Le lien vers cette page a été envoyé avec succès aux destinataires.
Preservation of tangible personal property
Verified 12 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
In the case of a preventive seizure, the tangible movable property and intangibles of debtor shall be seized provisionally at the request of creditor and pending the judgment ordering the debtor to pay his debt. After seizure, the debtor is temporarily prevented from giving, selling or damaging the seized property. When the debtor is ordered to pay his debt, and he does not do so, the seized goods can be sold. But the debtor can challenge the attachment.
What applies to you ?
Veuillez patienter pendant le chargement de la page
We present you the information you need to know, depending on whether you are a creditor or debtor:
You are a creditor
The process to do is different depending on whether you have one of the following documents:
- Enforceable Title
- Court decision not yet enforceable (because the time limits for appeal have not expired)
- Unpaid accepted bill of exchange
- Unpaid promissory note
- Unpaid check
- Written lease, in case of unpaid rent
- Provisions payable in respect of the projected budget of the condominium or made payable in the absence of payment of a single provision on its due date.
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
You have one of those documents
1. Call on a commissioner of justice (formerly judicial officer and judicial auctioneer)
You must appoint a commissioner of justice to make the preventive seizure.
Who shall I contact
Please note
If the property is not at the debtor's domicile, but at the domicile of another person, you (or the Commissioner of Justice) must first request authorization of the preventive seizure by query with the enforcement judge the court in which the debtor's domicile depends.
2. The day of seizure
On the day of the seizure, the Commissioner of Justice goes to the home of the debtor.
The Commissioner of Justice shall draw up a deed of seizure which includes the seized property.
You don't have any of those documents
1. Address the judge
You (or the Commissioner of Justice) must submit a query at enforcement judge of the court to which the debtor's domicile depends for the purpose of authorizing the preventive attachment.
To be valid, the request must meet the following 2 conditions:
- Set out the facts that justify your receivable is founded in principle
- Describe what makes you worry about not being reimbursed. This is the case, for example, if you are concerned that the debtor is trying to surrender insolvent by selling his possessions.
The judge makes his decision by prescription.
If the judge authorizes the seizure, the order indicates the amount of the debt and the nature of the property to be seized (but does not list it).
You then have 3 months to have the preventive seizure carried out by a commissioner of justice.
2. Make the seizure
You must appoint a commissioner of justice to make the preventive seizure.
Who shall I contact
FYI
The costs incurred by a preventive seizure shall be borne by the debtor (unless the judge decides otherwise).
3. The day of seizure
On the day of the seizure, the Commissioner of Justice goes to the home of the debtor.
The Commissioner of Justice drafts a deed of seizure which includes the authorization of the judge and the seized property.
You then have 1 month to make the steps to obtain a enforceable title.
4. Obtain an enforceable title
To obtain an enforceable title, you must assign the debtor in court, within one month. It's a matter of getting the debt registered.
FYI
If you do not meet this deadline, the debtor can ask the enforcement judge to release of the preservation order.
After the Commissioner of Justice has made the protective seizure, the debtor may challenge it, in particular on the following grounds:
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Seizure is not warranted
If the debtor considers that the seizure is not justified, he may ask the enforcement judge the release of the preservation order. It is up to you to prove that the conditions for a preventive attachment are met (claim based in principle, circumstances that threaten the recovery of the claim).
FYI
If the judge orders the release, you can be ordered to make good the damage caused by the precautionary measure.
You don't have an enforceable title
If the seizure was made without enforceable title, and you do not make the steps to obtain one within the following month, the debtor can ask the judge to release of the seizure.
FYI
If the judge orders the release, you can be ordered to make good the damage caused by the precautionary measure.
Some tangible personal property is exempt from seizure, because they are necessary for the daily life and work of the debtor and his family:
- Clothing
- Bedding
- Linen
- Objects and products needed for body care and home maintenance
- Food
- Household items necessary for the preservation, preparation and consumption of food
- Heaters
- Table and chairs for communal meals
- Furniture for storing clothes and laundry
- Furniture for storing household objects
- Washing machine
- Books and objects necessary for further study or vocational training
- Children's Objects
- Memories of a personal or family nature
- Apartment or on-call animals
- Farmed animals (and the foodstuffs necessary for their rearing)
- Working instruments necessary for the personal exercise of the professional activity
- Fixed or mobile phone
- Essential items for a disabled person
- Objects intended for the care of a sick person.
Other property of the debtor may be subject to a preventive seizure, even if they are, for example, stored with another person.
If the debtor condemned to pay his debt does not pay it, you can instruct a commissioner of justice to signify to the debtor one act of conversion. That act contains, inter alia, command to pay.
If the debtor does not pay within 8 days, he then has 1 month to sell the seized goods himself and pay you back.
If he does not sell the seized goods within this period, a forced sale (public auction) is then organized by a commissioner of justice to reimburse you.
You are a debtor
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
You are present during the input
The Commissioner of Justice must inform you that you have an obligation to inform him if the property is already subject to seizure. If this is the case, you must provide him with the minutes.
The Commissioner of Justice then drafts the act of seizure. The document must contain the following information:
- Mention of the authorization of the judge or of the document justifying the preventive seizure (enforceable title, unpaid check, unpaid promissory note, court decision not yet enforceable, unpaid accepted bill of exchange, or written residential lease)
- Detailed description of seized property
- Indication of the possibility to challenge the preservation.
The Commissioner of Justice shall immediately give you a copy of this act.
The seized goods are then placed in your custody. You can't sell them, you can't transport them.
FYI
The costs incurred by the preventive seizure are at your expense (unless the judge decides otherwise).
You are absent during the entry
The Commissioner of Justice shall draw up a deed of seizure.
The document must contain the following information:
- Mention of the authorization of the judge or the title justifying the seizure
- Detailed description of seized property
- Indication of the possibility to challenge the preventive attachment
- Indication that the seized goods are in your custody, and that you can no longer sell or transport them.
The Commissioner of Justice must signify a copy of the seizure order. You have 8 days to inform the Commissioner of Justice of a possible previous seizure and provide him with the minutes.
FYI
The costs incurred by the preventive seizure are at your expense (unless the judge decides otherwise).
After the seizure has been made, you can challenge the seizure, including for one of the following reasons:
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Seizure is not warranted
If you believe that the seizure is not warranted, you may ask the enforcement judge on which depends your home, the release of the preservation order. It's at creditor prove that the conditions for a preventive attachment are met (a claim based on its principle, circumstances which threaten the recovery of the claim). If the judge orders the release, the creditor may be ordered to make good the damage caused by the precautionary measure.
The creditor does not have an enforceable title
A creditor may make a preventive attachment without enforceable title but, within one month of the seizure, he must assign in court to obtain this document. If the creditor does not respect this deadline, you can ask the enforcement judge to release of the preservation order.
Some assets are elusive, because they are necessary for the daily and professional life of the debtor and his family:
- Clothing
- Bedding
- Linen
- Objects and products needed for body care and home maintenance
- Food
- Household items necessary for the preservation, preparation and consumption of food
- Heaters
- Table and chairs for communal meals
- Furniture for storing clothes and laundry
- Furniture for storing household objects
- Washing machine
- Books and objects necessary for further study or vocational training
- Children's Objects
- Memories of a personal or family nature
- Apartment or on-call animals
- Farmed animals (and the foodstuffs necessary for their rearing)
- Working instruments necessary for the personal exercise of the professional activity
- Fixed or mobile phone
- Essential items for a disabled person
- Objects intended for the care of a sick person.
Your other assets may be subject to a preventive seizure, even if they are for example stored in another person's home.
FYI
A property may be subject to several preventive seizures.
If, though condemned to pay your debt, you do not, the creditor may initiate the conversion of the preservation order into garnishment-sale.
For this, the creditor must contact a commissioner of justice to draft and serve you a act of conversion.
That act shall contain the following information:
- The reference of the preventive attachment order
- A reference to the enforceable instrument which established the claim
- The statement of amounts payable (principal, fees and interest accrued) and the indication of the interest rate
- One command to pay this amount within 8 days, otherwise the seized goods will be sold.
If you do not pay within 8 days, you then have 1 month to sell the seized goods and pay back the creditor.
If you do not sell the seized property within this period, a forced sale (public auction) is made by a commissioner of justice to repay your creditor.
Conditions and procedures
Conditions and procedures
Seizable movable property
Seizable movable property
Elusive tangible personal property (Article L112-2)
Elusive tangible personal property
Seizure transactions (tangible movable property)
Conversion to garnishment
FAQ
Service Public
Service Public