Fruitless enforcement proceedings | Tereza Veselá

15 August 2025

Enforcement proceedings have been dragging on for years, but without any results? Is it possible to terminate such enforcement and how to avoid it?

  • Since 2023, legal regulations for terminating so-called fruitless enforcement proceedings have been in effect. According to these regulations, enforcement proceedings will be terminated if no partial collection of the obligation has occurred within 6 years of the enforcement duration. The creditor can prevent this termination by expressing disagreement with the termination and depositing an advance payment for enforcement costs into the bailiff's account. However, such extension is only possible once. If no partial collection of the obligation occurs within 12 consecutive years, the fruitless enforcement will be terminated even without the creditor's consent.

  • Exceptions are enforcement proceedings of so-called privileged claims, such as outstanding maintenance, compensation for damages from intentional criminal acts, personal injury, or claims from civil law torts. The collection of these claims cannot be simply terminated. The enforcement court examines whether the enforced claim actually represents one of the above-mentioned exceptions. The proper qualification of these privileged claims has become the subject of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic's decision-making practice, as the legal regulation is not entirely clear in many cases. Currently, the Supreme Court clarified in its judgment dated April 9, 2025, file no. 20 Cdo 3252/2024, for example, the category of claims from civil law torts, concluding that this category also includes claims from torts committed under special legal regulations, provided they are now incorporated into the Civil Code.

  • Enforcement should also not be terminated if such termination would be contrary to good morals. According to current Supreme Court judgments dated February 11, 2025, file no. 20 Cdo 2176/2024 and March 25, 2025, file no. 20 Cdo 398/2025, a conflict with good morals will be established primarily when the debtor demonstrably attempts to divert their assets during enforcement or intentionally avoids securing income.

  • This commentary was prepared for you by our Attorney Tereza Veselá, who works in Partner Robert Němec's team.

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