When does the Mahnbescheid deadline start?
The most common mistake: people look at the date printed on the Mahnbescheid. What actually matters is the day the letter was served on you (Zustellung).
The two week deadline starts on the day the Mahnbescheid is served on you, not on the date printed on it. There are often several days between when the document is issued and when it is actually served.
How to count the two weeks
The day of service itself does not count. The deadline ends two weeks later, on the day of the week that matches the day you were served. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day.
Exactly which public holidays count, those where the court sits or those where you live, is a detail we are still having checked by a lawyer, and we will add the answer here once it is confirmed.
If you no longer know the date of service
- Check the envelope for a postmark.
- Ask your postal provider for the delivery date.
- If in doubt, act sooner rather than later: in a dispute, the other side has to prove that service happened, not you.
Already past the deadline?
As long as no Vollstreckungsbescheid has been issued yet, you can still file a Widerspruch, and should do so right away: a late Widerspruch is then treated as an Einspruch instead of being rejected. If the Vollstreckungsbescheid has already been issued, a Widerspruch is no longer possible; the Einspruch against it then has its own separate deadline.
How Catius Documents works out your deadline
You tell us the date of service, we calculate your deadline and show it to you before you pay anything.