Antohi Laurențiu Law Office
Debt Recovery — from formal notice to enforcement.
Do you have a debtor who isn’t paying an invoice, a loan, or a debt secured by a promissory note or bank cheque? I’ll explain the real steps for recovering a debt in Romania, so you know what to expect before we start.
The four steps of recovering a debt.
Formal notice of default
This is almost always the first step: an official notice warning the debtor to pay within a set deadline. Sometimes it’s enough on its own, especially when the debt is clear and the debtor only has a temporary cash-flow problem.
Payment order
If the notice doesn’t work and the debt is certain, liquidated and due, and can be proven with a document (contract, accepted invoice, promissory note, cheque), you can ask the court for a payment order — a simplified procedure that’s much faster than an ordinary lawsuit.
Claim for payment
When a payment order isn’t suitable — for example, if the debtor seriously disputes the debt, or the situation is more complex — the case moves to an ordinary lawsuit: a claim for payment, through which the court permanently establishes the amount owed.
Enforcement
Once you obtain an enforceable title — a court judgment, payment order, promissory note, or another debt instrument that already has this status by law — a court enforcement officer can garnish bank accounts, seize assets, or auction off the debtor’s property until the debt is covered.
Not all debts are recovered the same way.
An unpaid promissory note or cheque is usually enforced faster than a plain invoice with no supporting document — because by law they already carry the force of an enforceable title, or nearly so. An unenforced court judgment, a bank letter of guarantee, or a contract with an enforcement clause each has its own shortest path to recovery.
That’s why the first thing I do is look at exactly what documents you have and what kind of debt it is — that decides whether we go straight to enforcement, to a payment order, or to a lawsuit.
Send me the documents before we talk.
Fill in the form below, selecting “Debt Recovery” as the type of issue. Upload the contract, invoice, promissory note, cheque, or any other relevant document.