Out-of-court settlement of a money claim (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A settlement agreement under § 779 of the German Civil Code (BGB) in which a creditor and a debtor end a dispute over a money claim without going to court: the background, the settlement sum, payment in one sum or by instalments, what happens if a payment is missed (the rest falls due at once, or the original claim revives), the waiver of the rest, a full-and-final clause and costs. For disputes over unpaid invoices, loans, deposits or damage. In German, no set form — print, both sign, each keeps a copy.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Creditor
- Creditor's address
- Debtor
- Debtor's date of birth
- Debtor's address
- Claimed amount
- What the dispute is about
- Amount
- Amount in words
- IBAN
- Payment terms
- What happens if a settlement payment is late
- Additional terms
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Does an out-of-court settlement in Germany need a particular form?
- No. A settlement is valid without any form (§ 779 BGB), unless its subject needs one — a promise to transfer land, for instance, needs a notary. Even the acknowledgement of the settlement sum needs no written form, because it is given by way of settlement (§ 782 BGB). In writing and signed by both, however, the settlement is far easier to prove; each party should keep an original.
- When is a settlement void under German law?
- A settlement is void if the facts both parties took as settled do not match reality and the dispute would not have arisen had the true position been known (§ 779(1) BGB). So describe the background precisely and as both sides understand it. A mistake about the very points that were disputed and that the settlement was meant to resolve, by contrast, does not make it void.
- Can the creditor enforce a German settlement if the debtor does not pay?
- Not directly: an out-of-court settlement is not an enforceable title. If the debtor does not pay, the creditor can claim the settlement sum — or, where that option was chosen, the revived original claim — through a payment order (Mahnbescheid) or a court action, with the settlement as the key evidence. A settlement is enforceable at once only if it is made before a court, or as a notarial deed in which the debtor submits to immediate enforcement (§ 794(1) no. 5 ZPO).
- What applies in Germany if a business grants a consumer instalments in a settlement?
- The settlement may then fall under consumer-credit law: where a business grants a consumer a deferral of payment for a charge, the consumer-loan rules apply accordingly — written form, mandatory information and a right of withdrawal (§ 506 BGB). From 20 November 2026 § 506 also covers free deferrals; whether a free deferral of an existing debt is exempt is not yet settled. In that case, agree on payment in one sum, or have the instalment terms checked by someone qualified.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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