As with the ‘fourteen days’ letter (see above under Incasso), all formalities of the Act must be observed when drawing up the summons. Is the debtor actually in default? Which subdistrict court or judge has jurisdiction? Or has arbitration or binding advice been agreed? Who should actually be summoned and when and at what address? And what can and what cannot be claimed from the defaulter?

Court Legal proceedings must take place before the correct judge. This applies to the right kind of judge (absolute competence) as well as to the judge of the right place (relative competence). Most of the rules on this are contained in the Code of Civil Procedure. For the right kind of judge, it generally applies that claims of a certain kind (for example rental cases and labor cases) and claims up to Euro 25,000.00 are handled by the subdistrict court. In principle, the other claims are handled by the Court. As already apparent from the terms “broadly” and “in principle”, there are a number of exceptions to this. In principle, the judge of the place of residence of the defendant has jurisdiction for the judge of the right place. There are also some exceptions to this. You can think, for example, of several defendants who live in several places, or a procedure about an immovable property that can be litigated with a court in the location of that immovable property.

If you have been summoned (or want to summon) before the subdistrict court, you are not obliged to engage a lawyer. Often a door value is called in as a proxy. If you have been summoned to appear in court (or if you want to summon the other person to appear in court), assistance by a lawyer is mandatory according to the law. In the latter case, if you come without a lawyer yourself, the Court will rule that you “did not appear”. The latter is different if you have been summoned in summary proceedings. You can appear there as a defendant (not as a claimant) without a lawyer. In that case, however, you cannot file a counterclaim.

If you want to request the court to determine in a judgment that someone else must pay you money, it must be well described why this is the case. That often seems easier than it is. Not only are there the necessary legal terms and their meaning (claimability, default, default) but also the necessary formalities (receipt theory, the “14-day letter”). The most common claims are performance (usually payment of the agreed principal), compensation (including reimbursement of the extrajudicial collection costs), the statutory interest (or the statutory commercial interest) and the legal costs. In addition to (part of) the salary of the authorized representative and the lawyer, the latter costs also include court fees. The court fee is the amount that the plaintiff must pay to the subdistrict court, or plaintiff and defendant to the court, in order to have their case heard by the judge.

Almost every collection starts with drawing up a summons. This summons must then be “delivered” to the other person by a bailiff. This is called service. This service has turned the summons into a writ. An official document that is delivered in accordance with the rules set by law. By serving this summons, the other person knows what is being claimed, why this is being claimed and which court (and on what day and time) will be asked to pronounce a judgment.

Because the subpoena is only one side of the story, the defendant is given the opportunity to respond to the subpoena. This is possible without a lawyer at the Subdistrict Court. The summons will state that this response can take place on the day on which the other person is summoned (either verbally or in writing), but also in writing at a later time. If the defendant appears at this hearing and wishes to give a verbal response, the subdistrict court will often ask for this response to be put on paper. It is therefore customary to inform the Subdistrict Court before this hearing that a written response (the conclusion of answer) will follow. In proceedings where the assistance of a lawyer is mandatory, the lawyer will make a statement for you. After the statement of defense has been received by the court, it will determine the date and time for an oral hearing (the appearance of the parties). During an oral hearing, both the plaintiff and the defendant will explain their claims and their defenses to the judge. An exception is summary proceedings. In summary proceedings, the oral hearing takes place on the day and time against which a summons was issued. That is the day and time mentioned in the summons. It should be clear that if you have been summoned in summary proceedings, you should contact a lawyer as soon as possible. If you do this at the last minute, your lawyer will not be able to prepare properly, or even not, for the court hearing.

In the judgment, the court ultimately determines who must do or not do what and (from) when. This can be immediately (enforceable in stock) or only when an appeal (or other legal remedy) is no longer possible (res judicata). But with this verdict you are often not there yet. That other person must of course still do or refrain from doing what the judge has determined in this judgment. If he doesn’t, you will have to enforce it.

To enforce what is stipulated in the judgment, you again need the bailiff. The bailiff will inform the other person in an official document (writ) of the judgment (meaning), order to comply with the judgment within 2 days (or within the period specified in the judgment) and finally give notice of execution if the verdict is not met in time.

If the judgment is not complied with even after the period in the writ of service, the bailiff can execute the judgment. Execution can take place in several ways. In case money has to be paid, the bailiff will impose an attachment (usually executory garnishment). In the latter case, the employer, bank or debtor will then be informed that he is no longer allowed to pay (all) to the executed person, but must pay to the bailiff. The bailiff pays what he subsequently receives to the person who has the judgment executed. It also happens that the bailiff seizes movable property (household effects, stocks, etc.) or immovable property (the home or business premises). In the latter cases, the sale of those items will take place by, or on behalf of, the bailiff.