Debt recovery in France: order for payment and simplified procedure

The order for payment procedure may be initiated in any of the following cases:

• The claim (debt) is derived from a contract. The amount of the debt must be entered in the contract. Examples include a purchase from a merchant, a loan, an unpaid invoice, a bank overdraft, or unpaid rent.

• The claim arises from a bill of exchange, a promissory note, the acceptance of an assignment of a professional claim (Dailly slip).

The claim shall not be prescribed. It must be certain, liquid and payable, i.e. it cannot reasonably be contested by the debtor. It must have expired and its amount must be determined.

You can use a cerfa form. The form to be used depends on the claim.

Preparing your case

The form must contain the following information:

• For applicants natural persons, surname, forenames, occupation, domicile, nationality, date and place of birth
• For applicants legal persons, form of the business, name, legal representative and address of the registered office
• Name and permanent address of the person against whom the application is made, or, in the case of a legal person, his name and address of his registered office
• Subject matter of the request
• Amount of the sum claimed together with the statement of the various elements of the claim (interest, penalty payment...) and the basis thereof

The form is accompanied by a list of supporting documents proving the validity of the request (purchase order, contract, unpaid invoice, letter of formal notice, etc.).

If any of the particulars is missing, the application may be rejected.

Lodging of the application

The creditor must send or file his application to the graft of the competent court.

He can do it himself or he can have a lawyer or a commissioner of justice do it for him.

The competent court depends on the type of dispute.

If the dispute concerns individuals or an individual and a professional, the competent court is the court of law. In the case where the dispute concerns 2 professionals (traders, craftsmen...) the competent court is the commercial court.

Issuance of an order for payment

There is no hearing and the procedure is not contradictory : the judge takes a decision based solely on the evidence provided by the creditor, without hearing the debtor's arguments.

If the judge considers the application to be justified, he or she shall make a order for payment for the amount he's holding back.

The Registry shall provide the applicant with a certified copy of the application and a copy of the order for payment containing the enforcement order. The latter then has the value of enforceable title.

If, on the other hand, the judge rejects the application, the creditor has no recourse, but he may institute proceedings standard judicial procedure.

Service of order for payment

The creditor shall transmit to the debtor, by significance made by a Commissioner of Justice, the application and the order for payment.

The debtor may access for free the supporting documents annexed to the request by electronic means via the following platform:

Mespieces.fr

The order lapses (i.e. is rescinded) if significance is not made within 6 months.

Challenge of the Order

The debtor has1 month from the service of the order for an injunction to opposition to the court.

If service has not been effected on the person, this period of 1 month shall begin from the date of the document of execution (e.g. a notice of seizure on a bank account).

The objection must be made to the court that made the decision:

• by going to the transplant, or
• or by sending in RAR: titleContent one request on free paper or the cerfa form no 15602.

Objection to an order for payment

All relevant documents (copy of the order received, references on the decision, etc.) must be attached.

The court shall convene the parties.

Representation by counsel is mandatory for claims over €10,000. However, it is not mandatory before the protection litigation judge, regardless of the amount.

After attempting to reconcile the parties, the court issues a judgment that replaces the order.

The creditor or debtor may contest the judgment in appealing, if the amount of the request is greater than €5,000.

If the amount does not exceed €5,000, they may to appeal before the Court of Cassation.

Enforcement of the order

If the debtor does not contest the order for payment at the end of the period of 1 month after service, the creditor may enforce the order.

The debtor may pay on his own initiative or at the request of the creditor.

Otherwise, the creditor may request a certificate of absence of opposition from the court registry. This certificate shall certify that the decision may be execution.

Then they have to go to a Commissioner of Justice for the enforcement of the order for payment by, for example, seizing movable property and a bank account.