Day-to-day business activities or daily life in general often comes with debt – owing or being owed – and is most often unavoidable.  For one reason, or another, or perhaps, for several reasons, – intentional or unintentional – indebtedness lingers and may affect business or individuals lives adversely. Perhaps amicable negotiation efforts have failed, and out-of-court settlements have been neglected, and the only recourse is to petition the court, via a legal claim, to settle the debt.

Initiating court ordered debt recovery requires submitting a petition – to the court – for debt recovery and a request for payment.  The judge’s verdict and judgement are final and in full force and effect for the creditor to request the Judgement Enforcement Agency to recover the debt (collect the outstanding amount of the debt).

The process of settling debts in court is a series of complicated and sequential procedures known as legal proceedings. Legal debt recovery begins when the creditor believes that their rights and interests have been violated and, subsequently, submit a grievance to the court, at which time proceedings officially commence.

In this Article, CNC outlines the legal provisions and process associated with Legal Debt collection, including:

Right to Litigate:

The creditor has the right to litigate – request the court to settle a debt – their complaint when:

• The Creditor insists that their rights and interests have been infringed upon.
• The dispute must be adjudicated and, not under consideration by any other authority.
• There is an agreement or requirement by law to perform any means of mediation prior to court intervention. Creditors must complete these procedures prior to requesting the court to adjudicate the debt.

• 

Content Petition: There are various approaches for petitioning the court, but all petitions must contain the following:

Note: If the place of residence, employer, or head office of the defendant is unknown, the most recent place of residence, employer, or head office of the defendant must be listed. Receiving and processing the lawsuit petition: Upon receipt of the petition, the Court must:

(*) Upon judicial review, of the Petition, the following decisions will be made:

Complaints regarding the return of a petition:The creditor maintains the right to appeal the decision regarding return of the petition within 10 daysThe court will resolve the complaint according to regulations with either of two possible outcomes.

Advance Court fees acceptance of Case: Upon receipt of the petition and accompanying materials and/or evidence and determination that the case meets the criteria of the courts’ jurisdiction, the Judge will notify the litigants immediately to appear in court within 7 days (from the date of receiving the invoice) for payment of court fees as determined liable.  Once payment has been made litigants must submit proof of payment (payment receipts) to the judge for petition acceptance cases where the creditor is exempt from, or not required to pay court fee advances, the Judges must accept the petitions upon receipt of petition and accompanied materials and/or evidence.

Other Provisions:

Petitions may be submitted to the court directly, by post, or electronically via e-portal-if available.

Cases involving exigent circumstances, require immediate protection of evidence to prevent possible serious consequences.  Creditors may petition the competent court to issue decisions for provisional emergency measures simultaneously with the submission of petitions for disposition.

CNC is pleased to receive and respond to any and all inquiries in support of customers in Initiating a Debt Recovery Lawsuit.

Contact

Inquiries may be submitted via email or phone provided below:

Bui Van Hung | Partner

T: (+84-28) 6276 9900

E: hung.bui@cnccounsel.com

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan | Partner

T: (+84-28) 6276 9900

E: ngan.nguyen@cnccounsel.com

CNC^© | A Boutique Property Law Firm

The Sun Avenue, 28 Mai Chi Tho, An Phu Ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.

T: (+84-28) 6276 9900 | F: (+84-28) 2220 0913

cnccounsel.com | contact@cnccounsel.com

Disclaimers:

This newsletter has been prepared or used for the purpose of introducing or updating customers about issues and/or the development of legal positions in Vietnam. The information presented in this newsletter does not constitute advice of any kind and are subject to change without notice.