When a payment order becomes enforceable

Payment order proceedings provide a formal check of whether a debt is uncontested. If it is, a potentially expensive and lengthy trial can be avoided: once the order becomes final, a writ of execution is issued (or a writ already issued under Article 418 of the Bulgarian Code of Civil Procedure becomes definitive). The payment order itself provides a basis for enforcement. Its issue does not determine the debt with the authority of res judicata that attaches to a judgment on the merits. Once the order becomes final, however, objections denying the debt that could have been raised earlier are barred. This applies whichever event under Article 416 made the order final: failure to object in time, withdrawal of the objection, or a final judgment establishing the debt. Apart from the special cases under Articles 424 and 439, those objections cannot be raised in a new action. Once the order acquires definitive enforceability, neither the debtor nor the debtor’s heirs can challenge the debt on grounds, allegations or facts that the debtor could and should have raised before the order became final.

A final payment order is a stable judicial act. The obligations it specifies cannot be challenged on grounds relating to whether the debt was ascertainable in amount and due when the application under Article 410 or 417 was filed, or when the time for objection under Article 414 expired. For a challenge to those matters under Article 424(1), the debtor, or heirs who accepted the estate, must rely on newly discovered circumstances or new written evidence material to the case that the debtor could not have known or obtained within the objection period. Those grounds may concern all or part of the amount or whether it was due. Article 424(2) sets a deadline: the action must be brought within three months of the day the debtor learned of the new circumstance or could obtain the new written evidence, and no later than one year after the claim was extinguished.

This article does not provide a legal opinion or advice about any particular person or situation. For legal assistance in an individual case, consult a lawyer.