Petitioning a Thai company into bankruptcy
A creditor owed money by a Thai company that will not pay can ask the Bankruptcy Court to put it into receivership instead of suing for judgment. The Bankruptcy Act sets three conditions, the Supreme Court has settled how they are read, and a creditor based abroad gets a little more time at one point in the process.
Published 23 September 2026
The three conditions
Section 9 of the Bankruptcy Act B.E. 2483 (1940) allows a creditor to petition only where the debtor is insolvent, where a debtor that is a juristic person owes the petitioning creditor or creditors not less than two million baht, and where the amount of the debt can be determined with certainty, whether it is payable now or in the future. A secured creditor must also meet section 10: it must not be barred from enforcing beyond the security, and the petition must either offer to surrender the security for the benefit of creditors generally or value it, leaving a shortfall of not less than two million baht against a juristic-person debtor.
No judgment is needed first
Section 9(3) asks only that the amount can be determined with certainty. It does not ask for a court to have fixed it. The Supreme Court has held that a creditor need not sue for judgment before petitioning: in judgment 471/2548 on loan, overdraft and promissory-note debts, in judgment 212/2567 on money advanced for sales promotion and the price of goods ordered, and in judgment 540/2567, where the Court reversed a finding that the debt was still in dispute because a running account showed it.
Proving insolvency: the two demands
Insolvency must be proved, and section 8 supplies presumptions. Under section 8(9), a debtor that has received written demands for payment at least twice, at least thirty days apart, and has not paid is presumed insolvent, and the burden then passes to the debtor to rebut it, as in judgments 212/2567 and 540/2567. The demands must concern the debt the petition is founded on. In judgment 6117/2552 the petition rested on a judgment debt, but only one demand had been made for that debt, so the presumption did not arise; the Court added that the facts showing insolvency must exist when the petition is filed.
What the debtor can answer
Under section 14 the court makes an absolute receivership order if the conditions in section 9 or 10 are proved, but dismisses the petition if they are not, if the debtor proves it can pay all its debts, or if there is another reason why it should not be made bankrupt. In judgment 4619/2553 an earlier petition had failed because the debtor owned land worth more than the debt; a later petition on the same debt, founded on a new ground under section 8(5) after that land had been sold, was not barred. In judgment 212/2567, by contrast, a debtor that had not paid and had registered its own dissolution showed no reason why it should not be made bankrupt.
After the absolute receivership order
Once the order is made, section 27 provides that creditors may obtain payment only through the procedure in the Act, even a creditor that already holds a judgment or has a civil claim pending. A creditor wishing to prove, whether or not it was the petitioning creditor, must file with the official receiver within two months of the publication of the order under section 91, on the prescribed form and with the documents relating to the debt. Where the creditor is outside the Kingdom, the official receiver may extend that period by up to two months more.
Which debts can be proved
Section 94 allows an unsecured creditor to prove a debt whose cause arose before the receivership order, even if it is not yet due or is conditional. Two kinds are excluded: a debt arising in breach of a legal prohibition or good morals, or one that cannot be enforced by action; and a debt the creditor allowed the debtor to incur knowing it was insolvent, though not one allowed so that the debtor's business could carry on.
A petition or a claim for judgment
A bankruptcy does not put the petitioning creditor ahead of the others. Once the order is made the debtor's assets are collected and distributed through the procedure, and every creditor is paid through it. A claim for judgment followed by execution, by contrast, is the creditor's own. Which serves better depends on what the debtor holds and on who else it owes, and is worth weighing before either is filed.
The judgments this rests on
Supreme Court judgment 471/2548
Loan, overdraft and promissory-note debts are of an amount that can be determined with certainty; a bankruptcy petition may be founded on them without a civil judgment first.
Supreme Court judgment 212/2567
Money advanced for sales promotion and the price of goods ordered, not less than two million baht, supported a petition without a prior judgment; two demands thirty days apart raised the presumption of insolvency, which the debtor failed to rebut, and its own registered dissolution was no reason not to make it bankrupt.
Supreme Court judgment 540/2567
A debt shown by a running account is of an amount that can be determined with certainty even if the debtor disputes it; the petitioning creditor need not sue for judgment first.
Supreme Court judgment 6117/2552
The two demands in section 8(9) must concern the debt the petition is founded on; a single demand for the judgment debt relied on did not raise the presumption, and insolvency must exist when the petition is filed.
Supreme Court judgment 4619/2553
A petition that failed because the debtor owned land worth more than the debt does not bar a later petition on the same debt founded on a new ground arising afterwards.
Questions this raises
Do we need a court judgment before petitioning?
No. Section 9(3) requires only that the amount of the debt can be determined with certainty, and the Supreme Court has held that a creditor need not sue for judgment first (471/2548, 212/2567, 540/2567).
We are based abroad. How long do we have to prove our debt?
Two months from the publication of the absolute receivership order under section 91, which the official receiver may extend by up to two months more for a creditor outside the Kingdom. The extension has to be sought.
Does one demand letter give rise to the presumption of insolvency?
No. Section 8(9) requires written demands at least twice, at least thirty days apart, and the demands must concern the debt the petition is founded on (6117/2552).
The legislation
- Bankruptcy Act B.E. 2483 (1940), sections 8, 9 and 10
- Bankruptcy Act B.E. 2483 (1940), sections 14 and 27
- Bankruptcy Act B.E. 2483 (1940), sections 91 and 94
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