Introduction

Existence of a claim

Issuance of enforcement order (writs of execution)

Existence of seizable assets or claims

Conditions of enforcement

Judicial authority

Other authorities

Competent authorities and persons

Operations

Difficulties in enforcement

Implementation of compulsory enforcement

General regime of enforcement procedures

Concept of penalty

Scope ratione personae

Material scope

Determination of penalty

Competence of judge

Powers of court

Effects of ruling ordering or rejecting penalty

Pronouncement of penalty

Substantive conditions

Procedural conditions

Role and powers of the judge

Effects of liquidation judgment

Liquidation of the penalty

Penalty

Conditions of implementation

Contesting the measures

Ordinary law on protective measures

Protective seizures

Judicial security interests (sûretés judiciaires)

Specific regimes

Interim protective measures (mesures conservatoires)

Seizure of claims for sums of money

Seizure of tangible movable property

Seizure of intangible rights

Enforcement measures on movable property

Real estate seizures

Evictions

Enforcement measures on real estate

Enforcement measures

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

Article R. 523-7 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures requires the creditor, who obtains a writ of execution acknowledging the existence of their claim, to serve the third-party debtor with a document converting the protective seizure into a saisie-attribution  (garnishment or third-party debt  seizure) . This document, which must be served by a judicial commissioner , contains, on pain of  …

Conversion

Article R. 523-7 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures requires the creditor, who obtains a writ of execution acknowledging the existence of their claim, to serve the third-party debtor with a document converting the protective seizure into a saisie-attribution  (garnishment or third-party debt  seizure) . This document, which must be served by a judicial commissioner , contains, on pain of invalidity: the reference to the protective seizure report; the statement of the writ of execution; a separate breakdown of the amounts due under the writ of execution, including principal, costs, and accrued interest, as well as the indication of the interest rate; and a request for payment of the amounts previously indicated up to the amount for which the third party has acknowledged or has been declared a debtor.

Article R. 523-7, para. 2, specifies that “the act informs the third party that, within this limit, the request results in the immediate allocation of the seized claim to the creditor.” A copy of the conversion act must then be served on the debtor . Since no formalities are provided for notifying the debtor of the conversion act, the Court of Cassation considers that the eight-day period provided, under penalty of lapse, by Article R. 211-3 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures for notifying the debtor of the saisie-attribution does not apply when serving the copy of the conversion act of the protective seizure into saisie-attribution . From the service of the conversion act, and under penalty of inadmissibility, Article R. 523-9, para. 1, provides that the debtor has a period of fifteen days to contest it before the enforcement judge of the place where they reside. Under the same penalty, the contestation is notified the same day or, at the latest, the next working day, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, to the judicial commissioner who carried out the seizure . The author of the contestation is required to inform the third party seized by simple letter, with the text not specifying any deadline or penalty .

The conversion of the protective seizure into a saisie-attribution results, by operation of law, in the immediate allocation of the seized claim up to the amount of the judgment and the sums acknowledged by the third-party debtor . In the absence of a challenge, the third-party debtor proceeds with payment upon presentation of a certificate issued by the court registry or prepared by the judicial commissioner who carried out the seizure, certifying that no challenge was made within fifteen days following the notification of the conversion act . Article R. 523-9, paragraph 5, specifies that “payment may occur before the expiration of this period if the debtor has declared not to contest the conversion act,” which declaration must be recorded in writing. Conversely, in the event of a challenge to the conversion, which absorbs the protective seizure as well as remedies any potential irregularities affecting it , payment can only occur upon presentation of the judgment, previously notified, dismissing it.

Difficulties may arise in the event of the initiation of insolvency proceedings: a distinction must be made depending on whether the act of conversion occurred before or after the judgment opening the proceedings. Thus, when between the judgment of conviction and the judgment opening the insolvency proceedings, the creditor has not served an act of conversion of the protective seizure into a saisie-attribution, which alone results in the immediate allocation of the seized claim, the Court of Cassation considers that they cannot claim any acquired rights, even in the presence of a final judgment confirming their claim . Indeed, the judgment opening the insolvency proceedings prohibits any conversion into saisie-attribution of the protective seizure carried out previously . Moreover, the suspension of enforcement proceedings, which follows the judgment opening the proceedings, implies the release of the protective seizure served on the third party before the date of cessation of payments when it has not been converted into a saisie-attribution before the date of the opening judgment . Conversely, when the conversion into a saisie-attribution was carried out before the judgment opening the debtor's insolvency proceedings, the Court of Cassation considers that the invalidity incurred by the protective seizure, pursuant to Article L. 621-107, I, 7° of the Commercial Code, does not result, by virtue of the immediate allocation to the seizing party, in the invalidity of the saisie-attribution .

Cass. 2e civ., 25 September 2014, LawLex202300000407JBJ, annulling the service performed by a sworn clerk.

Cass. com., 31 March 1998, LawLex202300001795JBJ; 15 October 2002, LawLex202100002600JBJ.

Cass. com., 29 April 2003, LawLex202200008741JBJ. Also see Cass. com., 10 December 2002, LawLex202400003190JBJ, holding that when the conversion into saisie-attribution has been carried out before the judgment opening insolvency proceedings, the trial courts do not have to rule on the application of Article L. 621-107, I, 7° of the Commercial Code.

Cass. com., 2 March 2010, LawLex202100005218JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 31 March 2011, LawLex202300004059JBJ. See also Cass. com., 14 May 2013, LawLex202300003925JBJ.

Cass. com., 2 March 2010, LawLex202100005218JBJ, prec., according to which a judicial representative is no longer admissible to challenge the protective seizure carried out by a creditor when it has been duly converted into a seizure - apprehension before the opening of the judicial recovery of the debtor company.

Cass. 2e civ., 19 May 1999, LawLex202300004051JBJ. - Cf., when the protective seizure has been duly converted into a saisie-attribution before the opening of the judicial recovery of the debtor company, Cass. com., 2 March 2010, LawLex202100005218JBJ.

Cass. com., 22 April 1997, LawLex202100002592JBJ. Also see Cass. 2e civ., 20 October 2005, LawLex202300004045JBJ: the protective seizure, which was not converted into a seizure - apprehension at the time of the judgment opening the judicial recovery procedure of the debtor, can no longer produce its effects.

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

114. Conversion

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114. Conversion

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