Guarantees, securities and enforcement law
Compulsory sale and auction in the case of seizure and sale of movable property: procedure, formalities and role of the judicial commissioner (2025)
By Raphaël MORENON15 September 2025Have your assets been seized? Find out about the compulsory sale procedure, your rights, and how a court commissioner intervenes. An essential guide to protecting your assets.
Joint and several liability and indivisibility of obligations: key guarantees for creditors
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWhen a creditor grants credit or enters into a contractual relationship, the main concern is to ensure that the debt is paid. The risk of debtor insolvency is an economic reality that can jeopardise the financial equilibrium of any business. Among the range of intrinsic guarantees available to creditors, such as...Action paulienne: the creditor's recourse against fraud organised by his debtor
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWhen a debtor organises his insolvency in order to escape his obligations, the creditor may feel powerless. However, French law offers specific and powerful protection against such fraudulent manoeuvres: the action paulienne. Often overlooked by non-lawyers, it can render acts of wilful impoverishment ineffective. This article explains...Actions for rescission and derivative actions: creditor remedies for debtor inaction
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWhen a contract is not honoured, creditors often find themselves at a loss, faced with the debtor's inertia or default. The law of obligations, far from being a mere compendium of theoretical principles, offers powerful practical tools for protecting creditors' interests and punishing contractual non-performance. These mechanisms are...The defence of non-performance and the right of retention: mechanisms for the creditor's self-defence
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWhen a business partner, supplier or customer fails to honour its commitments, the first instinct is often to suspend its own obligations in return. While this reaction is legitimate in principle, it is governed by precise legal mechanisms that enable creditors to protect themselves without putting themselves at risk.Creditor guarantees in the law of obligations: mastering the mechanisms to secure your claims
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWhen a creditor enters into a contractual relationship, there is a risk that the debtor will not honour its commitments. The law of obligations, well aware of this reality, has developed a series of mechanisms designed to protect creditors and secure payment of their claims. In addition to securities...Pledging of exploitation rights: cinematographic films and software, specialised securities
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingIn addition to traditional tangible assets, a company's economic value increasingly lies in its intangible assets. For creative and technological industries, the exploitation rights to a film or software often represent the bulk of their assets. Obtaining financing based on these assets requires special tools...Life insurance pledging: a financial guarantee instrument and its implications
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingMuch more than a simple savings product, a life insurance policy is a versatile financial asset. Its economic value makes it a particularly valuable guarantee for creditors, especially a bank or other credit institution, which may require it to guarantee a loan, for example...Pledging a business: securing financing for companies and businesses in the craft and rural sectors
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingObtaining finance is a frequent and often essential stage in the life of a business. For banks and other creditors, lending money means ensuring future repayment. Pledging a business is one of the most common and effective ways of securing a loan...Pledging of financial instrument accounts: legal regime and practical issues
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingThe pledge of financial instrument accounts is an essential guarantee tool for companies seeking to obtain credit or secure market transactions. Particularly effective and relatively flexible, this security makes it possible to mobilise a portfolio of securities without losing ownership. Its implementation...Pledging of shares: guarantees and issues for civil and commercial companies
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingWhen a company seeks to obtain financing, the collateral required by lenders is often at the heart of the negotiations. Among the tools available, the pledge of shares represents an effective security, enabling a partner to guarantee a debt by using his own shares as collateral. This technique, which...Pledging of receivables: ordinary law, dailly slip and specific features
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingFor a company director, trade receivables often represent a major asset, but their value remains latent until they are paid. However, these receivables can be turned into a lever for financing or a solid guarantee against a buyer. Pledging receivables is the legal mechanism that makes this possible,...Pledging: a complete guide to security interests in intangible property under French law
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingPledging is an essential legal mechanism for securing financing, but its complexity can confuse entrepreneurs and managers. It is a powerful guarantee, a security interest in which a debtor hands over an intangible asset, such as a claim or shares in a company, to a creditor in order to secure a loan....Securities account pledging in the DEEP era (Blockchain): challenges and opportunities
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingThe pledge of financial securities is an essential guarantee for many financing transactions. Traditionally recorded in a securities account, it is undergoing a major evolution with the emergence of blockchain technology. This innovation, recognised in French law under the name Dispositif d'Enregistrement Électronique Partagée (DEEP), opens up new prospects...Pledging securities accounts and insolvency proceedings: protecting your rights in the event of insolvency
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingFor a creditor, obtaining a pledge on a securities account is a reassuring step. But what happens to this security when the debtor goes through a financial storm and is the subject of collective proceedings? Far from being weakened, this security reveals all its power in this context, offering far greater protection than other forms of security.Enforcement of securities account pledges: recovery procedures and rights of the pledgee
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingThe pledge of a securities account is a powerful guarantee, but its true effectiveness is measured at the time it is realised. When the debtor fails to honour his commitments, the creditor must be able to transform this security into cash to recover his debt. This phase, far from being a mere formality, is a process...Management and development of the pledged securities account: optimising the guarantee base
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingPledging a securities account is a much more dynamic form of security than it might seem. Unlike a guarantee covering a single, specific asset, the collateral can and will change throughout the life of the loan it is securing. This ability to adapt is one of its strengths...Creating a securities account pledge: formalities, documents and best practice
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingThe pledge of a securities account is a powerful and flexible guarantee mechanism, widely used in business to secure financing or a transaction. However, it has to be set up in accordance with a precise set of formalities, each stage of which determines its validity and effectiveness. A simple error or omission...Pledging a securities account: a complete guide to securing your financial assets
Law of guarantees, security interests and enforcement measures, PledgingThe pledge of a securities account is a key financial guarantee in the economic landscape, offering an effective means of securing a debt using a portfolio of assets. Although its mechanism is recognised for its power, its technical implementation, clarified by an abundance of case law, can seem complex to the...The seized debtor: rights, obligations and protection
Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawWho hasn't received a letter from a bailiff? This stressful experience places the recipient in a specific legal position: that of the distrained debtor. As the central character in civil enforcement proceedings, the debtor has specific rights, but must also comply with certain obligations. The status of debtor The person of the debtor...Becoming a judicial commissioner: career path and prospects
Commissaire de justice, Guarantees, securities and enforcement lawA new legal profession created by the merger of bailiffs and auctioneers in 2022. The judicial commissioner carries out essential day-to-day tasks, such as serving documents, enforcing court rulings, taking statements of facts and conducting auctions. This demanding profession attracts determined candidates every year. But how do you get into...
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