Debt collection lawyer

Unjustified seizure of your assets? Read all options to lift the attachments with the help of a debt collection lawyer.

Seize assets prior to a court hearing

In articles related to debt collection on this website I explained how easy it sometimes is to seize assets prior to a court hearing. This also means a company (debtor) could seize you assets out of the blue. This could happen to you. Mr. Vincent van Oosteren, a debt collection lawyer, explains in his previous article how the seizing of assets work and in more detail in the step by step article.

How a debt collection lawyer can help if your assets are seized

An attachment may be levied on all assets of a debtor. Third parties can also be seized at the expense of a debtor. Also third parties who owe money to the debtor can also be seized.

The bailiff can only execute the attachment if he has the court’s permission to do so. This permission must be requested from the court by a lawyer. The lawyer does this by means of a petition to the court, also known as a request for attachment.

If, for example, you know that the debtor is about to sell a consignment of cars, it may be sensible to attach these cars. You can thus prevent the debtor from having no recourse at a later date by selling the cars. On the other hand, any debt collection lawyer will tell you by seizing the cars you will strengthen your negotiating position. Often the debtor will wish to lift the attachment.

Bank attachment

Creditors seize assets from banks on a daily basis using a debt collection lawyer. In such cases, all monies that a bank holds for the debtor are seized. This means that the bank will “freeze” all funds it is holding at the time of the seizure. The debtor can then no longer dispose of these funds.

It is often thought that a bank attachment should be made on a bank account and that, for this reason, the bank in which the debtor holds his accounts must be known.

Lifting the attachment through legal proceedings with a debt collection lawyer

As you can imagine, the attachment can have substantial consequences for the continuity of a company. In order to obtain leave to attach, only a cursory examination takes place by the court. Subsequently, legal proceedings must take place, which might takes years. During the proceedings, the attachment will in principle remain in force.

A debt collection lawyer offers several possibilities to lift the attachment. This can be done by means of summary (injunction) proceedings. In order to effectuate the lifting of the attachment, you will need to demonstrate summarily that the claim of the company who placed the attachment has no legal ground. This may be the case if the claim does not exist or has been extinguished by limitation, for example.

Lifting the attachment by offering alternative security

The attachment on assets or bank accounts must  be lifted when you provide sufficient substitute security to the party who seized the assets. This can be done by means of a bank guarantee or a, pledge. Most often a bank guarantee is offered by the part who lay the attachment.