Objecting to a Payment Order: Time Limit and Procedure

Author: Att. Ahmet Bertuğ Dönmez Date: 16 October 20262 min read

When enforcement proceedings without a judgment are started against you, the enforcement office sends you a payment order. It gives you a period to pay or object. If you miss it, the proceedings become final and attachment may follow.

Time limit to object: 7 days

In general attachment proceedings, the time limit to object to a payment order is 7 days from its notification (Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004, Art. 62). Proceedings based on bills of exchange, promissory notes and cheques follow different time limits and rules.

How to object

• The objection is made in writing or orally to the enforcement office conducting the proceedings; it can also be made through another enforcement office.
• You may object to all or part of the debt. In a partial objection, the amount you do not accept must be stated clearly.
• If the signature on the document is not yours, the objection to the signature must be stated separately and expressly.
• You are not obliged to give reasons, but reasons stated at this stage matter later.

An objection made in time suspends the proceedings (İİK Art. 66).

What happens after the objection?

A creditor who wishes to continue may choose one of two routes:

• Action for annulment of the objection: filed in the civil courts within one year of notification of the objection (İİK Art. 67).
• Removal of the objection: requested from the enforcement court within six months if the creditor holds the documents listed in İİK Art. 68.

In an action for annulment, if the objection proves unjustified, the court may order the debtor to pay enforcement denial compensation of not less than twenty per cent of the claim (İİK Art. 67/2).

Sources

• Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004, Arts. 62, 66, 67, 68