Lawyers specialized in seizure
Legal help with seizure
In order to seize certain goods or titles, you need a qualified lawyer. As one of the few countries, the Netherlands has opted for the interest of the judgement creditor (the person levying the attachment) with regard to the seizure. It is therefore relatively easy to confiscate in the Netherlands. It is true that over the years there has been an increasing focus on the position of the debtor, the confiscated person.
What is a Preservation Order?
Even before proceedings are pending, an attachment can be levied by a party to obtain certainty. This is called a Preservation Order. In anticipation of a procedure, the judge is therefore asked to keep certain properties. If the party that has seized, is proven right in the legal proceedings, the Preservation Order becomes an executory attachment, which means that the confiscated goods can be sold and the proceeds go to the judgement creditor.
What can be seized?
All property of the debtor can be seized. For example on the debtor’s house, on the debtor’s salary (wages), tokens, but also on trading stock, inventory or other matters. It can even seize cryptocurrencies, bitcoins and other digital cryptocurrencies.
A special attachment is evidence attachment, about which you can find more information.
What happens after seizure?
After the court has given leave for seizure (sometimes the court sets conditions for the seizure), the bailiff can actually seize the attachment. After the Preservation Order, a proceedings on the merits (or another procedure) has to be initiated. In practice, however, this is not always necessary, because the confiscated person comes to the negotiating table and wants to settle. Certainly in the case of a clear claim, the seized debtor wants the seizure to be lifted.
Lifting the seizure with summary proceedings?
It may also be the case that the attachment has been wrongfully levied or maintained. For example, the claim is faulty or the attachment has disproportionately affected the debtor. This means, for example, that the attachment is not in a reasonable proportion to the claim it must insure. Of course, there should then be consultation on how to adjust it, but parties may be in such a far-reaching conflict that no settlement of the attachment appears to be possible.
In that case, summary proceedings remain to lift the attachment.
According to the Dutch civil procedural law (art. 705 Rv), the Preservation Order must be lifted if it appears from prima facie evidence that the invoked right by the judgement creditor was unsound. The word “prima facie” is open to interpretation, and in practice it is (ultimately) that the judge who should lift the attachment is convinced that the claim is unsound. In case of doubt, a judge will usually just leave the seizure and passes the matter on to the judge in the proceedings on the merits. In the first place, it is also up to the person who claims the seizure should be lifted, that the claim is not sound.
Breach of the duty of truth
The request for seizure is an important document and should therefore not be underestimated when seizure is being levied. If an interim relief proceedings is initiated, the judge will mainly base his judgement on the request for seizure. It is not uncommon for a judgement creditor to exaggerate the statements in his request and certain statements might not even be entirely correct. This is acting contrary to the truth. The Dutch civil procedural Act states that parties are required to present the truth. Simply put: in procedures parties are obliged to act in line with the truth.
What is a third party attachment?
A third party attachment is often imposed. It is a collective term for the seizures that the bailiff levies on a third person. This third person often has little to do with the dispute, but is nevertheless involved in it. The easiest example is the bank. The bank is the third party and must declare by third party attachment whether the bank owes an amount to the account holder. Aside: the problem with a bank is that the General Banking Conditions state that seizure may be a reason for termination of the banking relationship.
What is an attachment of earnings?
An attachment of earnings is a form of third-party attachment.
The third party (the employer) owes wages to the employee. The employee’s creditor can therefore seize the wages, whereby the third party (the employer) must indicate how much wages are owed to the employee.
Lawyer for seizure
Fennek’s lawyers have extensive experience with seizure. Both on the side of the confiscator and on the side of the confiscated person. In both cases, a lawyer is required.
It is of course important for the judgement creditor to levy the seizure as effective as possible (and with the least risk) and for the judgement debtor it is important to either have the attachment lifted or to win the subsequent procedure.
Advice on seizure?
With Fennek lawyers you are at the right place.