Debt collection in Italy

Our team of qualified lawyers regularly assist international clients with both civil and commercial disputes related to debt collection.

Under Italian law, debt recovery requires the following stages:

  • – a notification letter before action to the debtor to formally remind and request one last time to make payment within an assigned term (normally between 7 and 14 days) before you take legal action.
  • – If you do not receive payment within the assigned deadline, you may commence a legal proceeding by requesting the competent Italian Court to issue a “court injunction order” (Decreto Ingiuntivo) against the debtor for the payment of the nominal amount, interest accrued and legal expenses (also including attorney’s fees).
  • – The court will generally issue a court injunction order within 10/15 working days.
  • – You shall notify debtor of the Court injunction order.
  • – If the debtor fails to pay within 40 days beginning from the day of receipt of the Court order and does not oppose the Court order within the same term or if you obtain a provisionally enforceable court injunction order, you may undertake all enforcement actions against debtor’s assets including real estate properties, bank accounts and other properties, titles or rights;
  • – Instead, if debtor opposes the court injunction order, a “regular trial” will take place. The main issues to be discussed in such a trial will be the legitimacy of the court injunction order (mainly formal aspects) and the title of the credit.

To obtain a Court injunction order, we shall provide to Court the following documents:

  • – copy of the title (contract, cheque, order, bill etc.) from which your credit has originated (if the documents are not in Italian, court will require a translation in Italian);
  • – copy of the outstanding invoices;
  • – copy of the waybills (if applicable) or any other suitable documents to prove that you have regularly supplied the goods or given the services;
  • – an extract of the company’s accounting records which show the relevant invoices. This document shall be certified by a public notary in country of residence of the creditor, translated in Italian and apostilled or legalized.
  • – a power of attorney signed by the legal representative of the company giving us the power to represent you before the court, translated into Italian and apostilled or legalized..
  • – a “provisionally enforceable order” can be generally obtained if we provide to the court a bill of exchange, a cheque or a bank draft, or an admission of debt (e.g. an e-mail from the debtor).

Contact us for more information about debt collection in Italy.

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