By Raphaël MORENON
21 March 2025
A court has ordered your debtor to comply with a penalty payment, but nothing has happened. What can you do about it? The astreinte is only a financial threat until it is liquidated. This decisive step transforms the astreinte into a payable debt. Conditions for liquidation Who can request liquidation? Only the beneficiary of the obligation subject to an astreinte may request its liquidation. The Court of Cassation confirmed this in a ruling of 8 December 2011: a co-owners' association may not request the liquidation of an astreinte ordered in favour of certain co-owners only (Civ. 2e, 8 Dec. 2011, no. 10-26.337). In the case of assignment of a claim, case law has changed. The assignee may now request liquidation of the astreinte, but only for the period following notification of the assignment to the debtor (Civ. 2e, 7 July 2011, no. 10-20.296). An important point for trustees: they cannot act without the prior authorisation of...
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