Preferente vordering

In Dutch insolvency law, claims are ranked by priority. Preferential claims, such as those of the Tax Authority or employees for wages, are satisfied in priority to ordinary creditors from the proceeds of the estate pursuant to statute.

Such priority arises by operation of law rather than by contractual agreement. This mechanism ensures that certain debts of social importance, including taxes and wages, are paid ahead of other claims.

In practice, the trustee determines the order of priority and distributes the estate in accordance with the statutory ranking. A creditor holding a preferential claim therefore has a greater prospect of (partial) recovery than an ordinary creditor.