Will your unpaid invoice end up in court — and which one?
If you are reading this, the question is rarely academic: a French company owes you money, reminders have gone nowhere, and you want to know what going to court would actually mean for you — before deciding whether to go there. Start with the answer that surprises most foreign creditors: the court that hears almost every B2B debt claim in France, the tribunal de commerce (commercial court), is not staffed by career magistrates. Your case will be decided by elected business owners and executives — merchants judging merchants — sitting as unpaid volunteers alongside a small permanent administrative staff (the greffe, headed by a court clerk who is a public and ministerial officer — officier public et ministériel — not a civil servant).
For a creditor, this centuries-old "peer justice" model is mostly good news: it makes the court practical and business-literate on a straightforward money claim. What it changes for your file — and for the route your attorney will recommend — is set out below.
Tribunal de commerce — both parties are "merchants" in the legal sense (companies such as SAS, SARL, SA, and traders), both are artisans, or one is a merchant and the other an artisan; the court also hears disputes over commercial companies and over acts of commerce between any persons (article L.721-3 du Code de commerce), which makes it the default for almost every B2B invoice dispute.
Tribunal judiciaire — as a rule, the debtor is neither a merchant nor an artisan: a regulated profession (doctor, architect), an individual acting outside any business activity, an association, or certain civil entities.
That tells you the type of court. Which specific court — Paris, Nanterre, Lyon, Marseille, and so on — is a separate, territorial question: as a rule, the court for the place where the debtor company is established, usually its registered office (articles 42 and 43 du Code de procédure civile); in contract matters, a claim may also be brought before the court for the place of delivery or performance (article 46), and a valid jurisdiction clause in your contract can point elsewhere — except for a payment order, which must always be filed with the court for the place where the debtor is based (article 1406).
Who will judge your case — and what that changes for you
The judges who would decide your claim (juges consulaires) are business owners and company directors, elected for renewable terms by an electoral college made up of elected members of the chambers of commerce and of trades and crafts and of current and certain former judges of the court, sitting part-time alongside running their own companies. There is no jury in French commercial litigation, and no professional magistrate on the bench for a standard case: a contested claim is generally heard by a panel of at least three business judges, while a single judge (often the president or a delegate) hears summary proceedings (référé), including the référé-provision, which requires no urgency.
For you as a creditor, that composition has three practical consequences. First, your strongest arguments are commercial before they are legal: a clean paper trail — signed order, delivery notes, unpaid invoice, unanswered formal notice — speaks directly to judges who chase their own receivables. Second, vague defences carry less weight than they might before a career magistrate: these judges have heard every cash-flow excuse first-hand, from both sides of the table. Third, how the file is framed decides how fast it moves — presenting the evidence and the legal argument in a way that lands with a bench of business people is precisely your French attorney's job, and the reason a well-prepared file outruns an improvised one.
Since 1 January 2025, on a four-year trial basis running to 31 December 2028 (loi n° 2023-1059 du 20 novembre 2023), the tribunal de commerce has been renamed Tribunal des Activités Économiques in twelve areas, including Paris, Nanterre, Versailles, Lyon and Marseille. It is the same court under a new name, with wider powers: it also hears insolvency and prevention proceedings (safeguard, receivership, liquidation) for almost every type of debtor, not just merchants. Nothing described in this article changes: in those twelve areas, an ordinary unpaid-invoice claim, a payment order or a référé simply goes to the TAE, under the same procedural rules. The only new element is an economic justice contribution that applies to very large claimants only.
What actually happens once a claim is filed
French commercial litigation runs very differently from a common-law trial. There is generally no live witness testimony or cross-examination: the case is built on written submissions (conclusions) and documentary exhibits exchanged between the lawyers, with a comparatively brief oral hearing where each side's attorney presents the case to the panel. Which track your case follows depends entirely on whether the debt is disputed:
Debt is undisputed
You go straight for a payment order (injonction de payer) — filed and reviewed on paper, no hearing at all unless the debtor opposes. Usually the simplest and cheapest route for a clean file; for orders issued since 1 September 2026, enforcement is possible only once the one-month opposition period has expired and two months have passed since service.
Debt is contested, but weakly
A short référé-provision hearing (2 to 6 weeks) lets a single judge order provisional payment when the debtor's objection is not "seriously disputed".
Debt is genuinely contested
A full action on the merits (assignation au fond) before the panel of three judges: written submissions exchanged over several rounds, one or more hearings, final judgment often within 6 to 12 months, longer in heavily contested cases.
Asset at risk of disappearing
Any of the above can be combined with a pre-judgment asset freeze to stop the debtor moving funds before you get paid.
Frequently asked questions
No. For a standard B2B commercial claim, your attorney represents you throughout — there is normally no need for the creditor (or its representative) to travel to France or appear physically at any stage, including the hearing itself — although a French judge has the power to order a party to appear in person (article 184 du Code de procédure civile).
Territorial jurisdiction generally follows the place where the debtor company is established, usually its registered office (arts. 42 and 43 du Code de procédure civile) — so the tribunal de commerce of Paris, Nanterre, Lyon, Marseille, etc. (in these four cities, renamed Tribunal des Activités Économiques since 1 January 2025, on a trial basis), depending on where your debtor is incorporated. In contract matters, a claim may also be brought before the court for the place of delivery or performance (art. 46). Whether it is a tribunal de commerce at all follows from the nature of the dispute and the status of the parties (art. L.721-3 du Code de commerce). A valid jurisdiction clause in your contract can override the default territorial rule — except for a payment order, which must always be filed with the court for the place where the debtor is based (art. 1406 du Code de procédure civile).
Yes, in principle — like most civil proceedings in France. In practice this weighs on your debtor, not on you: there is usually no live testimony, the hearing is brief, and the resulting judgment is a public decision. That exposure is part of the pressure a credible court action puts on a French debtor.
Yes. A judgment on the merits can be appealed to the cour d'appel (court of appeal), which reviews both facts and law. Appeal proceedings typically add another 12 to 18 months if the debtor chooses to contest a full judgment.
French, exclusively — it is the language of the French judiciary. Your attorney handles the entire proceeding in French on your behalf and reports back to you in English at every stage.
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