Collection of the debts under 10 000,00 € in Luxembourg (EN/FR)

The cases involving less than or equal to 10,000 EURO debt are heard by the justice of the peace.

Debts of EUR 10,000 or less come under the jurisdiction of the magistrate’s court of Diekirch, Esch-sur-Alzette or Luxembourg.

There are two possible procedures in case of debt below 10000 EUR: conditional payment order (fast procedure) or the summons (proceedings on the merits).

 Regarding the conditional payment order, the cause of the claim is contractual and the contract clearly defines the amount. In this case, the presence of a lawyer is not required.

The creditor addresses a request for a payment order to the magistrate’s court with jurisdiction of the debtor’s head office or domicile (Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg or Diekirch). The request must  contain the full name, profession, and residence of the creditor and the debtor; but also the cause and amount of claim and  must be accompanied by supporting documents proving the existence and amount of the debt and establishing its validity (order form, invoice, reminder, financial statement, etc.).

After that, there are 2 possibilities :

• The court magistrate may either dismiss the request, if he does not consider it to be justified, by means of an order of dismissal, which cannot be appealed against. The creditor may, however, make a claim against the debtor via a summons.
• Or the court magistrate may  instruct the debtor to pay the amount claimed by means of a conditional payment order if he considers the request to be justified. The Court’s clerk notifies the debtor of the conditional payment order and sends a copy to the creditor.

 In the 15 days following notification of the conditional payment order, the debtor may either pay the creditor the amount claimed or raise a dispute if he considers that all or part of the amount is not due, by making a written or verbal declaration to the clerk of the magistrate’s court.

If the debtor disputes the claim, the judge will call the parties to a hearing Court and after that, he will give his judgment.

If the debtor does not pay and does not raise a dispute, the creditor has 6 months, as from the notification of the conditional payment order to the debtor, to request that the conditional payment order is made enforceable.

The enforcement order issued by the court magistrate has the same effect as a judgment by default.

Regarding the summons procedure, the creditor will proceed by this way in a more complex case or if the claim is disputed.

The creditor sends his request to a bailiff who notifies the debtor of the summons.

The day of the hearing, the judge will hear the two parties and he will render his judgment.

If one party disagrees with the decision, he can appeal against it within a period of 40 days following the notification of the judgment.

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