Debt Recovery Services

When entering an agreement, the parties used to rely on each other's integrity and financial stability, but not always.

Lack of information about the financial standing of a counterparty, its substantive unconscionability or unfavorable market conditions may result in receivables.

How to collect the receivables?

First you need to figure out the debtor status: active, liquidated, or in bankruptcy proceedings.

This can be established by searching the sites egr.gov.by, justbel.info, as well as the site bankrot.gov.by. However, up-to-date information is not always posted on these sites. For example, a bankruptcy trustee publishes information on the initiation of proceedings within 5 days from the receipt of the relevant court order. Therefore, the information on the site will be published later than the legal event.

The correct information can be found in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs (while ensuring that administrative procedures), as well as from other paid sources.

Collecting the receivables

There are 3 ways of collecting the receivables:

1. To date, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus has approved a list of documents by which receivables collection in an indisputable manner can be carried out on the basis of uncontested recovery.

To obtain such a document, you will need to pay for notarial services. The rate will be calculated on the basis of the amount to be collected or the approved base amount.

If you seek the assistance of a notary, you can save your time. If the payment of the tariff was made correctly and the all related documents were supplied, the notary writ procedure will take about several minutes. This writ have the effect of a court order.

Nevertheless, if you have never before encountered the need to collect receivables, it can be quite difficult for you to calculate the amount of the fee to pay for notary services on your own, to obtain the all necessary documents, as well as to write a statement on the notary writ. In order to avoid a number of mistakes and resolve all the issues quickly, we advise you to seek professional legal advice in advance.

2.      Another way to collect receivables is to file an application with the Economic Court.

You can file an application with the Economic Court to initiate writ proceedings. In this case, a court order will be imposed.

Writ proceedings includes consideration of claims as in those cases when they are considered indisputable (taking into account the submitted documents proving the existence of debt) or when they are not disputed by the debtor, but he does not comply with them.

It is important to consider that not all the claims for receivables collection can be considered according to the order of writ proceedings. The writ proceedings will take more time than the notary service. However, if you compare it’s duration with filing a lawsuit in court, the time savings will be obvious. Moreover, from a financial point of view, writ proceedings are more profitable.

3.      The longest way to collect the receivables is to file a claim with the Economic Court.

However, an important advantage of this method is that the lawsuit procedure involves the consideration of the cases of the dispute.

Before going to court, a mandatory step is to draw up a claim with a proposal to resolve the dispute peacefully. If the debtor does not accept the proposal, a statement of claim should be made in accordance with the requirements approved at the legislative level.

The consideration of a case in an Economic Court is a multi-stage process, that includes the filing of an application, its adoption and initiation of proceedings, a preliminary hearing, consideration of a case, issuance of a decision and decree of a court.

Collection of receivables in this way, taking into account all factors, can take up to 1 year. However, this method has several advantages. You have the opportunity to present evidence, substantiate your position and protect your interests. Moreover, this process implies the possibility of reconciliation, changing the requirements in the event of clarification of additional circumstances.

What difficulties can you face? For example, calculation of the amount of the fees, avoidance of errors in registration of a claim, taking into account all the formalities, substantiating one’s position in court, presenting evidence.

After receiving the writ of execution, you should try to collect the receivables by submitting a payment request. If the debtor refuses to fulfill the requirement, you need to contact the appropriate authorities that will ensure its enforceability.

How can the receivables be collected from an enterprise at the liquidation stage or from a company that has declared bankruptcy?

In this case, you cannot go to the court or to a notary public; you should draw up a creditor’s (collector’s) claim. After the claim is accepted by the manager of the enterprise or the liquidator, it is entered in the register of claims. Such requirements must be satisfied in accordance with established requirements.

It is important to consider some nuances. For example, penalties cannot be applied to the company recognized as a bankrupt, although this is allowed to the company at the liquidation stage.