If your nerves are strained by a client who despises your reminders, while having very good means to pay you, the law can help you. The seizure of attribution is a procedure to directly recover its debts near the bank of the debtor. This punchy measure often bears fruit. Under what conditions is it possible and how does it take place? Discover the essentials in a few points.
Seizure-attribution: why and how?
If the seizure-attribution is an effective approach, but it must respect a strict procedure under penalty of not being valid.
It is only equipped with a enforceable title obtained from the judge or a notary, that one can go and find the bailiff. The latter, as a ministerial officer in charge of the execution of court decisions, will thus be able to issue the act of seizure-attribution. All that remains is for him to proceed with the notification of this document to the bank.
Banks have the obligation to reveal to the bailiff the existence of all accounts opened in the name of the debtor. For a period of 15 days, all these accounts will be frozen, so as to make it possible to collect the sums necessary for the settlement of the debt. It should be noted that all accounts are concerned, except for life insurance, securities on deposit (stocks and bonds) and the contents of safes.
Good to know: the seizure-attribution only concerns the recovery of liquid sums, the seizure cannot relate to material. The competent bailiff is that of the domicile of the debtor.
Attention, to be valid, the act must respect the rules enacted by article 648 of the Code of civil procedure. It must not omit a certain number of particulars including: the date, the identity of the creditor, the signature and contact details of the bailiff, the designation of the debtor, etc.
If the debtor is not notified by the bailiff by denunciation within 8 days, then again the procedure is subject to cancellation.
Consequences for the debtor
We suspect that the debtor is harmed by a seizure-attribution procedure. If the law provides that he is left with a lump sum (equivalent to the amount of the RSA) for his food needs, he cannot touch his cash. He will indeed have to wait 15 days before being able to go to the cash dispenser or pay for his purchases by card.
However, it is possible for him to save time by contacting the judicial officer. By committing to honor his debt, by accepting a payment schedule for example, he is entitled to request the lifting of the measure. If he disputes the measure, the debtor also has the option of letting the tribunal de grande instance know, which is mentioned in the deed. He must notify the bailiff by registered letter and his bank by simple letter. The seizure-attribution will then be suspended until the enforcement judge renders his decision. Sometimes the dispute is accepted for only part of the amount. It is the judge who then decides the amount that can be seized from the account.
In the absence of appeal or release, the bank proceeds to the payment of the sums due to the creditor within a period of one month. It is the bailiff who obtains the payment, by presenting the bank with a certificate which certifies that no recourse has been requested. He can also present an order certifying that the debtor has been dismissed by the judge.
Seizing debts directly on a debtor’s account is a process strictly regulated by law. It has the advantage of overtaking an unscrupulous debtor by preventing, in certain situations, that he flees “with the cash register”…
