Payment order and the objection period in enforcement without a judgment

When ordinary enforcement without a judgment is started for a money claim, a payment order is served on the debtor. This note explains what the order contains and within what period, and to which office, an objection is made. Enforcement special to negotiable instruments, bankruptcy proceedings, and eviction through enforcement without a judgment are outside this note.

Summary: Under Article 60 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code No. 2004, the enforcement director issues a payment order if the enforcement request meets the statutory conditions. Under Article 62, the objection is notified to the enforcement office, by petition or orally, within seven days from the date the payment order is served. A timely objection stays the proceedings (Article 66). For periods fixed in days, the first day is not counted (Article 19).

In which proceedings is a payment order issued?

This note covers ordinary enforcement without a judgment for a money claim or an obligation to provide security. Under Article 58, the enforcement request is made to the enforcement office in writing, orally, or electronically. The request states the particulars of the creditor and the debtor, the amount of the claim, the instrument or the cause of the debt, and the enforcement route chosen.

The enforcement director issues a payment order if the request contains the conditions required by the Code. If the request is not accepted, the decision is recorded in the minutes (Article 60).

Under Article 61, the payment order is sent for service within three days at the latest from the enforcement request. Those three days are the office’s time for dispatching the order for service. They are not the debtor’s objection period. If the claim is based on a document, a certified copy is attached to the payment order. Where several debtors are pursued at the same time, a separate payment order is served on each of them, unless all or some of them are represented by the same representative. Periods that the law requires to be added remain reserved.

What does the payment order contain?

Article 60 requires the payment order to contain the following:

• The particulars that Article 58 requires in the enforcement request, except the bank account number of the creditor or the attorney.
• A warning that the debt and the costs be paid within seven days into the enforcement office’s bank account stated on the payment order. If the debt is an obligation to provide security, a warning that the security be shown within the same period.
• If the signature under the instrument on which enforcement is based is not the debtor’s, a separate and express statement of that fact within the same seven days. Otherwise the instrument is deemed to have been issued by the debtor for the purposes of the enforcement. If the signature is denied, the debtor is warned to attend the hearing before the enforcement court; failing that, the objection may be provisionally set aside.
• If there is an objection to all or part of the debt, or to the creditor’s right to pursue enforcement, that objection must also be stated within the same period.
• If neither an objection nor payment is notified, a warning to file a declaration of assets under Article 74 within the same seven days, together with a warning of the consequences of not filing it. The criminal consequence of that warning is not explained in this note.
• A statement that compulsory enforcement will continue if the debt is not paid or no objection is made.

The payment order is drawn up in two copies. One is sent to the debtor and the other is placed in the file. The creditor may also receive a certified copy on request. If the copies differ, the copy held by the debtor prevails.

When does the objection period start?

Under Article 62, the objection is notified to the enforcement office within seven days from the date the payment order is served. Notification may be by petition or oral. The period runs from the date the order is served on the debtor, not from the day the order was drawn up and not from a transaction line that appears in the file.

Under Article 19, the first day is not counted in periods fixed in days. If the last day falls on an official holiday, the period ends on the next day. The period is deemed to end at the closing hour of the last day. This note does not calculate the last calendar day of a particular file.

If the objection is lodged with an enforcement office other than the one conducting the proceedings, that office collects the required fee together with the objection and sends the objection at once to the competent office.

An objection that is not made in time does not mean that the seven days are extended of their own accord. Article 65 allows a debtor who, without fault, could not object in time because of an obstacle to object until realisation is completed, and within three days after the obstacle ends. The enforcement court may stay the proceedings only by a specific order based on the nature of the delay, not of its own motion.

Which date counts as service in electronic notification is explained in How is the date of electronic service in UETS assessed?. How a date on the case screen is compared with the service papers is covered in What should you check if a case file does not appear in UYAP?.

What must an objection state expressly?

• If the objection is to part of the debt, the ground and the amount of that part must be stated expressly. Otherwise the objection is deemed not to have been made (Article 62).
• If the signature under the instrument is denied, that denial must also be stated separately and expressly. Otherwise the signature is deemed accepted for the purposes of the enforcement.
• The debtor or the attorney must give a domestic address for the debtor together with the objection. If the address changes, no new address is given, and the service officer cannot find a new domestic address, service sent to the address in the enforcement request is deemed made on the debtor.
• The debtor who objects is given a document, free of charge, showing that an objection was made.
• The objection is served on the creditor by a memorandum within three days, and the cost is met from the advance paid by the creditor (Articles 59 and 62).

Under Article 63, at the hearing for removal of the objection the debtor cannot change or extend the grounds of objection beyond what appears from the text of the instrument on which the creditor relies.

How does a timely objection affect the proceedings?

Under Article 66, an objection made within the period stays the proceedings. If the objection is out of time, the proceedings continue for the whole claim at the creditor’s request. If the debtor objected only to part of the debt, the proceedings continue for the amount the debtor accepted.

After an objection there are two separate routes. This note does not say which one applies to a particular file:

• Cancellation of the objection: under Article 67, the creditor may, within one year from service of the objection, sue in court to cancel the objection by proving the claim under the general rules. If that period passes, the right to sue for the claim under the general rules remains.
• Removal of the objection: if the proceedings rest on an acknowledgment of debt whose signature is admitted or which is certified by a notary, or on a receipt or document duly issued by a public office or a competent authority, the creditor may request removal of the objection within six months from service of the objection (Article 68). If removal is not requested within that period, a new enforcement without a judgment cannot be brought.

For which proceedings do these seven days not apply?

A payment order is also sent in enforcement by attachment special to negotiable instruments. Under Article 168, that order warns that the debt be paid within ten days, and that an objection or complaint concerning the signature or the debt be notified to the enforcement court within five days. In bankruptcy proceedings based on a negotiable instrument, Article 171 states five days for payment and for the objection. Those periods do not replace the seven days of ordinary enforcement by attachment.

Mandatory mediation in tenancy disputes, and the exception for eviction through enforcement without a judgment, are explained in Mandatory mediation in Turkish tenancy disputes. This page is about the payment order in ordinary enforcement by attachment for a money claim, not about eviction proceedings. The general frame of the same field is on the Enforcement and bankruptcy law page.

The text of the Code can be read in the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code No. 2004 on mevzuat.gov.tr.

This note is general information and is not a legal opinion on a particular person’s circumstances.