BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Jens Benoot, Fryderyk de Peslin Lachert and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
The costs of enforcement include: • court fees for proceedings brought before the execution judge; • bailiff fees (which comprise fixed and proportional charges); • auction cost in case of enforcement on movable property; and • notary costs in case of enforcement on real prop - erty. Third-party attachments on bank accounts are gen - erally the most cost-effective enforcement measure. Enforcement on real estate assets are generally the most time-consuming and the most costly. However, assuming there is no mortgage on the real estate, the result may be substantial. 2.4 Post-Judgment Procedures for Determining Defendants’ Assets See 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position . 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Appeal Judgments rendered in the first instance are provi - sionally enforceable, save for statutory exceptions or unless the judge expressly decides otherwise. In addition, certain types of judgments (eg, judgments ordering provisional measures, judgments in insolven - cy proceedings, and judgments of the attachments judge) are always provisionally enforceable. An appeal against a judgment that is provisionally enforceable does not bring about a stay of enforce - ment. However, this does not apply to default judg - ments: an appeal or opposition against such judg - ments will suspend enforcement, save for statutory exceptions or unless the judge expressly decides otherwise. The judgment creditor (claimant) will be able to pursue enforcement of the judgment pending the appeal, at its own risks. If the judgment is overturned on appeal,
the claimant will have to indemnify the defendant for all the harm caused by the provisional enforcement. Challenging the Regularity of the Enforcement A debtor faced with an executory attachment may try to challenge the regularity of the attachment measure, if the formal requirements set out in the Judicial Code have not been complied with correctly. This may be the case if the judgment or the attachment was not validly served on the debtor, or if the writ of attach - ment does not contain all mandatory mentions. Challenging the Enforceability of the Judgment A debtor may also try to challenge the enforceability of the creditor’s title before the judge of attachments – eg, if the judgment does not allow one to indisputably determine the quantum of the creditor’s claim. Stay of Enforcement As a principle, the judge of attachments cannot order a stay of enforcement if the creditor holds an enforce - able title against the debtor, even if that enforceable title is still subject to appeal. However, there is some case law in which the judge of attachments allowed for a stay of enforcement in truly exceptional cir - cumstances – eg, when pursuing the enforcement amounts to an abuse of right. It must be stressed that these cases remain the exception and attachment judges more often than not dismiss requests for a stay of enforcement based on abuse of right. Insolvency proceedings (bankruptcy, judicial reorgani - sation) bring about an automatic stay of enforcement. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments Judgments, which are of a purely declaratory nature, cannot be enforced given that such judgments merely confirm or deny the existence of a subjective right. Hence, they do not require enforcement upon a recal - citrant party. The declaratory judgment will neverthe - less be binding on the parties. 2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments Pursuant to the Act of 16 October 2022, a publicly accessible database for court decisions (the “Central Registry for Judicial Decisions”) should have been in place by 31 December 2023. However, the roll-out of the database has been delayed.
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