Filing an objection to a payment order
Updated on 11 July 2026
In brief
As soon as you receive a payment order (commandement de payer / Zahlungsbefehl), you have ten days to file an objection (Art. 74 para. 1 SchKG). It is free of charge and requires no justification: orally to the officer who hands you the document, or in writing to the debt-enforcement office (office des poursuites). The objection (opposition) immediately suspends the debt-enforcement proceeding (Art. 78 para. 1 SchKG): the creditor can only continue it by obtaining the clearing of the objection (mainlevée) or by bringing court proceedings (Art. 79 to 84 SchKG). It does not, however, remove the proceeding from the register.
Receiving a payment order is not trivial, but it is not a conviction. If you dispute the debt — in whole or in part — the first thing to do is to file an objection, within a short deadline. Here is how, and what happens next.
The deadline: ten days, not to be missed
You have ten days from the notification of the payment order to file an objection (Art. 74 para. 1 SchKG). This deadline is strict. If you miss it, the debt-enforcement proceeding runs its course and you lose this automatic block; a reinstatement of the deadline (restitution de délai, Art. 33 para. 4 SchKG) is only possible if a non-culpable impediment genuinely prevented you from acting, provided you react within ten days of the end of that impediment.
How to file an objection (free of charge)
The objection is free of charge and requires no reasons. There are two ways to file it: orally, by declaring it immediately to the person who hands you the payment order, or in writing to the debt-enforcement office that issued the document. You do not have to explain why you are disputing. The objection may be total or partial: if you dispute only part of the sum, state precisely the amount you acknowledge, failing which the objection is treated as total.
What the objection changes
The objection immediately suspends the debt-enforcement proceeding (Art. 78 para. 1 SchKG). The creditor cannot continue until they have had your objection "cleared": either by the clearing of the objection (mainlevée) if their claim rests on a court judgment or a signed acknowledgment of debt (Art. 80 to 82 SchKG), or by taking the matter to the judge (Art. 79 SchKG). The burden of acting therefore shifts back to the creditor. Note: the objection does not remove the proceeding from the register; it stays recorded there, with a mention of the objection.
And how to make it invisible to third parties?
Three months after the notification, if you had filed an objection and the creditor has not initiated valid proceedings (clearing of the objection or court action), you can ask the office to stop disclosing the proceeding to third parties: this is non-disclosure to third parties (non-divulgation, Art. 8a para. 3 let. d SchKG). It is often the logical next step after an objection that has gone unanswered.
How much does an objection cost?
Nothing. Filing an objection is free of charge for the debtor.
Do I have to explain why I am disputing?
No. A total objection requires no justification. You will only need to set out your position if the creditor subsequently brings clearing-of-the-objection (mainlevée) proceedings or a court action.
I missed the ten-day deadline, what can I do?
The debt-enforcement proceeding continues. A reinstatement of the deadline (Art. 33 para. 4 SchKG) is only conceivable if a non-culpable impediment prevented you from acting in time, provided you react within ten days of its end. Failing that, the court route remains (Art. 85 / 85a SchKG) if the debt is extinguished or non-existent.