liquidation
noun · Liquidation
Liquidation or Abwicklung for winding up a solvent company, the GmbH liquidiert, § 66 GmbHG, the AG wickelt ab, § 264 AktG, with a Sperrjahr before assets are distributed, § 73 GmbHG. But insolvency liquidation is something else, die Verwertung or Zerschlagung of the estate, § 159 InsO, so a solvent wind-down and an insolvent break-up must not share a word.
Which translation, when
Why
Liquidation covers two very different endings and German keeps them apart. The solvent wind-up is die Liquidation or, in the AG, die Abwicklung, the company dissolved but surviving as a Liquidationsgesellschaft until its affairs are settled, the Liquidatoren or Abwickler realising assets and paying debts, § 66 GmbHG, § 264 AktG, and a Sperrjahr must pass before any surplus reaches the members, § 73 GmbHG, § 272 AktG, a creditor-protection wait the English timetable does not impose. The insolvency ending differs in law and in vocabulary, once an Insolvenzverfahren opens the estate is realised, die Verwertung, and a break-up sale is die Zerschlagung, § 159 InsO, decided by the creditors and carried out in the insolvency, not resolved by the shareholders. So the company went into liquidation is ambiguous until one knows which, a solvent members’ winding-up or an insolvent realisation, and the German word chosen settles who is in control and whether a Sperrjahr even applies. Winding-up itself has no single German verb, it is abwickeln or liquidieren by context, and die Auflösung is the prior step, the Auflösung dissolves and the Liquidation then winds up what the dissolution left.
Typical mistakes
- Liquidation is not one event, the solvent members’ Liquidation, § 66 GmbHG, runs on a Sperrjahr, § 73 GmbHG, while insolvency realisation, die Verwertung, § 159 InsO, is decided by the creditors, so the controlling side differs entirely.
- Auflösung is not Liquidation, die Auflösung dissolves the company and die Liquidation then winds up its affairs, so rendering dissolution and liquidation as one step collapses two.
- The AG wickelt ab where the GmbH liquidiert, § 264 AktG against § 66 GmbHG, so the verb follows the Rechtsform, and Abwickler and Liquidatoren name the same office in different companies.
What matters
Wind-down instructions must name the ending: a solvent members’ liquidation is die Liquidation with its Sperrjahr, § 73 GmbHG, run by the Liquidatoren, while an insolvent one is die Verwertung in the Insolvenzverfahren, § 159 InsO, driven by the creditors. The letter that puts a solvent company into Zerschlagung has scheduled a break-up nobody resolved.
What the machine misses
Liquidation comes back as Liquidation in machine output for every ending alike, and German splits the word by solvency, die Liquidation or Abwicklung for a solvent members’ wind-up with its Sperrjahr, die Verwertung or Zerschlagung for the realisation of an insolvent estate. The controlling side vanishes with the distinction, members and Liquidatoren on the one hand, creditors on the other, so the translated liquidation hides whether the shareholders chose this or the insolvency did.
Examples
| to go into liquidation | in Liquidation treten |
| members’ voluntary liquidation | die Liquidation durch Gesellschafterbeschluss |
| the liquidator | der Liquidator |
| liquidation of the estate | die Verwertung der Masse |