Seizure in the Hands of a Third Party

Details

The procedure that is generally followed is as follows: The hasty creditor submits with a bailiff an extrajudicial document-order of seizure, which includes all the necessary elements of a pleading under Article 118 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The order of seizure is a component for the enforcement of the seizure and at the same time the necessary type of it. In other words, seizure may not be imposed on a third party in a manner other than that described above. It should be noted that these are two services of the order of seizure, i.e. one in the third in whose hands the seizure will be carried out and a second, which is made to the defendant debtor and which according to article 983 par. 2 CofCP must be done within eight days of first delivery.

Within eight days after the order of seizure is served on him, the third party must declare whether there is a claim that was seized, whether he has in his hands the confiscated thing and if another seizure was imposed on him and at the same time state who imposed it and for what amount. The declaration is made orally at the secretariat of the justice of the peace/county court of the place of residence of the one who declares and a relevant report is prepared. The omission of the statement is equated with a negative statement. If the declaration is omitted or inaccurate, the third party is liable to compensate the person who imposed the seizure. For legal entities, their actual registered office is crucial.

The statement of the third party can be a) positive, b) negative or c) inaccurate. The statement of the third party is positive when he accepts that there is a claim that has been confiscated or that he has in his hands the confiscated thing or that he has an obligation to transfer the ownership of the movable thing. The statement is negative when the third party denies that there is a claim or obligation for transfer of ownership of a movable thing. The inaccurate statement consists not only in the third party withholding of his debt to the defendant, but also in the vague statement of all the facts that establish the legal relationship between them.

When the third party states that there is a seized claim, he must at the same time state clearly and definitively all the essential facts of the debt. When the third party does not make an affirmative statement, he must include in his statement all those facts, the omission or inaccuracy of which may cause damage to the person imposing seizure, the statement must be honest, clear and definite, in order to appear any obligation of the third party.

The competent body for submitting the declaration is the secretariat of the Magistrates’ Court of the place of residence of the person making the declaration (985 § 2 CofCP), while for the legal entities their real seat is crucial.