You are holding a due invoice, a signed contract and an account statement nobody disputes. The debtor is not denying the debt — they are delaying. The first route that comes to mind is a full claim, with the hearings, expert reports and pleadings that can run for months.
For exactly this situation the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law opens a shorter door: the payment order. Instead of starting a full dispute, you file a petition with your debt instrument attached and a judge issues an order to pay within days. The debtor keeps the right to object, but the burden moves across: they must file the objection, they must give reasons for it, and they must appear.
The condition is that your matter is the kind that leaves the judge no wide margin of assessment. What follows is when the route is available, on what deadlines, and where it lapses.
When the payment order fits
Article 195 confines this route to defined cases. If one of these descriptions fails, the ordinary claim is the route.
A right evidenced in writing
It is not enough that the debt is real; a written record must establish it — a contract, an accepted invoice, an acknowledgement, or an approved account statement.
Due for immediate performance
The due date must already have arrived. A deferred debt, or one hanging on a condition that has not been met, does not fit this route.
A specified sum or a specified movable
A sum of money of a determined amount, or a movable specified by type, description or quantity. A claim for damages the judge would have to assess does not belong here.
Or a commercial instrument, within limits
The holder of a commercial instrument may take this route where recourse is against the drawer, the endorser, the acceptor or their contingent guarantor. Recourse against anyone else returns to the general rules (Article 195).
The steps and their deadlines
- 01
Demand payment — at least eight days
Before anything else, require the debtor to pay and allow a period of at least eight days. A registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt suffices, and a protest for non-payment substitutes for the demand. The right stated in the demand may not be less than what you claim in the petition (Article 197).
- 02
File the petition — two copies and their attachments
The petition is filed in two identical copies, with the debt instrument, proof that payment was demanded, and proof that the prescribed fee has been paid. The instrument stays with the secretariat until the objection period expires (Article 198).
- 03
The order issues — three days at most
The order is issued on one of the two copies within three days at most of filing, stating the amount due in principal, interest and costs. The petition produces the effects of filing the claim from the date it was submitted, even if the court is not competent (Article 198).
- 04
Notify the debtor — six months, or it never was
The debtor is notified of the petition and the order personally, or at their original domicile or place of work. If notification has not happened within six months of the order's issuance, the petition and the order are deemed never to have been (Article 200).
- 05
Submit for execution — thirty days
An order issued on a petition lapses if it is not submitted for execution within thirty days of issuance. Its lapse does not prevent obtaining a new order (Article 194).
Mistakes that empty the order of effect
Claiming more than the demand covered
If the figure in the petition exceeds the one in the demand to pay, a condition Article 197 states expressly has failed. Check the two numbers against each other before filing.
Asking for relief the judge will not grant in full
If the judge finds that not all of your requests should be granted, he refrains from issuing the order, refers the request to the competent court and sets a session. The referral decision cannot be appealed, even after judgment on the merits (Article 199) — so one extra request can cost you the whole speed advantage.
Letting the notification window pass
Six months goes quickly when the debtor's address is out of date or they are avoiding service. Have the domicile and workplace ready before you file, not after the order issues.
Letting the execution window pass
Thirty days from issuance, not from notification. An order not submitted for execution in time lapses; a new one can be obtained, but you are starting the route again.
Frequently asked questions
Does a payment order work against a guarantor?
For commercial instruments, Article 195 names recourse against the drawer, the endorser, the acceptor or their contingent guarantor. A guarantee on an ordinary debt depends on how the guarantee is drafted and whether the obligation is itself evidenced in writing, due, and of a determined amount.
What if the debt is disputed?
The payment order is built for matters that need no wide assessment. A genuine dispute over the existence or the amount of the debt pushes the judge to refrain and refer (Article 199). If you expect a substantive dispute, the ordinary claim is the more honest route from the start.
Can I file an ordinary claim instead?
Yes. Article 196 provides that filing through the ordinary route, despite the conditions for a payment order being met, does not prevent the court from hearing the case. The choice stays yours, at a higher cost in time.
What does RAM do before recommending this route?
We check the debt instrument, the due date and whether the amounts reconcile; we confirm the domicile and workplace for service; and we read the likelihood of a dispute from the earlier correspondence. If a matter cannot carry the speed, we say so before you spend on it.