Enforceable instrument (eksekutionsgrundlag)
Also known as enforceable instrument, basis for enforcement, enforcement title, eksekutionsgrundlag, fuldbyrdelsesgrundlag, tvangsfuldbyrdelsesgrundlag
An enforceable instrument is the document that gives you the right to go to the bailiff's court — without one, a claim cannot be enforced.
In practice
The enforceable instrument is the key to the bailiff’s court. Without one you can hold the best-documented claim in the world and still be unable to do anything, if the debtor refuses to pay.
There are four routes to one, set out in Retsplejelovens § 478 (the Danish Administration of Justice Act), and they cost wildly different amounts:
- a judgment — the long road, if the claim is disputed
- an endorsed payment order — the fast road for undisputed claims below the statutory amount limit
- a voluntary settlement with an express enforcement clause — the cheapest road, if the debtor is willing to acknowledge the debt
- a promissory note with the same clause
The order is not accidental: the cheapest road is also the one fewest creditors use. Get the debtor to sign a settlement and you skip the court case entirely.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- People assume the invoice is enough. An unpaid invoice is a claim, not an enforceable instrument. The bailiff’s court can do nothing with it.
- The settlement is missing the clause. Without the express provision that the agreement may serve as a basis for enforcement, it is simply an agreement.