Your EU debtor is emptying the accounts before you get paid

The case, in five lines

What is brought

Application for a European Account Preservation Order (EAPO) under Regulation (EU) 655/2014: a protective measure decided without notifying or hearing the debtor (Article 11), together with the account information request of Article 14 when you do not know which bank holds the money.

Before which court

The civil section of the Tribunal de Instancia. The twenty seventh final provision of the Spanish Civil Procedure Act keeps the former name of the single judge courts, but since Organic Act 1/2025 that reference is read as Tribunal de Instancia. If there is no judgment yet, the court of the Member State with jurisdiction on the merits; if there is one, the court of the State that gave it. A refusal is appealed to the Audiencia Provincial within 30 days of being notified to you.

Deadline

The order itself does not lapse, but two clocks run. The claim: an ordinary civil or commercial debt is time barred five years after performance of the obligation can be demanded (Article 1964.2 of the Civil Code). And the order itself when applied for before suing: 30 days from the date the application was lodged, or 14 days from the date the order was issued if that is later, to prove to the same court that proceedings on the merits have been started. If you do not, the order is revoked or lapses of the court's own motion (Article 10).

Who can bring it

The creditor of a monetary claim in civil or commercial matters, with or without a judgment. Excluded are tax, customs and administrative matters, matrimonial property regimes, succession, social security, arbitration and claims against a debtor already in insolvency proceedings (Article 2). If the debtor is a consumer who contracted for a purpose outside their trade or profession, only the courts of their domicile have jurisdiction (Article 6(2)).

Financial risk

If you do not yet hold an enforceable title, the court will require security before issuing the order, and that security answers for the damage the freeze causes the debtor (Articles 12 and 13). If you then fail to sue in time, the law presumes your fault and the debtor can claim the loss without having to argue negligence. The same applies if you freeze too much and do not release the excess. Add the costs of the challenges if the debtor gets the order revoked, and bear in mind that the law governing your liability is that of the State where the account is held, not Spanish law.

What a European preservation order actually freezes

The order does not pay you: it freezes. The bank that receives it complies without delay and preserves the exact amount set out in the order, ensuring it is not transferred or withdrawn from the account, or moving it to a preservation account if its national law allows (Article 24). The balance still belongs to the debtor, but it is out of their reach while you win the case or enforce the one you have already won.

Regulation (EU) 655/2014 presents it as an alternative to national protective measures, not a replacement (Article 1). It can be sought before suing, at any stage of the proceedings until judgment is given, or after obtaining a judgment, court settlement or authentic instrument (Article 5). Once issued, it is recognised and enforceable in the other Member States with no prior declaration of any kind (Article 22).

It works in every EU Member State except Denmark, which is not bound by the Regulation. For a Danish account, or an account outside the EU, a different route is needed, and that is decided before spending a single minute preparing the application.

When your case is cross border and when it only looks like it

Article 3 defines a cross border case in a way that surprises almost everyone: it is cross border when the account to be preserved is held in a Member State other than the State of the court applied to and other than the State of the creditor's domicile. It says nothing about the debtor's domicile.

Read it backwards. If you are a Spanish company, you go to a Spanish court and the account you want to freeze is in Spain, there is no European case however German the debtor is: what fits there is the preventive attachment of the Spanish Civil Procedure Act. And the other way round, if the debtor lives in Spain but holds the account in Luxembourg and you are domiciled in Spain, the European order fits perfectly. What counts is where the money is, not where the person is.

The relevant moment is the date the application is lodged with the competent court (Article 3(2)). A debtor who moves the money afterwards does not defeat the order on this ground, although it will force you to react by other means.

What you have to prove: urgency and a good arguable case

Article 7 requires two things, at two different levels. The first, always: sufficient evidence that there is an urgent need for the measure because there is a real risk that, without it, subsequent enforcement of the claim will be prevented or made substantially more difficult. Saying the debtor does not pay is not enough, you have to show the movement.

The second only if you do not yet hold a judgment, court settlement or authentic instrument: sufficient evidence that your claim is likely to succeed on the merits. It is the usual good arguable case, but drafted for a judge who will decide without hearing the other side and within five or ten working days (Article 18).

The court decides in writing, on the information and evidence you supply with the application (Article 9). It can ask you for further documents, and even hear you or your witnesses by video link. It will not hear the debtor: Article 11 forbids serving the application on them and forbids hearing them before the order is issued. That is the whole advantage of the mechanism, and it is lost entirely if the application arrives weak.

If you do not know which bank holds the money

Article 14 lets you ask the same court to require the information authority of the State where you believe the accounts are held to identify the bank and the account number. The request is made within the application itself, not later, setting out the reasons why you believe the debtor holds an account there. In Spain the information authority is the Subdirección General de Cooperación Jurídica Internacional of the Ministry of Justice, and the twenty seventh final provision of the Spanish Civil Procedure Act allows it to seek the cooperation of public and private bodies holding the data.

The general rule requires you to already hold a judgment, settlement or authentic instrument. There is a useful exception: even if the title is not yet enforceable, the request is available where the amount to be preserved is substantial and you show that obtaining the information is urgent, because without it enforcement of the claim is at risk and your financial position could deteriorate considerably.

The detail that makes this really work: when the information authority obtains the data from a bank or a public register, notice to the debtor that their personal data has been disclosed is deferred for 30 days (Article 14(8)), precisely so that they do not empty the account meanwhile. If the information does not appear and the whole application is therefore dismissed, the court orders the immediate release of any security you had provided.

What the debtor will do the moment they find out

The freeze is notified to them afterwards. The bank issues its declaration on the amounts preserved by the end of the third working day after implementing the order, and at the latest by the eighth working day in exceptional circumstances (Article 25). From then, the order, the application and the documents you filed are served on them by the end of the third working day after that declaration (Article 28).

Their weapons are a closed list. Article 33 lets them ask the court of origin to revoke or modify the order on specific grounds: that the conditions of the Regulation were not met, that they were not served within 14 days of the preservation, that the documents were not in the required language, that the excess preserved was not released, that the debt had already been paid, or that the claim on the merits was dismissed. Article 34 is fought in the State of the account and serves to limit or stop enforcement: exempt amounts, an account outside the scope of the Regulation, a title that lost its enforceability, manifest breach of public policy.

In addition, either party may seek modification or revocation for a change of circumstances (Article 35), and the debtor may release the funds by providing security or an equivalent guarantee for the same amount (Article 38). Challenges are filed on a form, at any time, and are decided without delay and in any event within 21 days of the court receiving all the necessary documents (Article 36). That is why the quality of the initial application matters so much: whatever you fail to document on day one becomes ammunition under Article 33.

European order or Spanish preventive attachment: which suits you

The preventive attachment of Article 727(1) of the Spanish Civil Procedure Act can also be sought before suing and can also be granted without hearing the debtor. The practical difference lies in its reach and in the clock, and it is worth stating plainly.

Reach. The Spanish measure is enforced in Spain. To reach an account in Italy or the Netherlands you would have to rely on Article 35 of the Brussels I bis Regulation and on recognition of the measure, and that is where the problem appears: protective measures granted without the defendant being summoned to appear are not recognised or enforced under that Regulation unless the decision is served on them before enforcement. In other words, exporting it means warning the debtor, which is exactly what you do not want. The European order is enforceable from the outset in the 26 bound Member States, with no such prior warning.

Clock. The Spanish protective measure sought before the claim lapses if the claim is not filed with the same court within twenty days of its adoption (Article 730(2)). The European order gives you 30 days from lodging the application, or 14 from the date the order was issued if that is later (Article 10). Ten extra days do not sound like much until you have to translate documents, quantify interest and wait for a foreign authority to identify a bank.

At Managora we prepare both and choose on the same test: where the money is today and how long it will take to disappear. If the relevant balance is in Spain, the Spanish route is faster. If it is abroad, the European order is the only one that keeps the element of surprise when it crosses the border.

How we run the case, step by step

1. 1

   Quantify the claim down to the last euro

   The order can never be issued for more than the amount you state in the application, and is issued for the amount the evidence establishes (Article 17(4)). You set out principal, interest accrued up to the date of the order and, if you already hold a title, the costs of obtaining it to the extent they were ordered against the debtor (Article 15). Asking for too much is not free: it forces you to release the excess and triggers the presumption of fault.

2. 2

   Document the emptying, not just the non payment

   You gather what shows movement: filed annual accounts with a sharp drop in cash, a change of registered office, a change of bank, asset sales, emails in which the debtor announces a restructuring, partial payments that stop abruptly, changes in the management body. This is the evidence that decides the order and the evidence courts miss when they refuse.

3. 3

   Settle the court before drafting anything

   With no prior judgment, jurisdiction lies with the courts of the State that has jurisdiction on the merits under Brussels I bis: in contractual matters, the place of delivery of the goods or of provision of the services (Article 7(1)). With a judgment or court settlement, the State that gave or approved it. With an authentic instrument, the State where it was drawn up, and in Spain also, at the applicant's choice, the place where it was formalised. If the debtor is a consumer, only their domicile.

4. 4

   File the form and, if needed, request the account information

   The application goes on the form in Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1823, with the particulars of Article 8 and the supporting evidence attached. If the bank is unknown, the Article 14 request is included there. You must declare whether you have applied for or already obtained an equivalent national measure against the same debtor to secure the same claim (Article 16): staying silent opens the door to revocation.

5. 5

   Provide the security and count the working days

   Without an enforceable title, the court will require security unless it exceptionally considers it inappropriate in the circumstances (Article 12). The time limit to decide is ten working days if there is no title and five if there is, counted from when the application was lodged or completed, and five working days from the hearing if the court decides to hold one (Article 18). Once security is provided, it decides without delay.

6. 6

   Sue within the deadline and watch the bank's declaration

   If the order was sought before suing, you must file the claim and prove it to the same court within 30 days of the application, or within 14 of the order being issued if that is later (Article 10). In parallel you review the Article 25 declaration: if too much has been preserved, you request release by the end of the third working day after the day it is received (Article 27).

The law that applies

• Art. 3 Reglamento 655/2014. Defines a cross border case by reference to the location of the account, which must be in a State other than that of the court and of the creditor's domicile, and fixes the date of the application as the relevant moment. 32014R0655
• Art. 5 Reglamento 655/2014. Allows the order to be sought before starting proceedings on the merits, at any stage of them, or after obtaining a judgment, court settlement or authentic instrument. 32014R0655
• Art. 7 Reglamento 655/2014. Requires sufficient evidence of urgent need because of a real risk that enforcement will be prevented or made substantially more difficult and, absent a prior title, that the claim is likely to succeed on the merits. 32014R0655
• Art. 10 Reglamento 655/2014. Requires proceedings on the merits to be started and proved within 30 days of the application or 14 days of the order being issued if that is later, failing which the order is revoked or lapses. 32014R0655
• Art. 11 Reglamento 655/2014. Forbids serving the application on the debtor and forbids hearing them before the order has been issued. 32014R0655
• Arts. 12 y 13 Reglamento 655/2014. Impose security on a creditor who does not yet hold an enforceable title and govern liability for the damage caused, with a presumption of fault if the merits proceedings are not started or the excess preserved is not released. 32014R0655
• Art. 14 Reglamento 655/2014. Allows the information authority of the Member State of enforcement to be asked to identify the bank and the account, and defers for 30 days the notice to the debtor that their personal data was disclosed. 32014R0655
• Art. 18 Reglamento 655/2014. Sets ten working days to decide where the creditor has no title and five where they do, counted from the lodging or completion of the application. 32014R0655
• Art. 21 Reglamento 655/2014. Gives the creditor 30 days from the decision being brought to their notice to appeal a total or partial refusal of the order, and keeps the appeal ex parte where the application was dismissed in full. 32014R0655
• Arts. 33, 34 y 36 Reglamento 655/2014. Set out an exhaustive list of grounds on which the debtor may seek revocation of the order or limitation of its enforcement, and require the challenge to be decided within 21 days of receipt of all the necessary documents. 32014R0655
• Disposición final 27.ª LEC. Adapts the application of Regulation 655/2014 in Spain: territorial jurisdiction to issue and to enforce the order, service on a debtor domiciled in Spain and the powers of the Spanish information authority. BOE-A-2000-323
• Arts. 727.1.ª y 730.2 LEC. Govern preventive attachment of assets as a protective measure and its lapse if the claim is not filed with the same court within twenty days of the measure being adopted. BOE-A-2000-323
• Art. 1964.2 Código Civil. Personal actions with no specific limitation period are time barred five years after performance of the obligation can be demanded. BOE-A-1889-4763
• Arts. 2 y 35 Reglamento Bruselas I bis. Allow national protective measures to be sought even where another State has jurisdiction on the merits, but exclude from recognition those granted without summoning the defendant unless served on them before enforcement. 32012R1215
• Disposición adicional 1.ª LO 1/2025. Provides that references in legislation to the former single judge courts are to be understood as references to the Tribunales de Instancia or to those serving in them. BOE-A-2025-76

Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).

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