Société de recouvrement en France - Paiement au succès

Étape 1 - Comment fonctionne le recouvrement amiable (pré-judiciaire) de créances en 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.

Établir une mise en demeure valable en 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.

Quand faire remonter l'information

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.

Étape 2 - Comment obtenir un titre exécutoire en 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.

La procédure d'injonction de payer

The creditor files a written application (requête) with the competent court. The procedure is non-adversarial (non contradictoire): there is no hearing, and the judge decides on the file alone. It is available for a fixed claim of contractual or statutory origin, but not for maintenance payments (pension alimentaire) or a bounced cheque (chèque sans provision). A commercial-route application before the tribunal de commerce carries a 33.47 euro registry fee. If granted, the order carries the enforcement formula (formule exécutoire) and becomes an enforceable title once it is served and unopposed.

Signification et opposition

The order must be served on the debtor within six months of issuance, or it lapses. The debtor then has one month from service to lodge opposition (opposition), which sends the whole claim to an ordinary hearing. If the debtor does not oppose within that month, the creditor requests the enforcement formula within one month after the opposition deadline expires, and the order becomes fully enforceable. A rejected application is not open to appeal, but the creditor can still bring an ordinary lawsuit instead.

Détermination du tribunal compétent en 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 Alsace-Moselle, the commercial chamber of the tribunal judiciaire).

Plus d'informations sur les procédures judiciaires en France

Recouvrement simplifié des petites créances et référé-provision

For a debt of 5,000 euro or less, a commissaire de justice can run the simplified small-claims recovery (procédure simplifiée de recouvrement des petites créances) 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). Where money is needed quickly and the debt is not seriously contestable, a référé-provision (an interim-payment hearing) can order a payment on account after a short hearing, faster than a full lawsuit.

Étape 3 - Comment fonctionne l'exécution forcée des créances en 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.

Moyens d'exécution forcée d'une créance en 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.

Le processus d'exécution forcée en 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.

Recouvrement de créances transfrontalières en France

For a claim against a debtor in another EU member state, 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.