Avoiding execution by a debtor-possessor

Entrepreneurs, as creditors, often face the problem of debtors who take actions aimed at hindering or even preventing enforcement. In the vast majority of cases, this concerns situations where the debtor simply owes a certain amount of money and tries to hide their assets in various ways. When the debtor unlawfully obstructs enforcement, the creditor may seek protection of their rights through criminal proceedings. Such actions by the debtor may constitute a criminal offence.

Pursuant to Article 300 § 2 of the Criminal Code, anyone who, in order to thwart the enforcement of a court or other state authority ruling, thwarts or diminishes the satisfaction of their creditor by removing, concealing, disposing of, donates, destroys, actually or apparently encumbers or damages their assets that have been seized or are at risk of seizure, or removes the signs of seizure, shall be subject to imprisonment for a term of between 3 months and 5 years.

In practice, law enforcement authorities and criminal courts do not often deal with this problem, although there are undoubtedly situations where debtors prevent the enforcement of judgments ordering them to return items to their owners.

Possession as a factual state of affairs giving rise to legal consequences of a financial nature also constitutes part of the possessor’s assets. Thus, Article 300 of the Criminal Code also covers the assets possessed by the debtor.

In view of the above, in the situation in question, the creditor may seek to defend his rights through criminal proceedings. The fact that the concealed item is not the property of the debtor does not mean that there are no signs of a prohibited act, because if the item is in the possession of the debtor, it constitutes part of his assets within the meaning of Article 300 § 2 of the Criminal Code.

Full article is available in Polish here.