights, an acknowledgement by the debtor or proceedings do that.
The creditor terminates the contract or claims damages without a proper notice of default, and discovers in court that the debtor was never formally in default.
The creditor relies on general terms and conditions that were never provided. Under Articles 6:233 and 6:234 of the Dutch Civil Code, a clause in standard terms can be annulled if the user did not give the other party a reasonable opportunity to take note of them. The clauses on interest, costs and limitation of liability then fall away.
The creditor sues an entity that no longer exists, or the wrong company in a group, and has to start again.

Debtors, for their part, mainly damage their position by staying silent. Ignoring an invoice, a demand, a summons or a bailiff’s notice does not slow the process down. It speeds it up, because a claim that is not defended is granted in default.A debtor that disputes a claim should do so in writing, promptly and with reasons. It should also respond to a summons within the period stated in it. A written dispute made at the right moment is often worth more than a defence developed months later.

Example

A hypothetical example shows how these rules work together. A Dutch supplier delivers machine parts to a customer and invoices €18,000 with a 30-day payment term. The customer does not pay and does not complain about the parts.After the payment term has expired, the claim is due and statutory commercial interest starts to run without any further notice. To remove any doubt about default, the supplier sends a written demand with a final period for payment. That letter also interrupts limitation. When payment still does not follow, the supplier issues a summons before the subdistrict court, because the amount is below €25,000. If the customer then raises defects for the first time, it will have to explain why it did not complain earlier.

In summary

A vordering is an enforceable right to a performance. It needs identifiable parties, a defined performance and a legal basis such as a contract, a wrongful act or a statutory rule.
A claim can be enforced once it is due and, for most remedies, once the debtor is in default. A proper notice of default is often decisive.
Contractual claims usually lapse after five years. A written demand or unequivocal reservation of rights interrupts limitation; a judgment can be enforced for twenty years.
A claim is an asset: it can be assigned or pledged. Since 1 July 2025, most clauses restricting the transfer or pledge of business money claims are ineffective.
Your position as an ordinary creditor is weak in an insolvency. Improve it when you conclude the contract, with retention of title or a right of pledge.

Frequently asked questions about claims under Dutch law

Two questions come up in almost every conversation about a vordering. The answers below are short; the position in an individual case depends on the contract and the facts.

How long does a vordering last?

A vordering does not last forever. It is subject to limitation (verjaring). For a claim for performance of a contract, such as payment of an invoice, the period is five years from the day after the claim became due. Claims for damages lapse five years after the injured party became aware of the damage and the person liable, and in any event after twenty years.

You can interrupt limitation with a written demand or a written message in which you unequivocally reserve your right to payment; a new period then starts. Once a court has confirmed your claim in a judgment, you can enforce that judgment for twenty years.

Can I sell my vordering?

Yes. Transferring a claim is called assignment (cessie). Businesses regularly sell claims to a debt purchaser or use them as security for financing.

An assignment can be disclosed or undisclosed. In a disclosed assignment the debtor is notified, and from then on it can only pay the new creditor. In an undisclosed assignment, made by a notarial deed or a registered private deed, the debtor is not notified and keeps paying the original creditor until the assignment is disclosed. The debtor keeps its defences against the claim in both cases.

A claim is not the same as an invoice (factuur). The claim is the legal right to be paid; the invoice is the document that records and requests payment. Not every claim starts with an invoice: a claim for damages caused by a contractor who damaged your property, for example, is a claim without an invoice.

Law & More advises creditors and debtors on claims under Dutch law: whether a claim exists and against whom, notices of default and general terms that hold up, security through retention of title or pledge, and proceedings before the subdistrict and district courts. Unsure where you stand? Tell us about your situation. We will let you know your options within one working day.

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