What is a French payment order?
The French payment order (injonction de payer, articles 1405 et seq. of the French Code of Civil Procedure) is a simplified court procedure. The creditor files an ex-parte petition to the competent court along with supporting documents. The judge reviews the petition on paper only — without summoning the debtor or holding a hearing — and issues an order if the claim appears well-founded.
It is the preferred procedure for undisputed B2B debts. With a clean file (signed contract, invoices, formal notice ignored, proof of delivery), an enforceable order is typically obtained in 3 to 4 months, far faster and cheaper than a full action on the merits (which takes several months, sometimes more than a year).
Commercial Court (tribunal de commerce, renamed tribunal des activités économiques in 12 pilot areas) — disputes between merchants, between artisans or relating to commercial companies, and disputes over commercial transactions (typical B2B). Petition filed at the court of the place where the debtor is based.
Judicial Court (tribunal judiciaire) — other civil claims, for example against doctors or other liberal professionals. The right court depends on the parties and the nature of the claim.
Process and timeline
a few weeks
+1 month
+2 months
- File assembly: contract, invoices, formal notice + acknowledgement of receipt, proof of delivery.
- Petition drafted by the attorney, motivated in fact and law, and filed at the competent court.
- Court review on paper. No hearing, no debtor convened. Decision: usually within a few weeks.
- Order issued for the sum the judge accepts — principal and, where justified, interest, costs and recovery indemnity (Art. 1409 CPC).
- Service on the debtor by a French judicial officer (commissaire de justice, formerly huissier). Service must occur within 3 months of the order's date (6 months for orders issued before 1 September 2026); otherwise the order lapses.
- Opposition window: the debtor has 1 month from service to oppose; if the order was not served on the debtor in person, opposition remains possible until one month after the first document served in person or, failing that, after the first enforcement measure freezing the debtor's assets (Art. 1416 CPC). In practice, only about 3% of orders are opposed (French Ministry of Justice figure).
- If no opposition: the order, issued already bearing the enforcement clause, becomes an enforceable title once the opposition window has expired and, for orders issued since 1 September 2026, two months have passed since service.
- Enforcement: bank account garnishment, asset seizure, salary garnishment, mortgage on real estate.
European Payment Order (Reg. 1896/2006) — for EU creditors
If your business is registered in another EU member state (and not in France), Regulation (EC) 1896/2006 created a European Payment Order (EPO) specifically for cross-border claims within the EU. The procedure is similar to the French national one (it does not apply in Denmark). Once enforceable, the EPO is recognised and enforced in the other Member States without any declaration of enforceability and without any possibility of opposing its recognition (Art. 19); enforcement can be refused only in very narrow cases (Art. 22). A French national order can generally also be enforced in other EU countries without exequatur under Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, but the debtor may then ask for recognition or enforcement to be refused on the wider grounds listed in that regulation (Art. 45-46).
For EU creditors, our recommendation is generally to use the French payment order when the debtor's assets are clearly in France. The EPO becomes preferable when assets may also be located in another EU country, allowing you to enforce against multiple jurisdictions on one order.
You will typically use the French national payment order, not the EPO. The order is issued already bearing the enforcement clause, and can be enforced in France once the opposition period has expired and, for orders issued since 1 September 2026, two months have passed since service. To enforce it in your home jurisdiction (e.g. against the debtor's other assets abroad), you would need a recognition / exequatur procedure in your local court — which we can coordinate with local counsel if needed.
When to use a payment order vs. other procedures
The French legal system offers several recovery routes. Each fits a specific scenario:
- Payment order (injonction de payer) — debt is undisputed, you have clear documents. Often the simplest, cheapest court route.
- Summary judgment for provisional payment (référé provision) — debt is contested but the contestation is not serious (delay tactics, bad faith). Hearing usually a few weeks after the summons, immediately enforceable.
- Full action on the merits (assignation au fond) — debt is seriously contested (defective performance, vice cache, scope dispute). Full adversarial proceedings, several months, sometimes more than a year, to a first-instance judgment, which may be appealed.
- Asset preservation (saisie conservatoire / EAPO) — to be combined with one of the above when there is a risk the debtor empties bank accounts before judgment.
Frequently asked questions
Our attorney fee starts at €600 ex VAT for a standard payment order, including drafting the petition, filing, and case management until the enforceable title is obtained. Court registry fees (charged before the commercial court) and judicial-officer service fees are paid in addition. These fees are legal costs (dépens), which the debtor is normally ordered to pay (Art. 695-696 CPC).
Opposition suspends enforcement and sends the whole case to a regular adversarial hearing; the court's judgment then replaces the order. The opposition rate is in practice low (about 3% of orders, according to the French Ministry of Justice), and we file payment orders only when we believe the file resists challenge. If opposition is filed, we continue representation through the merits proceeding.
Technically yes, but in practice we always send a formal notice first. About 30% of cases settle after the notice — saving you the cost of a court procedure. The notice also strengthens the file: an order issued after an ignored notice signals bad faith on the debtor's side.
No. The French payment order has no statutory cap. Whether your claim is €10,000 or €5 million, the procedure works in the same way. The ratio of cost to claim improves dramatically as the claim grows.
French courts accept evidence in English (and other languages) but generally require a French translation for the operative documents. We arrange the necessary certified translations as part of the case management. If your contract has an English-jurisdiction clause, the analysis becomes more complex — see our cross-border guide.
If insolvency proceedings open against the debtor (sauvegarde, redressement judiciaire, liquidation judiciaire), the payment-order procedure is interrupted or can no longer be pursued (Art. L. 622-21 and L. 622-22 of the French Commercial Code). The claim must then be declared to the court-appointed creditors' representative (or liquidator), in principle within two months of publication of the opening judgment in the BODACC, extended by two months for creditors based outside mainland France when the proceedings are opened there (Art. L. 622-24 and R. 622-24). The recovery rate falls dramatically — which is why we recommend acting early when there are red flags: a French bank-account freeze (saisie conservatoire) only secures payment if it has been converted into a garnishment before insolvency proceedings open, and an EAPO can no longer be sought once they have opened.
No. The procedure is fully dematerialised on our side via RPVA / e-Barreau. You provide documents by email, sign a power of attorney electronically, and receive updates by email. No physical presence in France is required at any stage.
Once the order is enforceable, we instruct a French judicial officer (commissaire de justice) to enforce. The most common route is bank-account garnishment (saisie-attribution) using the FICOBA database (the national register of all bank accounts held in France, kept by the tax administration). Other routes: asset seizure, salary garnishment, judicial mortgage on real estate.
Yes, provided they all relate to the same debtor and are all certain, liquid and due. Combining invoices is highly recommended: one filing fee, one petition, one enforceable title.
5 years in principle for commercial claims (Art. L.110-4 of the French Commercial Code), unless a shorter special period applies or the contract validly shortens it, generally running from the invoice's due date. It is service of the payment order on the debtor, not the filing of the petition, that interrupts the limitation period. An order not served in time lapses and does not protect the claim. If your claim is approaching the 5-year mark, act fast — every day matters.
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