Enforcement hearing (fogedforretning)
Also known as enforcement hearing, bailiff's court hearing, enforcement proceedings, fogedforretning, fogedmøde, fogedsag
An enforcement hearing is the meeting in the bailiff's court itself, where the debtor has to disclose their finances, and where an attachment can be levied.
In practice
The enforcement hearing is often the only occasion on which you have the debtor’s full attention. He has been summoned, attendance is compulsory, and he has to disclose his finances on pain of criminal liability.
That is what makes the hearing so important — and why it is so expensive to arrive unprepared. If you know in advance that the debtor has a car, a shareholding or a receivable from a third party, the hearing can end in an attachment. If you know nothing, it ends with the debtor saying he has nothing.
If the debtor fails to appear, the bailiff’s court can have him brought in by the police.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- You appear without having investigated the assets. The bailiff’s court does not go looking on your behalf.
- You go to the bailiff’s court on an empty case. If the debtor is demonstrably without means, the hearing costs more than it brings in. Monitoring is the right decision there.