As the old Roman principle says: “pacta sunt servanda”, that is, contracts are to be observed. However, in practice this is very often not the case, which can lead to a situation where your contract partner gets in arrears fulfilment of contractual obligations and becomes your debtor.

From the moment of default, the creditor may also pursue his claims in court, even if this is the ultimate solution. Often, an out-of-court solution is sufficient, such as sending Pre-action challenges by an attorney, which often leads to either early repayment of the debt, or at least another agreement to resolve the situation, such as written recognition of the debt with an agreement on the repayment schedule, which can subsequently ensure the enforceability of the debt without the need for legal proceedings — such a claim can then be enforceable already at the moment when the debtor fails to repay any payment of the debt on time. Such Agreements are at least a temporary solution, for example, where the debtor is currently unable to repay the entire debt and may also give him the necessary incentive to repay the debt at least partially.

If such efforts fail, all that remains is to proceed with the judicial recovery of the claim, which should always be preceded by the aforementioned pre-action challenge. It is also advisable to check the debtor in the Insolvency Register and the Central Registry of Executions and to evaluate the expediency of judicial enforcement, or filing an application for insolvency proceedings.

For monetary claims, a lawsuit can be filed in a simplified form Proposal for the issuance of an electronic payment orderwhich makes it possible to simplify the whole process. However, if the debtor files a so-called opposition, the proceedings are conducted in the form of a “standard” dispute procedure, in which it will be necessary to prove the claim before the court. Only then can the court issue a judgment ordering the debtor to pay the debt (together with the accessories and, accordingly, reimbursement of the costs of the proceedings).

Only a final judicial decision (that is, one that cannot be further appealed against) is the so-called writ of execution, on the basis of which enforcement proceedings can be initiated, leading to the “involuntary payment” of the debt, e.g. through a bailiff.

As follows from the above, debt collection can be a fairly simple process, but it can also become considerably more complicated. However, the task of the lawyer is to arrange the whole process for you as efficiently as possible, preferably without the need for the involvement of the court, which, however, cannot be done without the cooperation of the debtor.