Court actions

At TCM Belgium, only 1% of the claims entrusted go to courts. Before to propose such ultimate solution, we analyse the apparent solvency of your debtor. Then we provide you with an estimation of costs and chances to succeed (which are actually unpredictable).

You can the freely choose to proceed through TCM or on your own (or not to proceed).

In Belgium, TCM can follow the procedure up for you. Depending on the defender, the claims we handle appear for the following tribunals: peace justice; district court; commercial court.

Tribunal

  • Defender B2C < 5000 EUR: Peace justice handles B2C claims up to 5000 EUR (with exceptions). There is no possibility to appeal for claims smaller than 2000 EUR. Other claims can be appealed at the district court.
  • Defender B2C > 5000 EUR: The district court will handle B2C claims above 5000 EUR (with exceptions ; and also lower claims but for such smaller claims the defendant can require to appear before peace justice).
  • Defender B2B: The tribunal of commerce will handle claims between business parties (B2B). A private person can also bring a company before this court. The Commercial Court is also competent for liquidations and bankruptcy. The commercial court also handles some specific issues like intellectual property, market behaviour, various disputes regarding companies, associations or foundations.
    A decision for a claim below 2500 EUR cannot be appealed. In this court, not all judges are lawyers but can be appointed for their business competences.

Since a few years, there is also a quick procedure for uncontested claims. It also applies to creditors in Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and Austria having a claim on a Belgian debtor. This procedure is quick but exposed to dispute (in which case the claimant gets back to square one).

For your international claims, our local partners know the local laws and procedures.

As many aspects can vary from one to another country (documents required, procedures, time-barring (statute of limitation)), competent assistance is usually more than useful.