The department of doubtful debt claims successfully handles cases that are closely related to the law of enforcement and in particular the collection of outstanding and bad debts between traders / companies. We do not undertake the collection of bank receivables and we do not handle cases of massive and small receivables. The abundance of information and knowledge that the legal representative must possess in the specific range of cases has made it necessary to specialize in this subject. The purpose of the Law Firm's associates is the complete, scientifically and practically sound, protection of the interests of the assignors in the complicated and quite formal area of execution.
The enforcement department of the Law Firm undertakes the realization of the entire debt collection process through enforcement operations. Indicatively (for more details see the relevant information note) we mention the following enforcement actions through which the requirements of our assignors are met: forced seizure of real estate and mobile (cars, electronic equipment, etc.), seizure of shares of Societes Anonymes and Limited Liability Companies, seizure of receivables in the hands of third parties (overdue and future), seizure of money in bank accounts and in general banking / investment products, etc. (seizure of the debtor's receivables in the hands of credit institutions).
Enforcement is a difficult branch of procedural law. It often happens that the lender acquires the enforceable title, meaning the Court orders that the lender receives the amount of money requested in his lawsuit or to issue a payment order, but eventually is unable to collect his claim due to the debtor's unwilling attitude. He will then have to enforce the debtor's assets in order to repay his claim. Each enforcement act has its own peculiarities; it has its own conditions and its own legal effects. It is important that the lawyer who will undertake the execution has the necessary theoretical background and knowledge of the recent and older case law of our courts as well as the understanding of the practice of recent years. Without the former, there will be flaws in the execution process that may nullify the whole effort; without the latter, the desired result will become less likely.
At the same time, we consider that the collection of doubtful commercial receivables is achieved more successfully when the case is taken over by a lawyer who, on the one hand, is well acquainted with the judicial collection process, and on the other hand is a competent negotiator. This is especially the case when the efforts of the internal department of overdue management of the lending company have not paid off and therefore more aggressive means should be used. Moreover, it is now commonplace that:
- the delay in the collection of the debt has the opposite effect depending on the probability of its collection,
- the continuous and repeated telephone harassment has no effect on the merchant debtor who intends not to repay,
- the operators of the "collection companies" or the internal departments of the lending companies can not have the same conviction as a professional lawyer who knows the meaning of every word he uses and fully understands the rights of the lender,
- in the field of trade, traders are much more familiar with litigation and legal procedures for non-payment.
For all the above reasons, the only way is ultimately the use of aggressive and immediate measures. An advantage, however, in the whole process of entrusting the collection of a commercial claim to a specialized law firm, is the fact that its remuneration is usually related in percentage to the success of the collection.
Our long experience in the field of collection of outstanding commercial receivables has shown that the so-called "collection companies" ("debtor information companies for overdue receivables" of law 3758/2009) can produce results in the field of banking and consumer debt in general but they cannot have a decisive effect in the field of commercial claims. It requires immediate, decisive and responsibly aggressive actions by lawyers who have been dealing with the relevant subject for years and make use of all the weapons given to them by the recently renewed Code of Civil Procedure.
Judgment of the Athens Court of First Instance on Incorrect Declaration of a Third Party by a Bank
Auction and order of ranking of the debtor's creditors
The Seizure of Intangible Securities (shares, bonds, etc.) to satisfy Lender's Claim
Recovery of a Commercial Claim from an Individual lacking Apparent Assets
Forced collection of a commercial debt after repeated attempts to conceal income
