Civil proceedings can be divided into regular civil proceedings and enforcement proceedings.
Regular civil proceedings include contentious proceedings (civil procedure) and non-contentious proceedings. Enforcement proceedings include insolvency proceedings and proceedings to enforce judgments.
The demarcation between contentious proceedings and non-contentious proceedings is particularly difficult. Thus, both contentious proceedings and non-contentious proceedings refer to civil legal matters. The legislator determines according to which provisions proceedings are to be conducted based on certain (formal) criteria – in other words, it determines when proceedings are to be conducted according to the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) or the Non-Contentious Proceedings Act (AußStrG). It should be noted that the law provides for a subsidiarity rule in favor of the contentious proceedings – i.e. if nothing to the contrary is provided for by law, the contentious proceedings shall apply. The designation of the parties’ submissions is irrelevant—only the content is decisive. In case of doubt, the decision is incumbent on the court seized.
