Three "saisies", three different jobs
Start from your situation, not from the legal labels. Either you already hold a judgment against your French debtor and need to turn it into money — or you don't have one yet and fear the debtor will organise their own insolvency before you get there. French law has a distinct tool for each of those moments: three different saisies, each governed by its own articles of the Code des procédures civiles d'exécution (CPCE). English speakers tend to collapse all three into a single word — "seizure" — and confusing them is the most common misunderstanding we see from foreign creditors. Here is which tool applies at which moment.
Saisie conservatoire
Before judgment. Freezes assets so they can't disappear while you sue. No enforceable title needed yet.
Saisie-attribution
After judgment. Directly collects money owed to the debtor by a third party — typically the balance of its bank account. Requires an enforceable title.
Saisie-vente
After judgment. Seizes and auctions physical, movable property (equipment, vehicles, stock). Requires an enforceable title.
Saisie conservatoire — freezing assets before you have a judgment
Governed by articles L.511-1 to L.512-2 of the CPCE, the saisie conservatoire is a preventive measure: it freezes a debtor's assets (typically bank accounts, but also receivables, shares, or movable property) before any judgment, so the debtor cannot organise their own insolvency while the case is pending. It is granted on two conditions read together — the claim must appear "well-founded in principle" (une créance paraissant fondée en son principe) and there must be circumstances threatening its recovery (circonstances susceptibles d'en menacer le recouvrement) — and, in most cases, prior court authorisation (art. L.511-3 CPCE); no authorisation is needed for a creditor who already holds an enforceable title or a court decision, or in a few other listed cases, such as an unpaid cheque, accepted bill of exchange, promissory note or rent under a written lease (art. L.511-2 CPCE).
Once authorised, the freeze must be executed within 3 months (art. R.511-6 CPCE). Once executed, you must then start proceedings to obtain an enforceable title within 1 month (art. R.511-7 CPCE) — a payment order, référé, or full lawsuit — or the freeze automatically lapses. Two further 8-day steps carry the same sanction and are handled through the commissaire de justice: a freeze of bank accounts or receivables must be formally notified to the debtor within 8 days (art. R.523-3 CPCE), and where the assets are held by a third party such as a bank, that third party must be served, within 8 days, with proof that the proceedings were started (art. R.511-8 CPCE). A deadline comparable to the one-month rule, but not identical, applies to the European Account Preservation Order, the EU-regulation alternative available in cross-border cases to creditors domiciled in a member state bound by it (all except Denmark): where the creditor applies for the order before starting proceedings on the merits, those proceedings must be started within 30 days of the application or 14 days of the order, whichever is later.
The debtor is not warned in advance — the surprise effect is the entire point. They are notified only after the freeze has already taken hold, at which point they can challenge it, but cannot move the frozen funds in the meantime.
Saisie-attribution — collecting from a bank account after judgment
Once you hold an enforceable title (a judgment, a payment order that has become enforceable — the opposition period has expired and, for orders issued since 1 September 2026, two months have passed since service — or a notarial deed), articles L.211-1 to L.211-5 and R.211-1 to R.211-22 of the CPCE let you instruct a French judicial officer to seize funds directly from the debtor's bank account. The moment the bank is served, the seized sums are attributed to you immediately (art. L.211-2 CPCE), up to your claim amount, and later seizures or insolvency proceedings opened afterwards do not undo that attribution. Payment, however, normally follows only once the debtor's one-month window to challenge the seizure (art. R.211-11 CPCE) has passed without a challenge, or earlier if the debtor states in writing that it will not challenge it (art. R.211-6 CPCE); and a bank balance can still be adjusted for 15 working days for transactions predating the seizure (art. L.162-1 CPCE). The bank must declare the account's balances and any competing claims to the judicial officer (art. L.211-3 CPCE).
If you don't know where your debtor banks, the judicial officer can search the FICOBA database (the French central registry of bank accounts) to locate them — you do not need to already know the debtor's bank.
Saisie-vente — seizing and selling physical assets
Governed by article L.221-1 and following of the CPCE, saisie-vente also requires an enforceable title, but instead of targeting a bank account, it targets tangible movable property: equipment, vehicles, inventory, machinery. A commissaire de justice physically inventories the debtor's assets; absent payment, and after a one-month period during which the debtor may arrange an amicable sale, they are sold at public auction, with the proceeds applied to your claim (art. L.221-3 CPCE).
This route is slower and more resource-intensive than bank garnishment, so we typically use it when a debtor's bank accounts turn out to be empty but visible, seizable physical assets exist — a workshop full of equipment, a fleet of vehicles, warehoused stock.
A separate, more specialised procedure exists for seizing real estate (saisie immobilière). It is rarely proportionate for typical B2B invoice disputes given its cost and duration, but can be relevant for large claims against a debtor whose main asset is property.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and this is common practice. A typical sequence: saisie conservatoire to freeze accounts while the case is pending, then — once you obtain an enforceable title — convert to saisie-attribution to actually collect the frozen funds. If the accounts turn out insufficient, saisie-vente on physical assets can follow.
The commissaire de justice we instruct can search FICOBA for other accounts and run the search again later for newly opened ones. We can also pivot to saisie-vente on physical assets, salary garnishment against an individual debtor, or a judicial mortgage on real estate depending on what the debtor actually owns.
No — that is the entire mechanism. Notice comes only after execution, once the freeze is already in place, so the debtor cannot move funds in reaction to the request.
The core mechanics are the same, but individual debtors benefit from certain protections a corporate debtor does not have — for example, a portion of a natural person's bank balance is shielded from seizure (the "solde bancaire insaisissable", roughly equivalent to the monthly RSA welfare amount). A corporate account has no such protected minimum.
No. Your attorney instructs the commissaire de justice on your behalf for every step — petitioning the court where needed, executing the freeze or the garnishment, and reporting results back to you. No physical presence in France is required.
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