Civil law
Debt recovery
§ 142a, § 172 of Act No. 99/1963 Coll.
A debt travels the route: notice → payment order → lawsuit → enforcement. Each step is cheaper and faster than the next — the winner is whoever starts correctly.
What the law says
The pre-action notice under § 142a is the condition of costs recovery: without it the court may deny expenses even to the winner. For monetary claims the payment order works (§ 172): the court issues it without a hearing, and the debtor has 15 days to object.
Up to one million crowns an electronic payment order is available at a reduced fee. A final decision is enforced by a bailiff: accounts, wages, assets. Statutory default interest — the central bank repo rate plus eight points — accrues from the first day of delay.
How the work runs
Before starting I vet the debtor: the enforcement and insolvency registers, assets, the company’s activity. Chasing an empty s.r.o. means financing proceedings for paper; sometimes the honest answer is “don’t spend the money”.
Then a notice with the principal and interest calculated and a short deadline, followed by the payment order. If the debtor objects, the case moves to ordinary proceedings — by then the evidence is already shelved in order.
Deadlines and pitfalls
Limitation is three years, and “he promised to pay” does not stop it; only a written acknowledgement of the debt or a lawsuit interrupts it. The second trap is sloppy delivery paperwork: without signed delivery notes even an honest debt becomes disputed.
Frequently asked questions
How long does recovery via a payment order take?
With undisputed paperwork, sometimes weeks: the court issues the order without a hearing, and if the debtor files no objection within 15 days, it becomes enforceable. With an objection the case runs as an ordinary dispute — months.
The debtor filed an objection. What now?
The order is cancelled, the court schedules a hearing and the dispute runs in full: evidence, statements, judgment. That is a normal scenario, not a disaster — it just has to be planned for at the notice stage already.
The debtor entered insolvency. What now?
Ordinary recovery stops — only a claim registration (přihláška) works, filed within the deadline, usually two months from the insolvency decision. Missing it equals zero; I monitor the register across portfolios.
Can we agree interest above the statutory rate?
Yes — contractual interest and penalties are allowed within reason; excess gets moderated by the court. For B2B the combination “contractual penalty + statutory interest” is the standard I draft.
Does a handwritten IOU without a notary hold?
Yes: a written acknowledgement of debt is strong evidence and interrupts limitation. A notarial deed with consent to enforceability goes further — enforcement without any lawsuit at all.
Contact
- Address
- Konviktská 291/24, Staré Město, 110 00 Praha 12 minutes' walk from Národní třída (metro B, trams)
- Phone
- +420 700 000 000
- kancelar@advokatpopov.cz
- Data box
- [data box ID]
- Consultations
- Mon–Fri 9.00–18.00in person, online or by phone — by appointment