Setting aside your objection: what is actually at stake
Updated on 5 August 2026
In brief
After your objection, the creditor must go to court to have it set aside. Two regimes exist. Definitive setting aside (Art. 80 SchKG) requires an enforceable judgment or administrative ruling; your only remaining defences are to prove by documents that you paid, that the debt was waived, or that it is time-barred (Art. 81 SchKG). Provisional setting aside (Art. 82 SchKG) rests on a signed acknowledgment of debt; here you need only make your release plausible to defeat it — and if it is granted, you have twenty days to bring an action for a declaration that the debt is not owed (Art. 83 para. 2 SchKG).
Your objection halted the proceeding, and now a court summons arrives: the creditor is applying to have it set aside. It is a short hearing, often without a lawyer, where the issue is not who is right on the merits but whether the creditor holds the right piece of paper.
A case about documents, not about the merits
Setting-aside proceedings are summary proceedings (Art. 251 CPC): the judge does not examine who is right, but whether the creditor produces a sufficient title. No witnesses are heard and no expert reports ordered. It moves fast — often a single hearing — which is why arguments on the merits, however strong, find little room. Knowing which regime you are in determines your entire strategy.
Definitive setting aside: a narrow defence
This applies where the creditor holds an enforceable judgment, a court settlement, or an administrative ruling that has become final — typically a tax assessment or a Serafe ruling. Your defences are then limited by Art. 81 SchKG to three objections, each of which must be proved by documents: you paid after the judgment, the creditor waived the debt, or the claim is time-barred. Challenging the merits of the judgment itself is excluded: that had to be done through the ordinary appeal routes, at the time.
Provisional setting aside: the threshold is low for you
This applies where the creditor produces an acknowledgment of debt signed by you: a loan agreement, a countersigned statement, a letter acknowledging that you owe an amount. The good news is that Art. 82 para. 2 SchKG does not require you to prove your release, only to make it plausible — a markedly gentler standard. Partial receipts, correspondence disputing the amount, or indications of a defect in consent can be enough to have the application dismissed.
If provisional setting aside is granted: act within twenty days
Provisional setting aside is not the end. Art. 83 para. 2 SchKG gives you twenty days from notification to bring an action before the trial court for a declaration that the debt is not owed. That deadline is strict, and the action reverses the roles: it is a real trial, with evidence and witnesses, in which the creditor must establish the claim. Let the twenty days pass without acting and the setting aside becomes definitive, with the proceeding resuming towards seizure.
Do I need a lawyer at the setting-aside hearing?
It is not mandatory and many people attend alone. Since the procedure is purely documentary, what matters is bringing the relevant papers — receipts, correspondence, proof of limitation — rather than oral argument.
What happens if I do not attend?
The judge decides on the file. If the creditor's title is sufficient, the objection will be set aside in your absence and the proceeding will resume.
Does setting aside mean I have to pay?
It removes the procedural obstacle and lets the creditor move towards seizure. If it is provisional, you keep twenty days to bring the action under Art. 83 para. 2 SchKG.