The search of the property of the debtor, arrest of the property of the debtor
Judicial decisions on the recovery of a debt from an individual are not rare in our time. In order to prove the debtor’s obligation to pay this or that debt, the complainant needs to collect an evidence base, fully bring his case to the court. However, to win a lawsuit is not to recover the debt, and the logical conclusion of a dispute often requires the help of the qualified professionals. In particular, one cannot do without legal assistance if the question concerns the search of the property of a debtor which is located abroad.
If it becomes necessary to find the property of the debtor and subsequently to seize on it, for the purpose of further collecting it in own favor, it is important to remember that the jurisdiction of Russian court decisions and other state institutions (the bailiff service, the tax inspectorate, the investigative committee, etc.) is valid only in the territory of the Russian Federation.
For each of the claim actions you need, abroad there is a certain specificity of its execution. So to search for property abroad, you can only use the procedure established by the domestic legislation of the country in which the property is located. It is also necessary to remember that the established procedure for finding property is different depending on the status of the property — there are some rules for movable property, others are for real estate, different special regulations are working for determining whether funds are in the account, and others specific requirements act for cash found elsewhere. Within the framework of the legal field of the countries belonging to the European Union, the situation is unified for some types of property, which facilitates the search tasks. However, it is not enough just to establish the correct legal status of the property to determine the rules for its legal search, since there are features when considering cases in civil, criminal or administrative proceedings. So, for example, with the search for sea vessels, it is impossible to solve the problem of efficient search and recovery without establishing the place of the country of registration of the searched vessel.
If the wanted property is found, then there are two options for acting on the established property in the framework of established international practice.
- To apply directly to the court of a foreign state with a claim to the debtor to foreclose on his property.
- To apply to the Russian court with a further petition for recognition of the decision of the court of the Russian Federation in the territory of a foreign state and its enforcement.
If you have a Russian court decision in your favor, then this is certainly good. However, our company prefers to solve the problem of foreclosure in the first option. And that is why. First, not all countries in which you want to appeal have ratified international treaties with the Russian Federation on legal assistance in civil, criminal and administrative matters. Second, an international treaty establishes only the general rules for the recognition of a court decision on foreclosure of the property of a debtor, which provides broad liberties of interpretation to a local foreign court, and specifically the enforcement proceeding is carried out according to the domestic law of the country in which territory the decision will be executed. Third, according to our judicial experience, any technical mistake or discrepancy in the Russian court decision (which happens very often) can nullify all the advantages of the existing Russian court decision, and sometimes even complicate our work on recovery. Fourth, the legalization of Russian court decisions is carried out by the special courts, somewhere this is in the system of supervisory courts, somewhere in the system of the supreme court, which can extend the consideration of the issue of legalization even for years.
With the decisions of criminal courts of the Russian Federation, there is its own separate legal specifics and without close cooperation with Interpol in the country where such a decision is executed will turn out nothing.
Dear friends, the lawyers of our company are well acquainted with all those considerable legal nuances and conflicts of law enforcement practice in finding and collecting property in most countries of the world. Believe us, we have something to prompt you and to help in case of existence of the above-stated problems.
By contacting the International Consulting Center RPI Solutions, you receive qualified legal assistance in matters related to property and debt proceedings. Our specialists solve such problems by direct appeal to the judicial authorities of a foreign state with a claim to the debtor to appeal for the arrest of his property, since this method is the most reliable and fast.