Enforcing a Judgment in France: Seizures and Asset Recovery

From judgment to money: the enforceable title and the commissaire de justice

A favourable decision does not pay you by itself. To enforce a judgment in France you first need an enforceable title (titre exécutoire), and then you must instruct a commissaire de justice — the reformed profession that merged the former huissiers de justice — to carry out the seizure. Under Article L111-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, only a creditor holding such a title may compel payment through the State's coercive machinery. The title must record a debt that is certain, liquidated and due (liquide et exigible); a claim that is still contested on its principle or amount cannot ground a seizure.

In practice the enforceable title is usually a court judgment ordering the debtor to pay. Before any seizure, the commissaire de justice must formally serve (signifier) that decision on the debtor; service is a precondition, not a formality, and a seizure carried out without prior service can be set aside. Where a first-instance judgment is confirmed on appeal, both decisions must be served before enforcement. A judgment that is only provisionally enforceable (exécution provisoire) can be enforced at once, but at the creditor's risk: if the decision is later reversed, the creditor must restore the debtor to their earlier position.

Not every enforceable title is a judgment. A notarial deed bearing the enforcement formula — for example a notarised loan or lease — lets the creditor go straight to a commissaire de justice without first suing. Court-approved settlements, mediation or conciliation agreements countersigned by lawyers and given the enforcement formula, and the special title a commissaire de justice can issue for an unpaid cheque, also qualify. For debts owed by an EU counterparty, a French decision can be certified as a European Enforcement Order, which speeds up recovery against assets located elsewhere in the Union. If you have not yet obtained a decision, start with how to recover an unpaid invoice in France.

Attachment of bank accounts (saisie-attribution)

The saisie-attribution is the fastest and most effective way to enforce a judgment in France, which is why creditors reach for it first. Governed by Article L211-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, it lets a creditor seize sums that a third party (the tiers saisi) owes the debtor. When that third party is a bank, the measure captures the balance of the debtor's accounts. Its defining strength is the immediate attributive effect: from the moment the commissaire de justice serves the act, the seized sums are transferred to the creditor's benefit, ahead of other creditors who move later.

A commissaire de justice can consult the national FICOBA register of bank accounts to locate where the debtor banks, so the creditor no longer has to guess. Service on a bank's head office reaches every account the debtor holds there, including at branches abroad that have no separate legal personality. The bank must declare, on the spot and without waiting to be asked, all of the debtor's accounts and their balances, together with any arrangements affecting them; a bank that fails to do so can be ordered to pay the debt itself. Seizure of one account renders all the debtor's money accounts unavailable up to the amount claimed.

Certain sums escape the creditor. The bank must leave a natural-person debtor an amount equal to the RSA benefit as a subsistence floor, and money that is unseizable at source — such as the protected fraction of a salary — keeps that character once credited. A defined, closed list of pending operations (unpaid cheques presented before the seizure, earlier card payments already credited, and similar items) may reduce the frozen balance. To seize wages, however, you cannot use the saisie-attribution: the Cour de cassation has held that pay can only be reached through the dedicated wage-seizure procedure, even against a former employer.

Attachment of wages and of receivables

Where the debtor is an individual with a job, their salary is a reliable target — but a protected one. Since 1 July 2025 the wage-seizure procedure (saisie des rémunérations) has been de-judicialised: the reform of 2023 removed the requirement for a prior authorisation and conciliation before the juge de l'exécution and handed the procedure to commissaires de justice. A commissaire de justice can now draw up a seizure of wages directly, on two conditions: an enforceable title recording a debt that is certain, liquidated and due, and a prior order to pay (commandement de payer) served on the employee debtor that has gone unanswered for one month.

Only part of the pay can be taken. A seizable-fraction scale (barème de la quotité saisissable) fixes how much of the salary may be diverted according to the debtor's income and family responsibilities, and the employer must in all cases leave the debtor the equivalent of the RSA for a single person. The employer, notified of the seizure, must declare the employee's legal situation and any competing seizures, and then pay the withheld sums each month; an employer who ignores this can be made personally liable for the amounts due. Under the reformed procedure a national digital register records ongoing wage seizures, and a distributing commissaire de justice channels the money to the creditor.

Wages are not the only income stream you can reach. Through a saisie-attribution a creditor can capture receivables the debtor is owed — rent, a location-gérance royalty, or other periodic sums — with a single act that bites on successive instalments as they fall due. This makes third-party debtors of your debtor, from tenants to trading partners, a practical route to payment. If your counterparty is elsewhere in the EU and the debt is uncontested, consider first obtaining the European Payment Order before turning to enforcement.

Seizure and sale of goods (saisie-vente)

When the debtor has no reachable bank balance or salary, the creditor can seize and sell tangible movable property. Under Article L221-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, any creditor holding an enforceable title for a debt that is certain, liquidated and due may, after serving an order to pay, have the debtor's tangible movables seized and sold. Machinery, stock, vehicles, cash on the premises and equipment can all be caught. The seized goods normally stay in the debtor's keeping, but a debtor who sells or hides them commits a criminal offence, and the creditor can ask the enforcement judge to place particular items with a sequestrator.

The goods do not have to be at the debtor's own address. Property held by a third party — a carrier or a warehouse keeper, for instance — can be seized there, and that holder must declare what it keeps for the debtor or risk being ordered to pay the debt. There are protective limits: for very small claims a seizure inside the debtor's home is only allowed with the enforcement judge's authorisation or where no bank or wage seizure is possible. Vehicles can also be immobilised or blocked from resale by a declaration to the prefecture, a measure that often prompts payment on its own.

After seizure, the debtor is given one month to arrange a sale by private agreement, which usually yields more than an auction; failing that, the goods are sold at public auction to the highest bidder, and the sale stops once the proceeds cover the debt, interest and costs. A debtor who offers a down payment and an instalment plan mid-procedure puts the creditor to a choice: accept and halt the seizure, or continue on the balance — but the creditor must never bank the first payment while pressing on without warning the debtor, on pain of damages. If the debtor is placed in a collective insolvency procedure before the sale, the creditor must stop.

Judicial security: mortgages, pledges and priority

Not every enforcement step produces immediate cash. A creditor can instead take judicial security over the debtor's assets — a judicial mortgage over real estate, or a judicial pledge over a business (fonds de commerce), company shares or securities. These measures do not liquidate the asset today; they register the creditor's claim against it and secure a rank, so that if the asset is later sold the secured creditor is paid ahead of unsecured ones. That priority can be decisive when several creditors are chasing the same debtor.

Judicial security is especially useful where the debtor owns illiquid but valuable assets, or where you fear other creditors will move first. Registering a provisional mortgage on the debtor's property both preserves your position and signals that you are serious, which frequently accelerates a settlement. Because a registration burdens the debtor's asset and its resale, French law controls it: the enforcement judge supervises provisional measures, and a debtor in an over-indebtedness or insolvency process may challenge or resist a provisional charge.

Seizing company shares deserves particular mention. The auction value of shares in a private company can be hard to predict, and approval clauses (clauses d'agrément) in the articles may bind the buyer. Yet the coercive weight of a share seizure is considerable: a managing director or majority shareholder will usually prefer to reach terms with the creditor than risk losing the powers that go with the stake. Rights of associate and securities are seized in the hands of the issuing company, and the seizure freezes the debtor's pecuniary rights until sale or release.

Conservatory measures before or alongside a title (saisie conservatoire)

Enforcement is only worthwhile if the debtor still has assets when you obtain your title. To avoid winning on paper against an empty shell, French law allows conservatory measures (mesures conservatoires) — a protective freeze of the debtor's assets before, or in parallel with, the pursuit of a final title. A conservatory attachment (saisie conservatoire) renders bank balances, receivables or goods unavailable so the debtor cannot dissipate them while the case runs, and a provisional judicial security registers a charge that can later be made final.

A creditor without an enforceable title normally needs the enforcement judge's authorisation to take a conservatory measure, and must show both a claim that appears well-founded in principle and circumstances that threaten its recovery — a debtor organising insolvency, moving assets abroad, or ceasing to trade. Some titles let a creditor act without prior authorisation. Once the freeze is in place, the creditor must, within the statutory time, obtain an enforceable title on the merits and convert the conservatory measure into a definitive seizure; otherwise the freeze lapses.

Conservatory measures also interrupt the limitation period, which matters when time is running against an old debt. They are a strategic tool as much as a protective one: the pressure of frozen accounts often brings a reluctant debtor to the table before any final decision. Because they bite before the debtor has been condemned, however, they are tightly supervised, and an unjustified freeze can be lifted with damages against the creditor who sought it.

The enforcement judge (juge de l'exécution) and the debtor's protections

Enforcement in France is supervised by a specialised judge, the juge de l'exécution (JEX). Under Article L213-6 of the Code of Judicial Organisation, the JEX rules exclusively on disputes arising out of enforcement titles and out of forced seizures, and authorises conservatory measures. This is the forum where a debtor contests a seizure and where a creditor defends it. The JEX cannot annul or modify the underlying title, but it controls how the title is enforced — ordering the lifting (mainlevée) of a seizure that is irregular, abusive or serves no purpose.

The debtor has real protections. A seizure may not exceed what is necessary to obtain payment, judged against the amount of the debt and the debtor's behaviour; a disproportionate or pointless seizure can be lifted and the creditor ordered to pay damages and a civil fine. Certain assets and income are wholly or partly unseizable, a subsistence floor is always left to an individual debtor, and specific goods needed for work or daily life attract particular care. Since 1 January 2020, representation by a lawyer before the enforcement judge is compulsory in most cases, which shapes how both sides run an enforcement dispute.

The debtor may also ask for time. Under the general grace-period rule a court can defer or stagger payment for up to two years and suspend enforcement in the meantime, weighing the debtor's situation against the creditor's needs. A grace period is personal to the debtor who obtains it: it does not stop the creditor pursuing co-debtors or a guarantor. For a foreign creditor, the practical lesson is that enforcement is neither automatic nor free of challenge, and that a well-documented, proportionate strategy is what carries a seizure through to payment.

Cross-border enforcement and a step-by-step plan

Foreign creditors often hold a decision from one country and a debtor with assets in another. Within the EU, a French judgment circulates freely: it can be certified as a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims, and under the Brussels regime a judgment given in one Member State is enforced in the others without a separate exequatur. Against a non-EU debtor, or to enforce a non-EU judgment in France, you generally need an exequatur — a French decision recognising the foreign judgment before it can support a seizure. Arbitral awards follow their own path to enforcement under the New York Convention.

Whichever route applies, the mechanics on the ground are the same French seizures described above, carried out by a commissaire de justice under the supervision of the enforcement judge. The order in which you deploy them — bank first, then wages or receivables, then goods, with judicial security to hold priority and a conservatory freeze where dissipation threatens — is a matter of strategy tuned to what the debtor actually owns. To enforce a judgment in France efficiently, that intelligence-gathering on the debtor's assets is as important as the legal steps themselves.

Frequently asked questions about enforcing a judgment in France

How do I enforce a judgment in France?

You must hold an enforceable title (titre exécutoire) recording a debt that is certain, liquidated and due, have it served on the debtor, and instruct a commissaire de justice to carry out a seizure. Bank-account attachment is usually the first step, followed by wage, receivable or goods seizures depending on what the debtor owns.

Can I seize a debtor's bank account?

Yes. A saisie-attribution under Article L211-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures lets you attach the debtor's bank balances through the bank as third party. The commissaire de justice can locate the accounts via the FICOBA register, and the seizure takes effect immediately, though a subsistence floor is left to an individual debtor.

What is the juge de l'exécution?

The juge de l'exécution (enforcement judge) is the specialised judge who, under Article L213-6 of the Code of Judicial Organisation, rules on enforcement disputes and authorises conservatory measures. It cannot change the underlying judgment but can lift a seizure that is irregular, abusive or unnecessary.

What assets can I seize in France?

You can reach bank accounts and receivables (saisie-attribution), wages (saisie des rémunérations), tangible movable goods including vehicles and stock (saisie-vente), and company shares. You can also take judicial security such as a mortgage over real estate to secure priority rather than immediate cash.

Can I secure assets before I have a judgment?

Yes, through a conservatory attachment (saisie conservatoire) or provisional judicial security. You generally need the enforcement judge's authorisation, must show a claim that appears well-founded and a threat to its recovery, and must then obtain a title on the merits and convert the freeze into a final seizure.

Do I need a lawyer to enforce a judgment in France?

For most disputes before the juge de l'exécution, representation by a lawyer has been compulsory since 1 January 2020. The seizures themselves are carried out by a commissaire de justice, but a lawyer is generally needed to obtain the title, contest or defend a seizure, and manage cross-border enforcement.

How has the wage-seizure procedure changed in 2025?

Since 1 July 2025 the seizure of wages has been de-judicialised. It no longer requires a prior authorisation and conciliation before the enforcement judge; a commissaire de justice runs it directly, on the strength of an enforceable title and an unanswered order to pay. The protected fraction of the salary was not changed.

How our French lawyers help with enforcing a judgment in France

Petroff Avocats acts for creditors and debtors on both sides of French enforcement. For creditors, we obtain and serve the enforceable title, trace the debtor's bank accounts, wages, receivables, real estate and shares, and instruct commissaires de justice to deploy the right seizures in the right order — from conservatory freezes and bank attachments to judicial security and cross-border enforcement of French and EU judgments. For debtors facing seizure, we contest irregular, abusive or disproportionate measures before the juge de l'exécution, negotiate grace periods and settlements, and protect assets that the law shields. Whether you are chasing a French counterparty or defending against enforcement, we build a proportionate, documented strategy that stands up before the enforcement judge.

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. French enforcement procedures depend on the debtor's assets, the type of title and the applicable time limits, and reforms such as the 2025 wage-seizure changes evolve over time. Contact our French lawyers for advice on your situation.