In spite of your amicable proceedings and reminders, your debtor fails to comply / contests the debt / refuses to pay ?

In order to proceed to compulsory recovery of your claim, you must be in possession of an enforcement order, typically a judgement (in a business-to-business relationship, it can be advisable to opt for the so-called procedure for the recovery of undisputed commercial claims, which is less expensive).

To obtain this judgement, you first have to convoke the opposing party before the court having jurisdiction. Such convocation before the court is called a « summons ».

Solely judicial officers have the power to proceed to summons and the Bordet office can take care of the service of your writs of summons.

In the case of simple disputes (recovery of unpaid invoices for instance), the office can draw up the writ of summons, proceed to service thereof and schedule the case in the cause list. Subsequently, you must appear at the scheduled hearing where you can claim your rights.
If it concerns a complex dispute requiring specific legal arguments, you shall contact your usual lawyer who will draw up a draft of writ of summons in proper form and forward it to a Judicial Officer to have it served.

If you don’t know any lawyer, the Bordet office, owing to a network built up over several decades, can put you in touch with a competent and qualified lawyer to take care of the drafting of a writ of summons and/or to represent you at the hearing.

The Bordet office applies the rates provided for in the Royal Decree of 30 November 1976. As the expense of a writ summons depends on many factors, such as the value of the claim, the need for a translation, the court having jurisdiction, etc., it is impossible to communicate here the exact cost of a writ summons.

However, it should be noted that, as of now, it is the party who issues the summons who must advance the cost of the scheduling of the case. At the end of the trial, this cost will be paid by the unsuccessful party. This drastically reduces the cost of the summons (from 20 to 25 % for the Cantonal Court, and from 40 to over 50 % for the Court of First Instance and the Commercial Court).

For any question in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.