fälligen

Fälligen is the inflected form of the German adjective fällig, which means due or payable. It is commonly used to describe payments, claims or obligations that have reached their due date or maturity. The term is frequent in finance, accounting, and legal contexts, where it signals that something must be settled or fulfilled.

In usage, fällig is used with different nouns to indicate that an amount or obligation is due. Examples include fällige Rechnung (due invoice), fällige Forderungen (due claims or receivables), and fälliger Betrag (due amount). The related noun Fälligkeit denotes the concept of due date or maturity, while the verb fälligstellen means to declare or set something as due.

Grammatical note: fällig is declined like a regular adjective. fälligen appears in forms such as die fälligen Beträge (the due amounts), dem fälligen Betrag (to the due amount), des fälligen Betrags (of the due amount). The usage adapts to number, case, and gender of the noun it modifies.

In practice, the distinction between due and overdue is important. Fälligen emphasizes that an obligation has reached its deadline or is legally exigible, while verfallen or überfällig often convey that a payment is late or overdue. Terms like Zahlungsziel, Fälligkeitstermin and fälligstellen are commonly used in contracts, invoices and settlement statements to specify when payments are expected and enforceable.

Overall, fälligen serves as a key descriptor in German financial and legal language, marking obligations that are currently due for settlement.