§ 13. A public notice to creditors can give extra time to file a claim

§ 13 is about public notices to creditors. A public notice to creditors means a public summons to creditors (kreditorer). Creditors are people or businesses who believe they have a claim against someone. In plain language: someone asks everyone who has a monetary claim (pengekrav) to come forward within a set deadline.

This often happens with an estate of the deceased (dødsbo). When someone dies, the heirs or the court may want an overview of the debts. A public notice to creditors can then be issued. The creditors are told to file their claims within a deadline. If they do not, they may risk losing the claim under separate rules. § 13 deals specifically with what happens to limitation (foreldelse) in such a situation.

The rule is practical. If a claim is close to becoming time-barred, and a public notice to creditors is issued before the period runs out, the creditor gets at least until the deadline for filing claims in the notice. The claim does not become time-barred before this deadline has passed. This means the public notice prevents limitation from occurring in the middle of the filing period.

If the creditor files the claim in time, the claim gets even more protection. § 13 then says that limitation does not occur until 1 year has passed after the deadline for filing claims has expired. This gives time to deal with the claim. It would be unreasonable if you filed the claim correctly but lost it right afterwards because the old limitation period ran out.

The provision also mentions other public summonses. This means the rule does not only apply when the word "proklama" is used. If there is a public summons asking creditors to file claims within a specified deadline, § 13 may be relevant.

Finally, § 13 refers to special rules for bankruptcy, debt negotiation and public administration of an estate. You must then read § 13 together with §§ 18, 21 and 22. For a debt settlement scheme (gjeldsordning) under the Debt Settlement Act, the law refers to some of the same rules. This means § 13 is a starting point, but not the whole picture in such cases.

What must you do if you see a public notice to creditors?

You must file the claim within the deadline. Do not wait. Do not think that your claim is "so obvious" that it will surely be included. A public notice to creditors is precisely a message that claims must be filed.

If you have a claim against a person who has died, an estate, a company or another debtor (skyldner) for whom a public notice to creditors has been issued, you should send the claim in writing. State who you are. State the amount. State what the claim concerns. Attach documentation. This can be an invoice (faktura), loan agreement (låneavtale), judgment (dom), bank statement, message or other documentation.

You should also get confirmation that the claim has been received. It is not enough to have written the claim in a document on your computer. It must be sent to the right place. If the summons says the claim must be filed with the district court (tingretten), the estate administrator, the estate administrator (bostyrer), the heirs or another specific recipient, you must follow that.

§ 13 gives you an important deadline rule. But it only helps if the public notice to creditors was actually issued before the limitation period ran out. If the claim was already time-barred before the public notice, § 13 does not automatically bring the claim back to life. You should therefore not wait to follow up old claims just because a public notice to creditors might come later.

If you file the claim in time, you get at least 1 year after the deadline for filing claims has expired before limitation can occur. But this does not mean you should leave the matter for 11 months. Use the time to get the claim resolved. If the estate disputes the claim, you must follow it up further.

Why does this rule exist?

The rule exists because a public notice to creditors creates a separate process. When the authorities or the estate ask all creditors to file claims within a deadline, the creditors must have a real opportunity to do so without being hit by limitation in the middle of the process.

Imagine you have a claim that becomes time-barred on 1 May. Then a public notice to creditors is issued on 15 April, with a deadline for filing claims of 15 June. Without § 13, the claim could have become time-barred on 1 May, even though you had been told to file it by 15 June. That would be confusing and unreasonable. § 13 therefore says that limitation does not occur before the deadline for filing claims has passed.

If you file the claim by 15 June, you get at least 1 year from the deadline for filing claims. This gives time for processing. Perhaps the estate accepts the claim. Perhaps there will be a dispute. Perhaps it must be taken further. The law gives a breathing space.

At the same time, the public notice to creditors also protects the debtor's side, especially estates of the deceased. Heirs must get an overview of the debts before they settle the estate. If creditors can turn up many years later, the settlement becomes uncertain. A public notice to creditors is therefore a way of clearing things up.

§ 13 balances these considerations. The creditor gets time to file claims. The estate gets a deadline to get an overview. Both sides get more predictability.

What happens if you make a mistake?

If you do not file the claim within the deadline in the public notice, you may lose the chance to have the claim paid. This can be particularly serious with estates of the deceased, where the heirs use the public notice to creditors to get an overview and settle the estate.

If you file the claim too late, you may have problems even if the claim was originally valid. Deadlines in a public notice to creditors should be taken as seriously as other deadlines. Do not rely on verbal messages. File the claim in writing.

If you think § 13 gives you 1 year no matter what, you may also be wrong. The one-year rule applies to a claim (fordring) filed in time. This means you must have filed the claim within the deadline for filing claims. If you do not, you do not get the same protection.

Read the public notice to creditors carefully. Find the deadline for filing claims. Find out who the claim must be sent to. Write the claim briefly and clearly. Include the amount, the basis and documentation.

Send the claim in good time. Use a channel that can be documented. Email with a receipt, registered letter or other traceable submission is safer than a verbal message.

Once you have filed the claim, follow up. Ask for confirmation. If the claim is disputed, you must consider the next step before the one-year period after the deadline for filing claims runs out.