INTERACTION WITH BAILIFF AT THE STAGE OF ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS

In the previous article, we considered one of the tools for collecting debts abroad (in the Russian Federation) – encashment settlement accounts of debtors. We will not re-list the entire toolkit. Let’s move on to the next stage of recovery – the answer to the question “how to effectively cooperate with bailiffs?”, Because the success and speed of recovery in the process of enforcement of a court decision depends solely on these “guardians of the law”.

Some statistics to understand the essence

Bailiffs are very busy people. Official figures say that during the year of work bailiffs physically manage to work out about 20% of the cases they have in their work to the result. This is a critically low level of efficiency!

At the same time, the bailiffs have a legal “loophole” to reduce the amount of work – Art. 46 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”, which allows to terminate cases due to “impossibility of recovery”. The basis for applying this reason is the absence of collectible money and other assets from the debtor.

And also the bailiffs have a “worked out scheme” for speeding up the workflow – standard requests are sent to all financial institutions where the debtor has accounts, to the Federal Tax Service, to the traffic police, to Rosreestr and that’s it!

Importantly! It is almost impossible to challenge inaction in this case, since the leadership of the bailiffs and the courts recognize the “indicated worked out scheme” as a sufficient working minimum.

Interesting math! With an average workload, a bailiff is able to allocate no more than 40 minutes a day to conduct one case.

Obviously, bailiff time is priceless! In this scenario, the bailiff’s inaction can lead to the loss of assets that can be recovered, or to “lateness” when there are many creditors.

With the importance figured out, now …

Moments to keep in mind!!!

• As soon as the judicial act has entered into force, the creditor has 3 years to “launch” the enforcement procedure into implementation.
• Initiation of enforcement proceedings is initiated by filing an application (+ original writ of execution) to the territorial body of the FSСB at the place of registration of the legal address of the debtor.
• Documents are submitted personally by the claimant or sent by mail – by registered mail (+ notification, + list of attachments).
• The writ of execution should not contain errors, because in this case it will “will come back ” to the claimant again, and this is losing precious time.
• The executive document “with errors” is corrected through the court at the request of the recoverer on average a month.
• You will have to wait 7 workind days for a response to refuse to initiate or a decision to initiate enforcement proceedings.
• 2 months – the time allotted by law to fulfill the requirements of the writ of execution.
• “Delay” of a two-month period for the bailiff is not punishable, but on the contrary, it is the basis for terminating proceedings.
• The recoverer and the debtor have the right, and the bailiff is obliged to provide them with access to the “study and copy” of the case materials.
• The claimant and the debtor can give oral and written explanations, object to petitions, and the actions or inaction of the bailiff can be appealed.
• A repeatedly the executive document can be presented for enforcement once more not earlier than after 6 months. after the day of completion of enforcement proceedings (earlier it is possible if there is information that the property status of the debtor has changed).
• There may be several creditors in the case with writ of execution on hand, i.e. there may not be enough money for everyone.

What can speed up the process?

Application for seizure of the debtor’s property, attached to the application for initiation of enforcement proceedings (+ application for the establishment of restrictions applicable by law).

Indicating in the application the available (finded out) information about the subject-debtor and its property (+ documents confirming it, which are important for the prompt execution of the stated requirements).

Active participation and comprehensive assistance to the bailiff, namely:

• Collection and provision of official and unofficial information about the debtor (for example, an extract on the ownership of property gives the bailiff the right to immediately issue a decision on the application of punitive measures).
• Organization of fast “delivery” of the bailiff by personal transport to the enterprise, to work, home to the debtor, to the location of  property of the latter, as well as delivery of documents to the post office or to financial institutions.
• Assistance in searching for the debtor (its assets) through inter-district departments of the judicial and executive power, law enforcement agencies, thanks to which a criminal case can be opened against the debtor under Part 1 of Art. 315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Malicious non-execution of a court decision that has entered into legal force.”

The bailiff functionality in a nutshell

• The executor proceeds to consider the applications and petitions of the parties, notifying the latter of the availability of deadlines and the procedure for appealing against the decision made in the case.
• The executor takes the measures necessary for execution – requests information, checks the accounting, seizes the liquid assets of the debtor, etc.
• The executor checks the property status of the debtor, and if there is nothing, draws up an act on the impossibility of collection (the writ of execution returns to the recoverer).
• The Contractor “finds” property that can be recovered and begins the procedure for its voluntary / forced seizure / sale in the equivalent of a debt under a writ of execution.

Let’s sum it up!

It is absolutely necessary to interact with the executive service. For example, your problem client has several accounts with money in different banks, and he “drives” these funds between them, the bailiff can quickly and immediately arrest all of them. The rest is a matter of technique.

It should be understood that if there is nothing to collect, then you need to look for other opportunities (for example, “outweigh” the debts to the controlling persons of the debtor, we will talk about them in the next article (article in preparation)) – to contact the appropriate law firms that provide international debt collection services.

29.01.2022

203