You delivered the goods, you performed the service, you sent the invoice, you sent two reminders, and then silence. Your French client does not answer emails, does not pick up the phone, and you run your company from London, New York, Dubai or Singapore. Flying to France for a court hearing over one unpaid invoice feels disproportionate, yet writing the amount off feels wrong, especially when the invoice represents weeks of work. French law was designed for exactly this situation. It offers a fast, largely paper-based track called the injonction de payer, the order-for-payment procedure, which lets a creditor obtain a court order without any hearing, then turn that order into forced enforcement against the debtor’s bank account if nobody objects. This guide explains the full path from the first formal demand to the money landing back in your account: what the demand letter must contain so that interest and penalties start running, how to file the petition with the right court from abroad, what happens when the debtor objects, and how enforcement works in practice. Every step can be handled remotely through a lawyer and a commissaire de justice, the enforcement officer formerly known as huissier de justice. The legal references below are quoted word for word from the official texts in force, with links so you can check each one.<\/p>\n
Before any court steps in, you must put the debtor officially on notice. Under Article 1344 of the French Civil Code, the debtor is put on formal notice to pay either by a summons or an act carrying sufficient formal demand, or, if the contract provides for it, by the mere due date of the obligation<\/a>. In plain English, this mise en demeure, the formal demand for payment, is the legal starting gun. From that date, late-payment interest runs, and you create dated proof that you asked clearly before going to court. Judges notice when a creditor skipped this step, so never file anything before sending it.<\/p>\n In practice, send the demand by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, the famous LRAR, lettre recommand\u00e9e avec accus\u00e9 de r\u00e9ception, or have it served by a commissaire de justice for maximum proof value. State the exact amount with a breakdown of principal, taxes and penalties, the invoice numbers and dates, the contract or order reference, a clear request to pay within a short deadline such as eight or fifteen days, and a warning that you will file an injonction de payer and claim penalties. Keep copies of the contract or accepted quote, the signed delivery slips or proof the service was performed, the invoices, the delivery emails, and every reminder. This file becomes the exhibit bundle attached to your court petition, and its quality decides whether the judge signs the order within days or asks questions.<\/p>\n The demand also activates money beyond the principal. Article 1231-6 of the Civil Code provides that damages owed for late payment of a sum of money consist of interest at the legal rate, starting from the formal demand<\/a>, adding that this interest is owed without the creditor having to prove any loss<\/a>. Between businesses, a stronger and often overlooked regime applies. Article L. 441-10 of the Commercial Code caps payment periods: failing contrary provisions in the sale conditions or agreed between the parties, the payment period may not exceed thirty days after receipt of the goods or performance of the service, and the period agreed between the parties may not exceed sixty days after the invoice date<\/a>. Any clause granting your client ninety or one hundred and twenty days is therefore suspect from the start. The same article states that late penalties apply without any reminder being necessary<\/a>, and that any business in late payment automatically owes the creditor a flat-rate recovery fee, whose amount is set by decree<\/a>. The default penalty rate is severe: unless otherwise agreed, and never below three times the legal interest rate, the rate equals the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus ten percentage points<\/a>. The flat recovery fee is set by Article D. 441-5 of the Commercial Code: the amount of the flat-rate recovery fee provided for in Article L. 441-10 is set at 40 euros<\/a>. If your actual recovery costs exceed 40 euros, the statute lets you claim documented additional compensation on top.<\/p>\n These penalties were confirmed at the highest level only days before this article was written. On 17 September 2026, the Second Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, appeal no. 24-22.899, recalled that under the first of these texts, any business in late payment automatically owes the creditor a flat-rate recovery fee<\/a> and that under the second, that fee is set at 40 euros<\/a>. The same ruling draws an important boundary: this automatic recovery fee does not apply to late payment of an insurance indemnity compensating damage<\/a>, because the underlying European directive on late payment covers commercial transactions only. For an ordinary unpaid supplier invoice between companies, the 40 euros apply automatically, so always add them to the demand and to the petition. One last timing warning: commercial claims expire after five years under Article L. 110-4 of the Commercial Code, which states that obligations arising in trade between merchants, or between merchants and non-merchants, lapse after five years unless subject to shorter special limitation periods<\/a>. Do not let an old invoice sleep; the demand letter interrupts the clock, but only if you act.<\/p>\n One preliminary check saves many disappointments: verify that the debtor still exists and can pay. Order a recent Kbis extract, the official identity card of a French company issued by the greffe, the commercial court clerk’s office, which shows its RCS registration number, its SIREN nine-digit identification number, its registered office, its directors and any collective proceedings. The RCS, registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, is the trade and companies register, and BODACC, the bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, publishes insolvency openings, so a quick search of both tells you within minutes whether you face a slow payer or a company already in sauvegarde, redressement or liquidation proceedings, where individual enforcement is frozen and only filing your claim with the insolvency representative helps. Suing an empty shell wastes the court fee and the officer’s costs, while confirming solvency first turns every later step into a calculated investment rather than a gamble.<\/p>\n The injonction de payer is a one-sided, documents-only procedure: the judge decides on your file without summoning the debtor and without a hearing. Article 1405 of the Code of Civil Procedure defines the gateway: recovery of a claim may be requested through the order-for-payment procedure where the claim has a contractual cause or results from a statutory obligation and amounts to a fixed sum, determined in contractual matters under the terms of the contract including any penalty clause<\/a>. An unpaid commercial invoice backed by a contract or accepted order fits this definition perfectly. Claims that are uncertain in amount, disputed on delivery, or non-contractual belong in ordinary proceedings instead, so be honest with your lawyer about any quality complaint the client raised; hiding a dispute is the fastest way to lose at the opposition stage.<\/p>\n Jurisdiction follows the debtor, not you. Article 1406 provides that the claim is brought before the protection-litigation judge or the president of the judicial court or the commercial court, within the limits of each court’s subject-matter jurisdiction, and the court with territorial jurisdiction is the court of the place where the debtor, or one of the debtors pursued, resides<\/a>. For a commercial debt between businesses outside the special Alsace-Moselle regime, that means the president of the tribunal de commerce, the commercial court, of the place where your client has its registered office, its si\u00e8ge social. The official service-public.fr guide confirms the practical filing: the petition, or requ\u00eate, is lodged with the exhibit slip and supporting documents by handing them to the court reception, the greffe, the clerk’s office, or by post, and a dedicated online filing exists for commercial-court payment orders. Your lawyer in France files, follows up with the clerk, and receives the signed order; you sign a power of attorney and send documents by email from wherever you live. If you are setting up or already running the French side of your business, the hub guide for foreign founders explains the surrounding essentials of bank account, Kbis company registration certificate, VAT and first hires: Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once the judge signs the ordonnance portant injonction de payer, speed becomes critical. Article 1411 in its current version requires service at the creditor’s initiative on each debtor by a commissaire de justice, who makes the supporting documents available electronically, and warns that the order-for-payment is void if it has not been served within three months of its date<\/a>. Missing that three-month window kills the order outright, so instruct the enforcement officer immediately and confirm service in writing. The order itself must inform the debtor of the deadline and form of opposition, the court where opposition can be lodged, and the warning that without opposition the creditor will be able to enforce.<\/p>\n The debtor then has one month from service to file an opposition, and that month freezes everything. Article 1416 states: opposition is filed within the month following service of the order; however, if service was not made personally, opposition remains admissible until one month after the first act served personally or, failing that, after the first enforcement measure freezing all or part of the debtor’s assets<\/a>. Article 1422, in its version in force since 1 April 2026, reinforces the freeze: whatever the method of service, the opposition period is suspensive of enforcement, and opposition filed within that period is likewise suspensive<\/a>. The same article adds the prize for a silent debtor: the order then produces all the effects of a judgment given after argument on both sides, and it is not subject to appeal even if it grants payment delays<\/a>, while failing receipt of the notice or invitation to pay the court fees within two months of service, the creditor may pursue forced enforcement<\/a>. In short, no opposition within the month plus the short administrative follow-up means you hold an enforceable title equivalent to a full judgment, without ever entering a courtroom.<\/p>\n Foreign-based creditors should pay special attention to service, because debtors sometimes claim they never received anything. The Court of Cassation polices this strictly. On 24 October 2024, the Second Civil Chamber, appeal no. 22-15.682, quashed an appeal ruling that had declared an opposition inadmissible, holding that the starting point for opposition to a payment order that was not served personally is, where a creditor intervenes in wage-garnishment proceedings, the date the intervention was notified to the debtor<\/a>. The lesson runs both ways: as a creditor, always serve personally whenever possible and keep the service report, the proc\u00e8s-verbal de signification; as a debtor served irregularly, the extended deadlines genuinely protect you. Either way, clean service decides the rest of the case.<\/p>\n An opposition is not a defeat; it simply converts the express procedure into an ordinary case. Article 1420 of the Code of Civil Procedure states the rule in one sentence: the court’s judgment replaces the order for payment<\/a>. The Court of Cassation enforces this strictly. On 11 September 2025, the Second Civil Chamber, appeal no. 24-14.766, quashed a tribunal that had declared an opposition admissible yet kept the original order alive, ruling that the payment order, which counts as a decision only where there is no opposition, could not resume its effects, and the tribunal violated the cited text by holding otherwise<\/a>. Once opposition is filed, everything restarts before the judge with both sides heard, and the creditor must prove the claim as in any lawsuit.<\/p>\n That hearing is where your exhibit file earns its value. The judge will examine the contract or accepted quotation proving the obligation, the delivery notes, transport documents, timesheets or acceptance reports proving performance, the invoices matching the contract prices, and the demand letter with its proof of sending. Debtors typically raise four defences: the goods were defective or the service incomplete, the price was never agreed, the invoice was already paid or offset against a counter-claim, or the signatory lacked authority. Prepare a short written response to each foreseeable objection before the hearing, with the matching document attached. If delivery is genuinely disputed, consider requesting an expert assessment early rather than letting the judge doubt your file. Your physical presence is not required: your French lawyer represents you, and recent practice accepts videoconference appearance where the court allows it, though representation by counsel alone is normally sufficient for a documented invoice claim.<\/p>\n Use the hearing strategically. Most oppositions settle, because the debtor who suddenly faces penalties at the European Central Bank rate plus ten points, the 40-euro fee, legal interest since the demand, and the risk of paying your legal costs recalculates quickly. A settlement signed at the hearing, or a payment schedule homologated by the judge, gives you an enforceable agreement and ends the matter in weeks instead of months. If the debtor defends abusively with no serious argument, ask the court to note it and to award costs under Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure plus damages for abusive resistance; judges grant these when the file shows the opposition was purely dilatory. Either outcome, judgment or settlement, leaves you with a titre ex\u00e9cutoire, an enforceable title, which is the key that unlocks forced collection.<\/p>\n Enforcement in France is handled by the commissaire de justice, not by the courts on their own motion. Article L. 111-2 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides that a creditor holding an enforceable title recording a liquidated and due claim may pursue forced enforcement against the debtor’s assets under the conditions of each enforcement measure<\/a>. Your lawyer transmits the enforceable order or judgment to the officer, who first serves a commandement de payer, a final order to pay, and then moves to seizure if the debtor still does not pay. The standard measures are the saisie-attribution, the garnishment that freezes and transfers funds directly from the debtor’s bank account, the saisie-vente, the seizure and auction of equipment, stock or vehicles, and, for larger claims, the saisie immobili\u00e8re against real estate. Bank garnishment is usually the fastest: served on the debtor’s bank, it freezes the credit balance within days and the funds are transferred to you after the one-month challenge period if the debtor stays silent.<\/p>\n Three practical points decide whether enforcement succeeds. First, intelligence matters more than force: give the officer the debtor’s bank details from your records, the SIREN company identification number shown on its invoices and Kbis extract, and any known asset information, because an officer who knows where the account sits acts in days while blind searches take months. Second, mind the costs circuit: enforcement officers charge regulated fees, and most of those fees are added to the debtor’s bill on top of your claim, which means a solvent debtor effectively funds your collection. Ask for a written fee estimate before instructing, and agree that the officer reports at each stage rather than multiplying measures silently. Third, protect the parallel tracks: if the debtor company shows signs of insolvency, file your claim quickly and consider protective measures, since collective proceedings freeze individual enforcement; if the debt includes VAT you already paid to the French Treasury, discuss with your accountant how to recover or write off that VAT once the invoice is definitively uncollectible, because the commercial win and the tax treatment must be aligned.<\/p>\n Deadlines remain your permanent discipline throughout. The three-month service deadline for the order, the one-month opposition window, the two-month follow-up before forced execution, and the five-year commercial limitation period form a chain where each link depends on the previous one. Diarise every date from the day the invoice falls due, and treat each reminder as a dated procedural act rather than a casual email. Creditors who run this chain properly recover in a few months at modest cost; creditors who wait two years, lose the delivery slips, and serve nothing discover that even the best procedure cannot resurrect a neglected file. The French system rewards the diligent creditor generously and punishes the passive one silently, which is precisely why acting from abroad through counsel works: distance is no excuse when the procedure itself was built for paper and representatives.<\/p>\n An unpaid French invoice is not a loss to absorb but a claim to process: formal demand by registered letter to start interest and penalties, payment-order petition before the president of the debtor’s commercial court, service by commissaire de justice within three months, then either an unopposed order equivalent to a judgment or a full hearing where your documents decide. Add the automatic late penalties at the European Central Bank rate plus ten points, the 40-euro recovery fee confirmed by the Court of Cassation in September 2026, and legal interest from the demand, and the claim that looked too small to pursue from abroad becomes worth collecting. Start the paper trail today, file while the documents are fresh, and let the procedure do the travelling for you.<\/p>\n Telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm: first telephone consultation 80 EUR including VAT. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or write through our contact page<\/a>. Send your invoice, contract and reminders before the call so the advice is concrete from the first minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unpaid French invoice and you live abroad? Formal demand, court payment order, opposition tactics and forced collection, with penalties and 40 euro fee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2132872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nB. How do you get the payment order from the French court entirely on paper?<\/h3>\n
II. How do you win when the debtor resists and actually collect from abroad?<\/h2>\n
A. What happens if the debtor files an opposition, and how do you win the hearing?<\/h3>\n
B. How do you force payment and recover your costs without moving to France?<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case.<\/h2>\n