Under Dutch law, a basic principle is that third parties must respect contracts to which they are not a party, even if they are prejudiced by these contracts. However, there are certain situations in which creditors are entitled to object and potentially annul contracts or legal acts entered into by the debtor. The Dutch Civil Code states that if a debtor performs a legal act to which he was not obliged, whilst he knew (or ought to have known) that this act would adversely affect the recourse of his creditors, the act may be annulled (art 3:45 Dutch Civil Code). An example is where a debtor transfers his assets to third party to put them out of reach of his debtors.