French debt recovery · for English speakers in France · France · verified 7 September 2026
Unpaid invoice in France: the 5 steps to get paid, from reminder to payment order
Between professionals in France, an unpaid invoice is recovered in steps: written reminder, formal notice, application for a payment order, service by a judicial officer, enforcement. Late-payment penalties run from the day after the payment date printed on the invoice, with no reminder needed, and a 40 € fixed recovery fee is added to every invoice paid late. This page orders the steps, prices the claim and prepares your formal notice.
Julie by AlphaDeep is a professional-grade AI legal assistant for French law, built for individuals, lawyers, law firms and legal teams, with sourced answers, document and case-file analysis, assisted drafting and team sharing.
AlphaDeep legal editorial teamScope: French law · information, not legal advice
In what order should I act when a French client does not pay?
Five steps, from the cheapest to the most binding. Each one does more than ask for money: it produces the document the next step will demand.
Written, dated reminder
An email or letter restating the invoice number, the missed payment date, the penalty rate and the 40 € fee. Penalties are already running: the reminder does not start them, it records them and fixes a date.
Mise en demeure (formal notice)
A demand precise enough to count under article 1344 of the Civil Code: exact sum, line by line breakdown, deadline, court named. Registered post with acknowledgement of receipt is not required by the text; it proves the date.
Application for an injonction de payer (payment order)
A one sided procedure: the judge decides on the file alone, with no hearing and without the client being heard. The application states the sum, its legal basis and the list of documents attached.
Service of the order
A commissaire de justice (judicial officer, formerly huissier) hands the debtor a certified copy of the application, the schedule of documents and the order carrying the enforcement formula. After three months without service, the order lapses.
Enforcement
If the debtor files no opposition, the order has the effect of a judgment given after full argument and opens seizure. It becomes an enforceable title only once two months have passed since service.
How much can I claim on top of the invoice amount?
The count runs on the sum still due, from the day after the payment date until the day you stop it. The figures are indicative: they exist to write the letter, not to certify a debt.
Indicative late-payment breakdown
Three inputs: the sum still due, the payment date printed on the invoice, and the rate your conditions générales de vente (standard terms) set, or do not.
Enter the amount and the payment date printed on your invoice. The result is an indicative breakdown, stopped on the day you run it, never a certified debt.
- INDICATIVE BREAKDOWN · These are the three lines to put in the formal notice.
- NOT YET OVERDUE · On this date the invoice is not late.
What should my formal notice contain to be worth sending?
The letter has two readers: the client, and the judge who will later read the application. So it must already carry the breakdown the application will repeat.
A neutral skeleton to fill in with your own figures. Brackets mark what comes from your invoice. French courts expect the letter in French.
Objet : mise en demeure de payer la facture n° [number] du [date] Lettre recommandée avec avis de réception [Your company name, address, SIREN] [Client company name, address] À [town], le [date] Madame, Monsieur, Ma facture n° [number] du [date], d’un montant de [amount] €, devait être réglée le [payment date on the invoice]. Aucun paiement ne m’est parvenu à ce jour et mes relances des [dates] sont restées sans réponse. Je vous mets en demeure de me régler, sous [number] jours à compter de la réception de la présente : - principal restant dû : [amount] € - pénalités de retard au taux de [rate] % l’an, du [day after the due date] au [closing date], soit [amount] € (article L441-10 du Code de commerce) - indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement : 40 € (article D441-5 du Code de commerce) Total réclamé : [amount] € Je vous rappelle que les pénalités de retard sont exigibles sans qu’un rappel soit nécessaire et que le non-respect des délais de paiement entre professionnels est passible d’une amende administrative (article L441-16 du Code de commerce). À défaut de règlement dans ce délai, je saisirai le président du [tribunal de commerce ou tribunal judiciaire] de [town] d’une requête en injonction de payer, sans autre avertissement. Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées. [First name, surname, capacity] Pièces jointes : facture n° [number], devis ou bon de commande signé, relances.
How do I track several unpaid invoices across a firm?
How do I track several unpaid invoices across a firm?
Julie Business opens a shared workspace: one file per client, the invoices, the reminders and the delivery receipts in one place, formal notices in a single format and a breakdown recalculated at each closing date. Firms and freelancers chasing several unpaid invoices at once gain the written trail the application will demand, document by document.
Can I charge late-payment penalties if my terms say nothing about them?
Yes. With no agreed rate, the rate is the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus ten percentage points, that is 12.15% a year as at 7 September 2026. Article L441-10 of the Commercial Code sets that default rate and bars any clause going below three times the legal interest rate, that is 8.25% a year for the second half of 2026. A half-year uses the rate in force on 1 January or on 1 July. Penalties are due without any reminder being necessary.
Is the 40 € fee owed per invoice or once for the whole client?
Per invoice. Every invoice paid late carries 40 €, once and not for each day of delay; where your real recovery costs exceed 40 €, you can claim a further sum on evidence. Article D441-5 of the Commercial Code fixes the amount at 40 €. It is owed as of right from the moment of delay, with no prior claim. Ten late invoices therefore carry ten times 40 €, and the only exception is where insolvency proceedings have barred payment on the due date.
Do I have to send a mise en demeure before going to court?
It is a condition neither of the penalties nor of the payment-order application. In practice it fixes a date, states the sum and produces the document the judge will look for in the file. French law leaves the form open: a formal demand, or any act amounting to sufficient notice. Against a debtor who is not acting professionally, the formal notice starts moratory interest at the legal rate without your having to prove any loss (Civil Code, article 1344-1). Registered post is not required; it proves the date.
A debtor is put on notice to pay either by a formal demand or by an act amounting to sufficient notice, or, where the contract so provides, by the sole fact that the obligation has fallen due.Civil Code, article 1344 (translation of the French text on Légifrance)
Can a commissaire de justice recover the money without a judge?
Yes, through the simplified small-debt procedure, but only up to 5,000 € in principal and interest, only with the debtor’s agreement, and never for a debt invoiced between traders. Article L125-1 of the code of civil enforcement procedures expressly excludes debts that were invoiced between commerçants (registered traders). The debtor has one month to agree to take part; that agreement suspends the limitation period and lets the officer issue an enforceable title. The costs of the procedure fall on the creditor alone.
Which French court issues a payment order, and what does it cost?
The one where the debtor lives: the president of the tribunal de commerce (commercial court) if your client is a registered trader, the tribunal judiciaire (civil court) otherwise. Expect 33.47 € at the commercial court, nothing at the civil court. Article 1406 of the code of civil procedure makes these rules a matter of public policy: any contrary jurisdiction clause is treated as unwritten and the judge must raise the point of its own motion. In twelve cities the commercial court has been renamed tribunal des activités économiques since 1 January 2025. No lawyer is required at this stage.
What must the application contain so the judge does not reject it?
The exact sum claimed, a breakdown of the parts making it up, the legal basis of the debt, a schedule of the supporting documents, and those documents attached to the application. Article 1407 of the code of civil procedure adds these to the general requirements of article 57. The judge decides on that file alone: no hearing, no oral explanation. If only part of the application is allowed, you have no appeal; what remains is to leave the order unserved and to sue in the ordinary way.
What happens once the judge has signed the order?
You have three months to have it served by a commissaire de justice, otherwise it lapses. The client then has one month from that service to file an opposition. The service window fell from six months to three for orders made from 1 September 2026 (article 1411 of the code of civil procedure). Where the act was not handed to the debtor in person, an opposition stays admissible until one month after the first act served in person or the first enforcement measure freezing the debtor’s assets.
My client disputes the invoice: is a payment order still the right route?
Not if the dispute is serious: an opposition sends the case straight into a full argument. Aim instead at an interim payment (référé provision), or a claim on the merits if the work itself is in question. The president of the commercial court may award the creditor an interim sum where the existence of the obligation is not seriously open to challenge (article 873 of the code of civil procedure). A signed quote, acceptance without reservation and emails acknowledging the debt are what push a dispute out of the serious category.
How long do I have to chase an unpaid invoice in France?
Five years for obligations arising in the course of trade, unless a shorter special rule applies. Only two years if your client is a consumer rather than a business. Article L110-4 of the Commercial Code sets the five-year period; article L218-2 of the Consumer Code cuts a professional’s action to two years for goods and services supplied to consumers. An old unpaid invoice therefore ages badly: date every reminder and keep every acknowledgement of receipt.
Can I take back goods I delivered and was never paid for?
Only if a retention of title clause was agreed: it suspends the transfer of ownership until full payment. Without one, the goods belong to the client from the sale. Article 2367 of the Civil Code makes the retained ownership an accessory to the debt it secures. The clause must have been agreed no later than delivery and be enforceable against the client; its natural place is in the standard terms and on every invoice.
How do I stop the next invoice from going unpaid?
By putting the payment date, the penalty rate and the 40 € fee on every invoice. Those mentions are compulsory in France and they make the claim immediate. Article L441-9 of the Commercial Code requires them, and article L441-16 punishes failure to respect payment terms with an administrative fine of up to 75,000 € for an individual and two million euros for a company. A deposit and a written contractual deadline are worth more than a reminder. Julie prices and drafts; a lawyer takes over as soon as a serious dispute settles in or the debtor enters insolvency proceedings.
What this page is built on
What should you check before continuing?
Four points before you hand your unpaid invoice to Julie.
Sources. Every answer cites the article of the Commercial Code, the code of civil procedure or the official page it rests on.
Confidentiality. Your invoices and your exchanges with the client serve your file only; they are neither sold nor reused.
Information, not advice. Julie prices, drafts and sorts the exhibits; it does not file the application for you and does not replace a lawyer once the debt is seriously disputed.
Price. 3 free questions at sign-up, +1 per week, no credit card.
A French business client has not paid my 4,800 € invoice with a payment date of 15 June: work out the late-payment penalties and the 40 € recovery fee, then draft the mise en demeure with that breakdown.Julie takes this question with your documents. 3 free questions at sign-up, +1 per week, no credit card.