Zahlungsunfähigkeit — illiquidity (§ 17 InsO)

§ 17 InsO defines illiquidity as the debtor's inability to meet due payment obligations. It is statutorily presumed once the debtor has stopped paying (Zahlungseinstellung). The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has concretised the abstract definition in settled case law: a liquidity gap of 10% or more of due liabilities that cannot be closed within three weeks indicates illiquidity — unless a smaller gap is nearly certain to grow shortly.

Distinct from imminent illiquidity (drohende Zahlungsunfähigkeit, § 18 InsO), which only entitles the debtor to file voluntarily (and opens access to StaRUG and the protective shield), and from over-indebtedness (Überschuldung, § 19 InsO), which applies only to legal entities. Illiquidity, by contrast, triggers a mandatory filing duty within three weeks for any debtor (§ 15a InsO) and is the ground creditors themselves most often cite for a third-party filing.

For buyers, the specific insolvency ground is rarely deal-relevant on its own — but it shapes the timeline: cases opened for illiquidity tend to be more acute and move faster than cases based on imminent illiquidity, where the debtor has usually already initiated prepared restructuring steps (StaRUG, protective shield) before a proceeding becomes public.