A foreign company represented by our team won a dispute in the Lithuanian Court of Appeal whose decision forms new case law exempting creditors from stamp duty if claiming annulment of transactions when bankruptcy proceedings are initiated against natural persons.
So far the practice has been applied only in the case of bankruptcy of legal persons
The Lithuanian legal system acknowledges cases where persons are exempt from paying stamp duty and other litigation costs in civil proceedings. One such case is when claimants go to court in bankruptcy or restructuring proceedings. Case law affirms that if claims against a bankrupt company directly relate to bankruptcy proceedings, the applicants should be exempt from payment of stamp duty. This applies even when claims are not handled in bankruptcy proceedings. However, this case-law has not been applied to bankruptcy of natural persons.
In the case involving our client the Lithuanian Court of Appeal found that, although the practice of stamp duty exemption was formed in cases where annulment of a transaction is claimed in ongoing corporate insolvency proceedings, it should also apply to disputes over annulment of transactions involving natural persons undergoing insolvency proceedings.
Our team representing the client
The client was represented by partner Kęstutis Švirinas with senior associate Kazimieras Karpickis and associate Domantė Lunytė.
