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 clerk who is a private officer, not a civil servant).
For a creditor, this centuries-old "peer justice" model is mostly good news: it makes the court practical, business-literate, and generally faster than the ordinary civil courts 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 (SAS, SARL, SA...) and traders performing acts of commerce. A dispute between two businesses over a commercial matter falls squarely within its jurisdiction (article L.721-3 du Code de commerce), which is the default for almost every B2B invoice dispute.
Tribunal judiciaire — the debtor is not a merchant: 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 debtor's registered office (article 42 du Code de procédure civile), unless your contract contains a valid jurisdiction clause pointing elsewhere.
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 by their peers — other business owners, directors and delegates — for renewable terms, 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) decides urgent matters such as a référé.
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, twelve French courts (including Paris and Nanterre) are piloting a renamed and widened jurisdiction, the Tribunal des Activités Économiques, as a four-year experiment running to 31 December 2028 (loi n° 2023-1059 du 20 novembre 2023). The TAE only takes over insolvency and prevention proceedings (safeguard, receivership, liquidation) — for all types of debtors, not just merchants. It does not change anything described in this article: an ordinary unpaid-invoice claim, a payment order, or a référé still goes through the standard tribunal de commerce exactly as below, even in one of the twelve pilot jurisdictions.
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. Fastest and cheapest route for a clean file.
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 in 12 to 24 months.
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 no requirement for the creditor (or its representative) to travel to France or appear physically at any stage, including the hearing itself.
Territorial jurisdiction generally follows the debtor's registered office (art. 42 du Code de procédure civile) — so the tribunal de commerce of Paris, Nanterre, Lyon, Marseille, etc., depending on where your debtor is incorporated. Whether it is a tribunal de commerce at all follows from the nature of the dispute (art. L.721-3 du Code de commerce). A valid jurisdiction clause in your contract can override the default territorial rule.
Yes, in principle — like most civil proceedings in France. In practice this weighs on your debtor, not on you: there is no live testimony, the hearing is brief, and the resulting judgment becomes visible to banks, credit insurers and trading partners. 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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