Sub-national insolvency frameworks stipulate rules and procedures to resolve sub-national debt in a prompt and orderly way. As such they may serve to facilitate debt restructuring and the fiscal recovery of sub-national entities. They may even prevent sub-national governments from sliding into insolvency. This paper identifies the benefits of setting up an insolvency framework for sub-national governments complementing existing budget rules and procedures. It analyses different design options of sub-national insolvency frameworks by drawing on existing regimes for municipalities in Colombia, Hungary, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States as well as proposals for sovereign bankruptcy procedures in the literature. The paper also explores the main challenges for implementing sub-national insolvency regimes and presents possible solutions.