(1) The debtor must submit the following together with the written request to open insolvency proceedings or without delay subsequent to the request being made:
1. a certificate issued by a suitable person or agency on the basis of personal consultation and thorough examination of the debtor’s income and financial circumstances and from which it emerges that within the last six months prior to the request to open insolvency proceedings an unsuccessful attempt has been made to settle out of court with the creditors on the basis of a plan; the plan is to be included and the primary reasons for its failure are to be explained; the Länder may determine which persons or agencies are to be regarded as suitable;
2. the request for grant of discharge of residual debt (section 287) or the declaration that discharge of residual debt is not to be applied for;
3. a record of available assets and income (record of assets), a summary of the main content of this record (overview of the assets), a record of the creditors and a record of the claims against the debtor; the records and the overview of the assets are also to include a declaration that their contents are correct and complete;
4. a plan for the settlement of debts; this may contain all provisions which are suited to lead to an appropriate settlement of debts when account is taken of the interests of the creditors, as well as of the debtor’s assets, income and family situation; the plan is to include whether and to what extent sureties, pledges and other securities pertaining to the creditors are to be affected by the plan.
(2) The record of claims pursuant to subsection (1) no. 3 may also refer to enclosed statements of claims made by the creditors. Upon their request, the creditors are obliged to provide debtors with a written statement of their claims against them, at their expense, in order to aid them in preparing the record of claims; in particular, they must state the extent of their claims and their categorisation into main claim, interest and costs. The request on the part of a debtor must include a reference to a request to open insolvency proceedings which has already been filed with a court or the filing of which is planned in the near future.
(3) If the debtor has submitted the official forms provided for in subsection (5) in an incomplete state, the insolvency court requests that the debtor supply the missing parts without delay. If the debtor does not comply with this request within one month, the request to open insolvency proceedings is deemed to have been retracted. In the cases referred to in section 306 (3) sentence 3, the period is three months.
(4) The debtor may be represented before the insolvency court by a suitable person or by a member of an agency recognised as suitable within the meaning of subsection (1) no. 1. Section 174 (1) sentence 3 applies accordingly to the creditor’s representative.
(5) In order to simplify consumer insolvency proceedings, by virtue of a statutory instrument and with the approval of the Bundesrat, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection is entitled to introduce for the parties to the proceedings forms for the certificates, requests and lists to be submitted in accordance with subsection (1) nos. 1 to 4. Where forms are introduced in accordance with sentence 1 the debtor must use them. Different forms may be introduced for proceedings in courts which process the proceedings automatically and for proceedings in courts which do not process the proceedings automatically.