The bailiff's court (fogedretten)
Also known as bailiff's court, enforcement court, fogedretten, fogedret, fogedsag, fogedforretning
The bailiff's court is the division of the district court that enforces claims — the place where a judgment turns into an attachment in the debtor's assets.
In practice
A judgment is a piece of paper. The bailiff’s court is where the paper turns into money. Without it, even the strongest claim carries no consequence if the debtor simply decides not to pay.
To get into the bailiff’s court you need an enforceable instrument: a judgment, an endorsed payment order, a voluntary settlement with an enforcement clause, or a promissory note with the same clause. With one in hand, you file a petition and the debtor is summoned to an enforcement hearing.
At the hearing the debtor has to disclose his finances on pain of criminal liability. If there are assets, an attachment is levied — on a car, on a bank balance, on real property, on wages. If there is nothing, the debtor makes a declaration of insolvency, and the case can then, as a general rule, not be brought back before the bailiff’s court for the next six months.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- You arrive unprepared. The enforcement hearing is often the only occasion on which you have the debtor’s full attention. If you know in advance what assets exist, the hearing can end in an attachment instead of empty hands.
- 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 — wait until there is something to go after again.