Guide to Doing Business
in St. Maarten

Foreign bankruptcies

In St. Maarten the rules concerning the recognition and the execution of foreign legal decisions are, as a general rule, based on the principle of sovereign territoriality. Judgments from a court within a certain territory only have binding force inside such territory. The assets of the foreign bankrupt estate do not include the assets located in St. Maarten. However, the principle of territoriality does not mean that a foreign bankruptcy will not be acknowledged in St. Maarten. A lawfully acquired foreign legal status with respect to foreign assets, which is not in conflict with St. Maarten law, will be acknowledged in St. Maarten. This means that a foreign bankruptcy trustee is entitled to file a claim with a St. Maarten bankruptcy estate and to defend its claims before the court if and when such claim will be dismissed by a St. Maarten bankruptcy trustee in his schedule of claims.