Type of refusal

Frozen funds with a counterparty in Luxembourg

Frozen funds with a counterparty in Luxembourg

This page does not set out Luxembourg's national procedural steps; for how frozen-fund cases are categorised generally, see frozen funds refusals. What is fixed at this stage is who the counterparty is by legal form, and what is publicly known about it, see the Luxembourg jurisdiction profile.

Who is actually on the other side

The entity on the other side is typically a regulated fund vehicle, a special purpose vehicle, or a holding company incorporated in Luxembourg, in forms such as a SICAV, SICAR, SCSp or société anonyme. Luxembourg's public commercial register shows the entity's registered form, its registered office, and its managers or directors, along with filed changes to capital. It does not show the terms of the specific investment, the source of the freeze, or whether the entity itself holds the funds or merely administers them for a custodian or depositary. Distinguishing an entity's own assets from assets it holds for someone else often turns on documents such as a side letter, addressed separately at how a side letter is used to evidence frozen funds.

What to secure before the counterparty reacts

Before any further contact with the counterparty, collect what proves the position existed and that it is frozen: subscription documents or a side letter, account statements, redemption or withdrawal requests, and any written refusal or delay. Keep dated records of every exchange from this point forward, including calls and messages. If the funds sit in a custodial or platform account rather than directly with the counterparty, that distinction affects who is ultimately liable, covered at what changes if the counterparty becomes insolvent. This kind of position falls within platform and frozen account work, not within advice given on this page about which steps to take next.

Where a judgment would have to be enforced

If a judgment against the Luxembourg entity comes from another EU member state, recognition inside Luxembourg does not need a separate exequatur step; that intra-EU regime applies directly [N146]. If the judgment originates outside the EU, the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention entered into force for EU member states, including Luxembourg, on 1 September 2023, following the EU's accession on 29 August 2022 [N156]. Supporting foreign documents generally need an apostille, in force for Luxembourg since 3 June 1979 [N411]. If the counterparty's assets sit in the UK instead, a further step applies there, see enforcing a Luxembourg judgment in the UK; the reverse route is at enforcing a foreign judgment in Luxembourg. There is no success fee for this work; how to check a firm's registration, including ours, is at how to verify a law firm.