Claims Matters and Legal Enforcement

Claims arise from a variety of legal claims, they are contractual payment claims for means of payment, or other financial assets, e.g. from purchase contracts. In freight and goods traffic they play a particularly important role in the balance sheets of companies. They can also be covered by credit insurance. Usually the settlement of claims in trade is made by payment, or liquidation of the claim. In doing so, however, disruptions often arise, e.g. if the debtor falls into arrears, or even insolvency. Another area is the retention of payments due to alleged defects, incorrect deliveries, or other disruptions in mutual trade relations. In these cases claims must often be recovered. This usually occurs through an upstream default action in which the debtor is requested to pay the claim due within a reasonable period of time and is informed that otherwise the implementation of claim using legal means will be initiated. If the period expires futilely the legal action must be pursued. This can be done using court collection proceedings, or also immediately through the assertion of the claim entitlement. If the court collection proceedings are introduced the claim opponent usually has a right of objection, if he exercises it the collection proceedings are transferred to the due legal process; if the period of objection expires an enforceable title results; in Germany a writ of execution. If the holder of the asset follows the assertion of his claim through the proper legal action the enforcement of his claim is at the end of the proceedings. The entitled claim must then be exacted.
As a result the entitled claim is transferred to the so-called compulsory execution proceedings. The subject of this proceeding is as the name already says the compulsory recovering of the claim in accordance with the legally prescribed methods for this purpose. This can occur through the execution of a bailiff in the form of a seizure and transfer order. The bailiff will, in this case, seek out the debtor of the claim and have him checked for seizable property. Further, the compulsory execution can also be achieved through the seizure of the debtor’s assets like, for example, real estate by judgement liens and subsequent public auction of the property by court order, or also the attachment of bank accounts.