Legal Debt Collection

In Belgium, TCM can follow up the proceedings for you. Depending on the defendant, the claims we handle appear before the following tribunals: justice of the peace; court of first instance; company court.

The justice of the peace court deals with B2C cases up to usually 5000 EUR (there are also exceptions). If the claim is less than EUR 2000, there is no appeal against the judgment. If it can, it is done before the court of first instance.

The court of first instance is competent for B2C claims higher than EUR 5000 (again, there are exceptions). Possibly also for claims of less than 5000 EUR, but then the counterparty can always ask the judge to forward the case to the justice of the peace.

The corporate court has jurisdiction over disputes between merchants (B2B), regardless of the amount.
An individual can also sue a corporation in court. The corporate court also has jurisdiction over liquidations and bankruptcies. The corporate court also handles specific cases such as intellectual property, market conduct, and disputes involving companies, associations or foundations.
A decision for a claim of less than EUR 2,500 cannot be appealed. In this court, not all judges are lawyers, but may be appointed based on their business competencies.

For some years now, there has also been the extrajudicial IOS procedure for uncontested B2B files in Belgium (and by extension for creditors in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and Austria with a BE claim). This is a kind of summary procedure whereby one can quickly obtain an enforceable title, but where the procedure can also be quickly contested.

Our Partners on-site give us the advantage of knowing the local laws and guiding us through legal proceedings abroad. Necessary documents, statutes of limitations, procedures,… in fact, differ from country to country, so a guide is not unnecessary.