FAQ

Once you register in the AtgaukSkolą system, we send you a draft legal services agreement. In the system you enter the details of the debt and upload the documents that support it. The system checks the debtor’s details in the State Register Centre registers, calculates the stamp duty payable and prepares the application for a court order or the statement of claim. A Linden lawyer approves the document, and it is filed with the court through the Lithuanian courts’ electronic services system. The system checks the state of the case every day, and we notify you by email of any change in the case. Once the court order or the judgment becomes final, we send you the enforcement document and, if you wish, submit it to the Bailiff Information System. When a court order fits and when a claim is needed is explained in Court order, documentary procedure or claim in Lithuania: which to choose.

Yes. The court order procedure covers creditors’ applications concerning monetary claims (CPK Article 431(1)), and that part sets no minimum amount. If a claim is filed (for example, after the debtor objects), cases for sums not exceeding the amount set in CPK Article 441(1) are heard under the general rules of contentious proceedings with the exceptions set in CPK Article 441: the case is heard in writing, unless at least one party asks for an oral hearing or the court finds one necessary (CPK Article 441(1) and (2)). The court awards the winning party’s litigation costs against the other party (CPK Article 93(1)). More: Small-value debt cases in Lithuanian courts: how a small debt is heard.

Before proceedings are started, Linden checks whether the debtor, an individual or a legal entity, is bankrupt or in bankruptcy proceedings. For an individual, the system checks the Population Register and the Real Property Register: whether the debtor has died or left the country, and whether the debtor owned real estate during the period of the debt. If we find errors or inconsistencies, we tell you before going to court.

A mandatory pre-trial procedure can be set only in the cases provided by law (CPK Article 22(1)). A letter of demand is not among the details that must be stated in an application for a court order (CPK Article 433(1)) or in a statement of claim (CPK Article 135(1)). A letter of demand can still help where the contract sets no payment date: in that case the debtor is in breach from the moment the creditor demanded performance in writing and set a deadline, and the debtor did not perform within it (CK Article 6.63(3)). More: Letter of demand to a debtor in Lithuania: is it required, what it changes.

The general limitation period is ten years (CK Article 1.125(1)), but the law sets shorter periods for particular kinds of claims (CK Article 1.125(2)). For example, claims to recover contractual penalties (fines, late-payment penalties) have a six-month period (CK Article 1.125(5)), and claims to recover interest and other periodic payments have a five-year period (CK Article 1.125(10)). The court applies limitation only if a party to the dispute asks for it (CK Article 1.126(2)), and expiry of the limitation period before the claim is filed is a ground to dismiss the claim (CK Article 1.131(1)). The period is interrupted by filing a claim in the manner set by law and by acts of the debtor showing that the debtor acknowledges the obligation (CK Article 1.130(1) and (2)). A claim the court left unexamined through the claimant’s fault, refused to accept, or that the claimant withdrew does not interrupt the period (CK Article 1.130(4)). More: Debt limitation period in Lithuania: start, interruption, renewal.

Yes, we go to court on your behalf under a legal services agreement: we send you the draft once you register in the system. No minimum monthly number of cases is set, and you pay only for the cases you actually hand over. If you have many debts, you can start with a pilot project in which an agreed number of cases is handled through the automated process.

You provide the debtor’s details, the amount of the debt, the basis of the debt (for example, the contract or invoices) and, if you claim interest or late-payment penalties, their rate and the period. An application for a court order must state the details listed in CPK Article 433(1), including the claim, its factual basis and the evidence that can support the claim (CPK Article 433(1)(6)), but no evidence is attached to the application itself (CPK Article 433(3)). If a statement of claim has to be filed later, documents and other evidence are attached to it (CPK Article 135(2)), so it is worth providing the documents supporting the debt from the start. While preparing the documents, our lawyer may contact you for further information. More: Applying for a court order for payment: which court and what to state.

Yes. Debt data is transferred to the AtgaukSkolą system in a format agreed between us: as an Excel file or directly from your business management system once an integration is set up. Nothing has to be installed in your IT infrastructure. The stamp duty and Linden invoice payments for many cases can be grouped into one SEPA payment file.

Yes. A debtor who misses the deadline for a monetary obligation must pay annual interest of five per cent, and of six per cent where both parties to the contract are businesses or private legal persons, unless the law or the contract sets a different rate (CK Article 6.210(1) and (2)). Commercial contracts between businesses, or between businesses and public bodies, are governed by the Law on the Prevention of Late Payments in Commercial Transactions (MĮSVAĮ Article 1(2)): if the contract sets no interest, the creditor is entitled to interest calculated under that law (MĮSVAĮ Article 3(2)), at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its latest main refinancing operation plus 8 percentage points (MĮSVAĮ Article 2(5)), as in force in the half-year in which the debtor became liable to pay interest (MĮSVAĮ Article 3(2)). Late-payment penalties can be set by law or by contract (CK Article 6.258(1)), and an agreement on contractual penalties must be in writing (CK Article 6.72). In addition, from the day the case is opened in court until the judgment is fully performed, the debtor must pay interest at the statutory rate on the sum awarded (CK Article 6.37(2)). However, compensatory interest and penalties are not both charged for the same period of delay: where both are claimed, only the larger sum, which covers the smaller, is awarded; and unless the contract says penalties run until full performance, from the day the claim is filed penalties are no longer awarded and procedural interest takes their place (Supreme Court of Lithuania, ruling of 8 May 2019 in civil case No e3K-3-110-219/2019, paras 59 and 72). An application is not heard under the court order procedure if the late-payment penalties claimed exceed the late-payment interest rate set in MĮSVAĮ (CPK Article 431(2)(6)). More: Interest and late-payment penalties in Lithuania: what the law allows.

Where the court order procedure fits the debt, we apply to the court for a court order. An application is not heard under the court order procedure, for example, where the debtor lives abroad or the debtor’s residence and place of work are unknown (CPK Article 431(2)(3) and (4)). An action may be initiated in cases where the debtor presents objections to the court order issuance, whether or not they state any grounds (CPK Article 439(2) and (3)), or when Linden’s legal team deems this approach more suitable for a specific debt recovery scenario. At the creditor’s choice, such claims may also be heard under the rules of contentious proceedings or under the documentary procedure (CPK Article 431(4)). More: Documentary procedure in Lithuania: recovering a debt proven by documents.

The law sets deadlines for individual steps, and the court takes measures to prevent the process from being delayed (CPK Article 7(1)). The court decides whether to accept an application for a court order no later than the next working day after it is filed (CPK Article 435(1)), issues the court order no later than the next working day (CPK Article 436(1)), and sends a copy to the debtor no later than the next working day after issuing it (CPK Article 437(1)). The debtor is invited to pay the sums awarded or to object within twenty days of service of the notice (CPK Article 437(2)(1)). If the debtor does not object within that period, the court order becomes final (CPK Article 436(7)), and a final court order is sent to the creditor within three working days (CPK Article 438). The overall duration therefore also depends on when the documents are served on the debtor. After receiving objections, the court informs the creditor within three working days, and the creditor may file a claim within fourteen days of service of that notice (CPK Article 439(3)).

Following our application for a court order on your behalf, the debtor can challenge the debt by filing objections. The debtor does not have to state any grounds for the objections (CPK Article 439(2)). After objections, a claim must be filed with the court and the missing part of the stamp duty paid within fourteen days of service of the court’s notice; otherwise the court order is cancelled and the stamp duty paid is not refunded (CPK Article 439(3) and (6); CPK Article 434(3)). This does not prevent a claim from being filed later under the general procedure (CPK Article 439(6)). If the debtor objects to only part of the claim, the court issues a new court order for the undisputed part and the claim is filed for the rest; if the debtor objects only to the litigation costs, the court decides on the costs by a ruling (CPK Article 439(4)). What happens next depends on the content of the objections:

1. If the debtor’s objections state arguments, this leads to individual discussions with you on the merits of the debtor’s arguments, strategy for court proceedings, and applicable Linden service fees.
2. If the debtor’s objections state no arguments, this prompts Linden to file the claim with the court under contentious proceedings, incurring a fee of 50% of the initial amount paid by the client for preparing procedural documents. Please note that the stamp duty for a court order application is one quarter of the stamp duty for a claim, but not less than the statutory minimum (CPK Article 434(1); CPK Article 80(1)(7)). The stamp duty for a claim under contentious proceedings is therefore four times the stamp duty for the court order application (except where that minimum applies). The stamp duty already paid is credited (CPK Article 434(2)), so we will provide you with the payment details for the missing part.

The debtor’s objections must be filed in writing within twenty days of service on the debtor of the notice that the court order was issued (CPK Article 439(2)). If the debtor filed objections after that period for important reasons, the court may, on the debtor’s request, renew the period (CPK Article 439(2)). If there are no objections within that period, the court order becomes final (CPK Article 436(7)). More: The debtor objected to the court order for payment: what to do next.

Tell us about the payment. If the debtor performs the court order within the period for objections and gives the court written proof of it, the court cancels the court order by a ruling and ends the case (CPK Article 439(7)). If the debtor pays part and objects only to the rest, the court issues a new order for the undisputed part (CPK Article 439(4)). Unless the parties agreed otherwise, the debtor’s payments go first to the creditor’s costs of demanding performance, second to interest, third to contractual penalties and fourth to the principal obligation (CK Article 6.54(1) to (4)). If you settle with the debtor and the court approves the settlement, the court order is cancelled by the same ruling (CPK Article 439(8)).

In the court order procedure, documents are served on the debtor under CPK Articles 123 and 124, but not through a court-appointed representative or by public notice (CPK Article 438). If it turns out that the debtor’s residence and place of work are unknown, the court may cancel the court order and leave the application unexamined only after giving the creditor a deadline to specify the debtor’s residence or to take steps so that the court can serve the documents in another way (CPK Article 431(3)). In that case a Linden lawyer discusses the next steps with you.

Once a court order becomes final, the court order itself is the enforcement document (CPK Article 587, point 2), and the court sends it to the creditor (CPK Article 438). Once a judgment on a claim becomes final, the court issues a writ of execution on our written request (CPK Article 646(1)). We transmit the enforcement document to you. If desired, we can transfer the enforcement document to bailiffs for enforcement. Once the enforcement document is submitted, the Bailiff Information System assigns it to a bailiff (CPK Article 650(3)), who takes enforcement steps, for example restricting the debtor’s use of funds in bank accounts or debiting them (CPK Article 689(2)). You will receive email notifications regarding the assigned bailiff. We recommend that you actively monitor the progress of the judgment’s enforcement by maintaining contact with the bailiff.

Enforcement costs consist of the costs of administering the enforcement case, payments to third parties for their services and the bailiff’s fee (CPK Article 609(1)), and their amounts are set by the Government (CPK Article 609(3)). The creditor pays the costs of administering the enforcement case and, in cases set by the Government, other enforcement costs, and enforcement costs are recovered from the debtor (CPK Article 610(1)). The Government may set exceptions on who pays enforcement costs (CPK Article 610(2)). You can check the possible enforcement costs through the link in the answer on other possible costs. More: Writ of execution in Lithuania: how to obtain it and send it to a bailiff.

Writs of execution issued on court judgments may be submitted for enforcement within five years of the judgment becoming final (CPK Article 606(2)). Submitting the enforcement document for enforcement interrupts the limitation period for submitting it, and where an enforcement document under which nothing or only part was recovered is returned, a new period runs from the day it is returned to the creditor (CPK Article 607(1) and (3)). The limitation period is also interrupted where the debtor partly performs the judgment (CPK Article 607(1)). A final court order is itself the enforcement document (CPK Article 587, point 2), so we recommend submitting it for enforcement as soon as it becomes final. More: Writ of execution in Lithuania: how to obtain it and send it to a bailiff.

We notify you by email of changes in your cases. In the AtgaukSkolą system you see the state of your court cases, their procedural stages and the case documents, so you do not need to log in to the courts’ electronic system. Reports are prepared to your needs, for example a claims administration report with financial information and a case administration report with case stages; they can be exported in XLSX format.

Linden’s invoice for legal representation in debt award and recovery comprises:

1. Preparation and submission of the court order application or statement of claim to the court.
2. Essential checks and extracts from State Register Office records.
3. Case administration throughout the court process until the enforcement document is obtained (assuming no dispute arises over the debt amount). Our Linden legal team diligently monitors the court case daily and makes necessary decisions regarding the debt recovery process in response to case developments. In the event of any court, debtor, or Linden legal action, we promptly notify you via email.
4. Once the court order or the court’s judgment on the debt becomes final, we obtain the enforcement document from the court (a final court order is itself the enforcement document, CPK Article 587, point 2; on a judgment, a writ of execution is issued on written request once the judgment becomes final, CPK Article 646(1)), transmit it to you, and, upon request, input it into the Bailiff Information System. We also follow the enforcement automatically and keep you informed. Please note that the fees indicated on our website do not encompass communication with bailiffs regarding enforced debt recovery actions.

When applying for a court order on your behalf, we must also furnish the court with proof of stamp duty payment. The precise amount of stamp duty can be verified here: stamp duty calculator. The exact figure and payment information will be provided when you submit debt details to the AtgaukSkolą system. Additional expenses may be incurred during proceedings if the debtor disputes the debt amount in court (please refer to the relevant FAQs section). You can find possible enforcement cost details here: https://www.infolex.lt/teise/Default.aspx?Id=32&sid=21.

The court does not reimburse costs itself: it awards the costs of the party in whose favour judgment is given against the other party (CPK Article 93(1)), so if you win, they are awarded against the debtor. If the claim is upheld only in part, costs are awarded in proportion to the part upheld (CPK Article 93(2)). Costs of an advocate or assistant advocate are awarded on a written request filed, together with evidence of the amount, before the end of the hearing on the merits, and no higher than the recommendations approved by the Minister of Justice with the Chairman of the Lithuanian Bar Council (CPK Article 98(1) and (2)); costs of legal services provided by anyone other than an advocate or assistant advocate are not reimbursed (CPK Article 88(3)). If the debt could have been claimed by court order but a claim was filed instead, costs are awarded only on the amount the debtor disputed, unless the debtor’s conduct gave grounds to expect a dispute (CPK Article 434(4)). If the debtor’s dispute is justified and the claim is dismissed, your costs are not awarded, and the debtor’s costs may be awarded against you (CPK Article 93(1)). The court may depart from the cost-allocation rules in CPK Article 93(1) to (3), having regard to whether the parties’ procedural conduct was proper (CPK Article 93(4)).

Yes. A creditor entitled to interest under a commercial contract or under MĮSVAĮ may, without notice, receive from the debtor a fixed sum set by that law (MĮSVAĮ Article 7(1)) and, in addition, claim compensation for all recovery costs above that sum caused by the late payment, including fees for advocates’ services and the costs of recovering losses out of court (MĮSVAĮ Article 7(2)). An advocate’s fees for going to court, including for an application for a court order, are litigation costs and are decided in the case in which they were incurred (Supreme Court of Lithuania, ruling of 29 March 2016 in civil case No 3K-3-174-701/2016). That law applies to commercial contracts between businesses, or between businesses and public bodies (MĮSVAĮ Article 1(2)), and does not apply to transactions with consumers (MĮSVAĮ Article 1(3)(1)). Nor does it apply to payments where bankruptcy or restructuring proceedings have been opened against the debtor or out-of-court bankruptcy proceedings are under way (MĮSVAĮ Article 1(3)(4)). More: Costs in a debt case in Lithuania: what the debtor must pay.

If the debtor is a consumer, the court hearing the case must assess of its own motion whether the terms of the consumer contract are unfair (CK Article 6.228⁴(9)). MĮSVAĮ does not apply to transactions with consumers (MĮSVAĮ Article 1(3)(1)), so the interest rate is set by the contract or by law, and failing that CK Article 6.210(1) applies. When recovering from an individual, enforcement cannot be directed at property the debtor or the debtor’s family needs to live, work in their profession or study (CPK Article 668(1)), and deductions from wages are limited (CPK Article 736(1)). More: Debt recovery from an individual or a company in Lithuania: differences.

An application is not heard under the court order procedure if the debtor lives abroad or the debtor’s registered office is abroad (CPK Article 431(2)(3)), and such claims are not heard under the documentary procedure (CPK Article 424(4)). If the debtor is in another EU Member State other than Denmark, the creditor can use the European order for payment procedure, which is designed to simplify and speed up cross-border cases concerning uncontested pecuniary claims (Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006, Article 1(1)(a), Article 2(3) and Article 3(1)). For a debtor abroad, please contact us. More: Debtor in another EU country: European payment order and other routes.

Once the court ruling opening personal bankruptcy proceedings becomes final, debts may not be recovered from that individual through the courts or in non-contentious (uncontested) recovery (FABĮ Article 6(5)(1)). The creditor then files claims that arose before the bankruptcy was opened with the bankruptcy administrator within the period set by the court, together with the supporting documents (FABĮ Article 23(1)). That is why we check before going to court that the debtor is not bankrupt or in bankruptcy. If a company debtor goes bankrupt or is liquidated, please contact us. How to claim a debt from a company in liquidation is explained in Debtor company in liquidation: how a creditor claims the debt in Lithuania.