Article 277: Examination of the debtor's assets

Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section

1. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 1376/2565 (2022)

   A judgment creditor may apply for the court to conduct an inquiry into the judgment debtor's affairs and assets under Section 277, and the court may summon the debtor to be examined.

   After a dispute over withdrawal fees in the execution, the creditors applied for the court to inquire into the affairs and assets of the debtors under Section 277, and the trial court summoned the debtors for examination. The decision confirms that this asset-examination route is available to a judgment creditor seeking to uncover the debtors' property.

2. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 5469/2564 (2021)

   Section 277 lets the court hold an inquiry and summon the judgment debtor, or any other person believed to be in a position to give useful information, to give statements or to produce documents or objects in that person's possession or control, so as to learn about the judgment debtor's affairs and property for the purposes of execution. It goes no further. Section 277 does not empower the court to rule that particular property belongs to the judgment debtor, nor to order that property attached. Having obtained the information, the judgment creditor must apply to the execution officer to seize or attach the property under section 298. An appellate order determining ownership of funds and directing their attachment under section 277 is unlawful.

   The plaintiff applied under section 277 for an inquiry and for summonses to both defendants and another person, alleging that the first defendant sold goods and paid the proceeds into deposit accounts in the names of the second defendant and that other person, so that there was reason to suspect that property held in those names in fact belonged to the first defendant as judgment debtor. The Supreme Court held that section 277 allows the court only to inquire, to summon the judgment debtor or others who may give useful information, and to require statements, documents or objects, in order to learn about the debtor's affairs and property for execution purposes. It does not empower the court to decide that particular property belongs to the debtor or to order it attached; for that the creditor must go to the execution officer under section 298. The Court of Appeal's ruling that the funds belonged to the first defendant, and its order attaching them, was therefore unlawful.

3. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4300/2558 (2015)

   A Section 277 inquiry is for cases where the creditor believes the debtor has other assets but does not know what they are or where they are; it is not required in order to seize further assets whose details the creditor already knows.

   The debtor argued that the creditor had to file a Section 277 motion for examination before seizing additional property. The Supreme Court held that Section 277 applies only where the creditor believes the debtor has other assets but does not know what or where they are; since the creditor already knew the details of the further property, no such inquiry was needed to seize it.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.