Shrnutí: The Insolvency Registry is a public online database maintained by the Ministry of Justice where you can find out whether insolvency proceedings have been initiated against a specific individual or company and how those proceedings are progressing. Starting in 2026, anyone will be able to access it for free. It’s useful not only for creditors—it can also help you, for example, before signing a contract, buying real estate, or vetting a business partner.
Have you discovered that your debtor is in insolvency? Don’t wait until the deadline for filing a claim passes. We’ll help you determine the best course of action for your situation.
“I took out a loan from a bank. Does that mean I’m listed in the debtors’ registry?”
“A friend I went into business with claims I owe him money and has filed a lawsuit against me. Now, because of him, I’m going to have problems and a record in the insolvency registry.”
The Insolvency Register is governed by the Insolvency Act. It is a publicly accessible information system maintained by the Ministry of Justice that contains a list of debtors, a list of insolvency administrators, and electronic insolvency case files. It is therefore not a general database of everyone who owes money anywhere.
The term “debtor registry” is relatively broad, and the public often uses it to refer to various types of registries, including the Insolvency Registry. In fact, there are several registries that deal with debts in some form, and it is always necessary to specify which one is being discussed. Generally speaking, however, not all “debts” and not all “debtors” are entered into the insolvency registry. You can therefore feel free to take out a consumer loan, a mortgage, or another similar loan, and the Insolvency Registry will not record these loans.
Similarly, if ordinary court proceedings are underway to recover a specific amount, this does not constitute insolvency proceedings that would be recorded in the insolvency registry. Nor does this apply to debt enforcement, which is also sometimes confused with insolvency. Debt enforcement involves the judicial collection of a specific obligation that the debtor refuses to repay voluntarily, even though their assets would be sufficient to cover the debt. Enforcement proceedings are recorded in the Central Register of Enforcement Proceedings.
The Insolvency Register collects exclusively records of entities within the Czech Republic that are undergoing so-called insolvency proceedings. This is a special type of legal proceeding for cases where, colloquially speaking, a person’s debts have gotten out of hand, leaving them chronically unable to meet their financial obligations. Through insolvency proceedings, the debtor’s debts are settled, allowing them to start with a clean slate, and creditors’ claims are at least partially satisfied.
For creditors, the insolvency registry is a key source of information on the progress of insolvency proceedings. It allows them to track important deadlines, such as the deadline for filing a claim in the insolvency proceedings. Thanks to the transparency of the registry, it is also possible to determine whether and when it will be possible to recover the claimed amounts. Creditors can thus better prepare for negotiations with the insolvency administrator or, if necessary, plan other steps to secure their claims.
In practice, the biggest mistake creditors make is discovering their debtor’s insolvency too late and only beginning to address the situation once an important deadline is already in effect or has even passed. If someone has not been paying you for some time, it is therefore worthwhile to check the insolvency registry regularly and, in the event that insolvency proceedings are initiated, to quickly determine the next steps.
Is your debtor in insolvency, and are you unsure whether or how to file a claim? Our attorney will review the situation and recommend the next steps.
Tip: Do you have unpaid invoices piling up on your desk? According to IPSOS, over 89% of business owners have faced a similar problem. And one in five has even experienced a situation where their invoice went completely unpaid. Have you found yourself in a similar situation? We’ll advise you on how to proceed when collecting overdue receivables so you can get your money back as soon as possible. What is the process, and what should you watch out for? That’s what we’ll focus on in today’s article.
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The Insolvency Registry is administered and operated bythe Ministry of Justice. The justice.cz Insolvency Registry is available free of charge and can be found athttps://isir.justice.cz.
One of the main advantages of the justice.cz Insolvency Registry is its ease of access and free search functionality. You can easily find the Czech justice.cz Insolvency Register online, where you’ll find all the necessary information—not only about current proceedings but also about closed cases, which are retained there for five years. This allows you to verify the financial history of both individuals and legal entities at any time and make informed decisions, whether you are a business owner, a creditor, or an ordinary citizen.
The registry contains records for both individuals (whether self-employed or not) and legal entities. For each registered individual or entity, the system contains information about the entity itself (such as the company ID number, registered office, birth number, or place of residence, depending on the nature of the entity) as well as the date and reason for the initiation of insolvency proceedings.
A separate file is maintained for each debtor, in which the following are recorded:
Tip: The Insolvency Registry should be distinguished from other registries operated by other government or private entities. Among the most significant are the aforementioned Central Register of Enforcement Proceedings, operated by the Chamber of Bailiffs, and SOLUS, where various economic sectors share information about unpaid debts. These include, for example, banks, building societies, non-bank financial institutions, telecommunications service providers, and energy distributors.
“I’m not a business owner. What do I need the insolvency registry for?”
Just because you’re not an entrepreneur and don’t sign traditional business contracts doesn’t mean you don’t enter into any “transactions.” Every online purchase and every job ordered from a tradesperson constitutes the conclusion of a contract, and in some cases, it’s worth checking the insolvency registry before proceeding.
The insolvency registry is a valuable tool not only for creditors, debtors, and insolvency administrators, but also for employers, business owners, landlords, and, in general, anyone who enters into legal relationships with people they do not know well.
For example, employers sometimes screen job applicants. Such a “background check” can be useful if they intend to entrust that person with financial matters, banking advice, or financial management. They proceed on the assumption that a person who has been unable to manage their financial obligations is generally not suitable for such work.
Similarly, it is advisable for anyone to check the insolvency registry if they wish to buy or sell property—for example—from another person without any legal defects. But caution pays off even with much less expensive transactions than buying an apartment.
From our legal practice: We recommend checking the insolvency registry especially when you are about to send a large advance payment to the other party or provide them with performance before they have paid you. However, an entry in the registry alone does not determine the specific outcome of a contractual relationship. It is also important to examine the stage of the proceedings and the documents in the case file.
Tip: We’ve also covered a similar topic in the article “Buying an Apartment Under Foreclosure.”
“I need to find out who ‘my’ debtor owes money to. Can I find that information in the registry?”
If the debtor files an insolvency petition, he or she must, in cases specified by law, attach, among other things, a list of his or her liabilities and creditors. Therefore, you can generally find information about other creditors in the insolvency file. The existence of multiple creditors is one of the conditions for the debtor’s insolvency, but not a condition for the initiation of insolvency proceedings itself. Insolvency proceedings are initiated as soon as the insolvency petition is received by the competent court.
In our next article, we focus on insolvency-related crimes that a debtor may commit against creditors in an effort to improve their own position.
Searching the registry is easy if you know some basic information about the person you want to check. Simply enter, for example, their first and last name, birth number, or—forlegal entities —the company’s ID number or business name.
If you find the person in the registry, you can open their file (or the online version of the file, which may not be exactly the same as the physical file) and view an overview of the filings and resolutions related to their case. For each such record, you can find out when it was filed and click to view its full text.
Records are retained in the registry not only for the duration of the insolvency proceedings but also for five years afterward. This period cannot be shortened or waived in any way. Only the insolvency court has the authority to delete the records.
The Insolvency Registry is a useful tool not only for business owners and creditors but also for ordinary citizens. It allows you to gain an overview of the financial situation of individuals or companies with whom you plan to enter into business or other contractual relationships. Thanks to the transparency of the registry, you can avoid the risk of doing business with debtors in insolvency, verify the credibility of your business partners, or secure your claims by filing a claim in a timely manner. Whether you’re an employer, a landlord, or simply purchasing services, checking the Insolvency Registry can save you a lot of trouble. The “Justice Insolvency Registry” website is available free of charge. You can easily find it by entering the keyword “Justice Insolvency Registry” into a search engine.
Searching the Justice Ministry’s Insolvency Register for Individuals is relatively simple if you know at least the basic identifying information of the person you want to check. On the česká justice.cz website—Insolvency Registry—simply enter the first name, last name, and ideally the date of birth into the search form. The system will automatically display all individuals who match the entered information. If you’re searching for a self-employed individual, you can also use the business ID number (IČO)—this will significantly narrow down the search results.
Once the results are displayed, clicking on a name will take you to that person’s individual file, where you can view the complete history of the proceedings. The Justice Insolvency Registry also allows searches by birth number—this is the most accurate method and eliminates name matches, but you must know the birth number to use it.
The ISIR Justice Insolvency Registry provides very detailed information on the progress of insolvency proceedings. For each debtor, you will find a complete case file containing all decisions of the insolvency court, creditors’ claims, motions, opinions, and reports from the insolvency administrator. The file also includes a list of the debtor’s assets and liabilities, which is useful information for creditors and others dealing with the debtor.
You will also find key information here, such as the date the proceedings began, the decision declaring bankruptcy, the approval of debt relief, any revocation of debt relief, and, finally, the conclusion of the proceedings.
Name matches are relatively common in the Ministry of Justice’s Insolvency Register. Therefore, if a search returns multiple individuals with the same first and last names, it is important to compare the additional information displayed in the insolvency registry. The most reliable identifiers are the date of birth or social security number. For self-employed individuals, the business identification number (IČO) and the municipality where the business is registered are also listed.
Information about the place of residence can also be helpful—the Insolvency Register for Individuals lists each person’s permanent address. If you know your debtor’s place of residence, you can easily verify whether this is indeed the correct person. If in doubt, we recommend opening the entire file—some documents may contain additional identifiers that can help you confirm or refute the match.
Discovering that your potential business partner is insolvent should serve as a red flag. If the insolvency registry on the Czech justice.cz website shows that a person is in ongoing insolvency proceedings, it means that they have long-term difficulties repaying their debts. First and foremost, we recommend thoroughly reviewing the case file—you’ll see what debts they have, who their creditors are, and how their debt restructuring or bankruptcy is proceeding.
If you are considering a business or contractual relationship, you should expect a high risk of non-payment. In practice, this often means one thing: either refuse to do business with them or include strong contractual safeguards (e.g., payment in advance, security, collateral). For existing business relationships, it is essential to act quickly—if you are a creditor, monitor the deadlines for filing claims.
Entries in the Insolvency Register of Debtors do not expire immediately upon the conclusion of insolvency proceedings. By law, they remain publicly accessible for another five years after the proceedings end. Only then are they made inaccessible to the general public. However, this does not mean that the data disappears permanently—it continues to be archived for use by the judicial system and other authorized entities.
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Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 15 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 15 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
We’ll review your case and suggest how to resolve it for CZK 690.
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