Many international or even international companies in Thailand have encountered difficulties and complications despite collecting debts against customers, whether it be Thailand or a foreign debtor. After more attempts at good and friendly tracking, outstanding debts may remain unresolved. The reality is that many people often try to avoid paying or negotiating even if they sign the letters of order accepting the terms of payment. When all reasonable attempts have been made to recover the remaining sums.
This article provides readers with a very brief summary of their debt collection and enforcement procedures. However, we emphasize that creditors should always try to negotiate with the debtor before the recovery procedure in the Thai courts.
Debt collection in Thailand is easy to divide into pre-litigation, litigation and enforcement stages, as detailed below:
I. Pre-litigation
The pre-litigation procedure is a preliminary stage of legal action taken by the law firm in Bangkok (after the debtor has failed to negotiate). Pre-litigation procedures include:
• contact, negotiation and meeting with debtors;
• Delivery of the obligatory letter (s) to the debtor (payment claim) (usually the repayment deadline set out in the claim statements is between seven and fifteen days depending on the amount of the claim);
• Notification to the police and subsequent meetings with the official (s) (in the case of a criminal sanction, eg Unfair Control).
After this stage, some creditors can fully debit the debt of their debtors. Creditors who have no success should consider moving to the next stage, which is a litigation procedure.
II. The litigation
The litigation procedure is a court action against the debtor. This includes the procedures for implementing the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the judgment.
2.1 Court of First Instance
If the debtor fails to comply with the notification of the application, the creditor may submit an application and the following procedures shall apply:
• Request to the Court of Justice
– If the value of the property or the amount disputed does not exceed 300,000 Baht, the complaint must be submitted to the district or provincial court (in some provinces there is no district court).
– If the claim exceeds 300,000 Baht, the complaint must be submitted to the civil or provincial court.
– The court fees will be charged between 2 percent and 0.1 percent depending on the amount of the claim (ie 2 percent of the claim is up to 50,000,000 Baht and 0.1 percent on the amount of more than 50,000,000 Baht). In practice, district court proceedings are quicker than civil or provincial courts, but the dates of the hearing may be slower due to the lack of extensive cases.
The mediation of courts
– The policy of the courts is to investigate unnecessary cases at the court hearing. Most civil courts have a mediation center for parties to negotiate and compromise. If a case has been settled amicably, a compromise agreement is made and the Court has jurisdiction in this way.
• Evidence
– Each party is responsible for documenting the problem and burden of proof on their case.
• Acceptance of Evidence
– Each party must submit witnesses and evidence to the Court of Justice in accordance with the burden of proof established by the Court.
– The list of witnesses must be submitted to the Court no later than seven days before the date of the evidence.
• Judgment
– Once the Court has examined and considered the evidence submitted by the parties, the judgment will be delivered. The duration of the Court of First Instance may be one to three years.
2.2 Court of Appeal
• Within one month from the date of publication of the Court's jurisdiction, it is possible for the party to file a negative judgment and appeal to the court of appeal.
• An appeal on factual matters is not permitted if the amount of the dispute before the Court of Appeal does not exceed fifty thousand Baht, unless the case is authorized by the judge of the Court of First Instance or the Chief Justice of the Court of First Instance or the region. The main judge.
• In cases where the appeal concerns a matter of law, the appellant may appeal directly to the Supreme Court.
2.3 Supreme Court
• The parties are entitled to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal within one month from the date of pronouncement of jurisdiction.
• In cases where the value of the property or the amount claimed in the dicla appeal does not exceed two hundred thousand baht, no appeal may be filed in matters of fact unless the appellant's judge authorizes the judge of the Court of First Instance or Judge at the Court of First Instance or Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal.
III. Enforcement of the judgment
If the judge fails to comply with the judgment, the creditor is entitled to take the following steps in the enforcement proceedings:
• Issue of an enforcement order;
• Delivery of the enforcement decision to the debtor;
• Issuing an Execution Statement;
• Confiscation of the debtor's property;
• Sale of real estate by auction; and
• Repayment to the debtor.
The creditor involved in the judgment is entitled to the administration of justice within ten years from the date of promulgation.
Debt collection not only helps the creditor to collect money from debtors, but also provides evidence that the creditor describes bad debts and obtains tax advantage due to the requirements of the revenue department, which allows The creditor must write off the bad debt and only obtain the tax credit if the creditor has taken appropriate legal action against the debtor (depending on the level of debt).
Consequently, it is worthwhile for the creditor to enter into debt recovery. It has to be assessed that some debtors have been in a financial position, which does not allow them to settle their outstanding debts in full or in full. However, it is still necessary for creditors to exhaust available recovery procedures if they receive the appropriate tax relief from the deduction. It is therefore essential to decide whether or not the creditor intends to recover the debtor.
Source by Lily B