Debt Collection Agency in France: No Win, No Fee

Step 1 - How does amicable (pre-legal) debt collection work in France?

Amicable collection recovers an unpaid invoice without a lawsuit, through a reminder (relance) and, if that fails, a formal demand (mise en demeure). Neither step is legally required before suing, but the mise en demeure formally puts the debtor in default and triggers late-payment interest. The aim is full payment or a written acknowledgement of the debt, which can support a later claim if the debtor does not pay as promised.

Making a valid formal demand in France

Under the Code civil (the Civil Code), articles 1344 to 1345-3, a mise en demeure can be made in three ways: a sommation served by a commissaire de justice, a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception) containing a sufficient formal demand, or a clause written into the contract itself. It puts the debtor formally in default and supports the creditor's claim for late-payment interest from that date.

Who bears the cost, B2B versus B2C

Between two businesses, a fixed 40 euro recovery indemnity applies automatically from day one of late payment, on top of statutory or contractual interest (Code de commerce, article L441-10 and D.441-5); no notice is required and the amount cumulates across invoices. Against a consumer debtor, the position reverses entirely: billing any recovery cost to a consumer is a criminal offense under French law, so amicable costs stay with the creditor except in narrow, legally defined cases.

When to escalate

Cabinet d'Ormane moves to escalation only with your approval. If the debtor still does not respond within a reasonable period after the mise en demeure, or disputes the debt without paying, the next step is either the injonction de payer for an undisputed fixed debt, or an ordinary lawsuit where the claim is genuinely contested.

Step 2 - How do you obtain an enforceable title in France?

To enforce a debt you need an enforceable title (titre exécutoire). France's fast route is the injonction de payer (the payment order procedure), with a simplified small-claims track and ordinary proceedings as alternatives.

The order-for-payment procedure (injonction de payer)

The creditor files a written application (requête) with the competent court. The procedure is non-adversarial: there is no hearing, and the judge decides on the file alone. It applies to a fixed claim of contractual or statutory origin, but not to maintenance payments or a bounced cheque. A commercial-route application carries a 30.23 euro registry fee; the civil route at the tribunal judiciaire is free. If granted, the order carries the enforcement formula (formule exécutoire) and becomes an enforceable title once served and unopposed.

Service and opposition

Since a February 2026 reform, the order must be served on the debtor within three months of its date, down from six previously, or it becomes non avenue (void). The debtor then has one month from service to lodge opposition (opposition), unchanged by the reform, which sends the whole claim to an ordinary hearing. If no opposition is received within two months of service, the creditor can proceed straight to forced execution. A rejected application is not open to appeal, but the creditor can still bring an ordinary lawsuit instead.

Determining the appropriate court in France

The competent court is generally the one where the debtor lives or has its registered office. For a civil claim this is the tribunal judiciaire; for a commercial claim between traders, the tribunal de commerce (or, in 12 pilot courts including Paris, the tribunal des activités économiques, piloting a wider commercial-court jurisdiction from 2025 to 2028); in Alsace-Moselle, the commercial chamber of the tribunal judiciaire.

More on court proceedings in France

Simplified small-claims recovery and référé-provision

For a debt of 5,000 euro or less, a commissaire de justice can run the simplified small-claims recovery directly, with no judge involved: the debtor has one month to accept or refuse, silence counts as refusal, and on agreement the commissaire issues an enforceable title straight away (Code des procédures civiles d'exécution, article L125-1). This route excludes an invoiced claim between two merchants. Where money is needed quickly and the debt is not seriously contestable, a référé-provision can instead secure an interim payment after a short hearing.

A new business-to-business route, not yet usable

A 2026 statute (the "procédure de recouvrement des créances commerciales incontestées") creates a dedicated B2B route: a commissaire de justice serves a formal payment demand, and if the debtor neither pays nor contests it, the court clerk appends an enforcement formula after a purely formal check, with all costs shifting to the debtor. Its implementing decree was not yet published at the time of writing, so it is not yet usable.

Step 3 - How does debt enforcement work in France?

Enforcement of a titre exécutoire (an enforceable title) is carried out by a commissaire de justice (the judicial officer, formed from the 2022 merger of the huissier de justice and the commissaire-priseur judiciaire). The creditor chooses the measures that match the debtor's known assets, and the commissaire can be asked to investigate what the debtor owns before enforcement starts.

Ways to enforce a claim in France

• Bank attachment (saisie-attribution): the commissaire de justice seizes funds the debtor holds with a third party such as a bank, above a protected minimum pegged to the RSA (the minimum-income benefit) level; the debtor has one month to contest the seizure before the juge de l'exécution (the enforcement judge), after which the bank releases the funds to the creditor.
• Wage garnishment (saisie des rémunérations): de-judicialised to the commissaire de justice as of 1 July 2025 (previously run by the court); the commissaire notifies the debtor's employer and attaches wages above the legally protected minimum, in monthly instalments.
• Seizure and sale of movables (saisie-vente): the commissaire de justice seizes and sells the debtor's movable property, such as vehicles or equipment, at auction.
• Immovable property (saisie immobilière): for larger claims, real estate can be seized and sold under judicial supervision, a longer and more formal process reserved for significant debts.

The enforcement process in France

The creditor instructs the commissaire de justice with the enforceable title; the commissaire identifies the debtor's assets, chooses and applies the appropriate measure, and collects the funds. Proceeds are applied first to principal, then interest, then recoverable costs, with any surplus returned to the debtor. If a first measure recovers only part of the debt, the creditor can instruct further measures against any other assets the commissaire identifies, until the claim is satisfied or no further assets can be found.

Cross-border debt collection in France

France is a founding European Union member state, so for a claim against a debtor in another EU country, three EU instruments apply directly, without extra formalities. The European Payment Order (Regulation EC 1896/2006) gives a uniform order-for-payment route for an uncontested cross-border claim: filed on a standard form, it is typically decided within 30 days, and the debtor then has 30 days to oppose it before it becomes automatically enforceable. The European Small Claims Procedure (Regulation EC 861/2007) is a simplified written procedure for a cross-border claim of no more than 5,000 euro, available in every EU state except Denmark, and is open to a French creditor pursuing a debtor elsewhere in the EU or vice versa. A French judgment is recognised and enforced in another EU member state under the Brussels I Recast Regulation (EU 1215/2012): exequatur is abolished, so no separate declaration of enforceability is needed, only a standard certificate.