Preservation of tangible personal property - You are a creditor

Verified 12 janvier 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Your situation

  • You're a creditor
  • You don't have any of those documents
Edit

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.

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.

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.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

FAQ