Debt recovery can become one of the most complex challenges for professionals, businesses, and private individuals. Often, the real obstacle is not obtaining a payment order or a favorable judgment, but ensuring that such a decision has actual economic value. In some cases, taking timely precautionary measures can be crucial to the successful recovery of a debt.
This is why asset investigations are a strategic and indispensable tool: they allow you to assess whether the debtor possesses attachable assets or sources of income before initiating legal, precautionary, or enforcement proceedings.
When the debtor disappears... but the debt remains.
Debt recovery is often one of the most delicate and complex challenges for professionals, businesses, and private individuals. In many cases, the real obstacle is not so much obtaining a payment order or a favorable judgment, but rather turning that ruling into a concrete and economically valuable result.
This is precisely why asset investigations prove to be a strategic and essential tool. They allow for a preliminary assessment of whether the debtor has assets or income sources that can actually be enforced against, before initiating legal, precautionary, or enforcement actions. These investigations can uncover, for example, the existence of real estate, active bank accounts, registered vehicles, employment income (as an employee or self-employed), shareholdings, or business activity.
Moreover, asset investigations can reveal more complex situations such as protests, ongoing enforcement proceedings, or the existence of insolvency procedures (such as bankruptcy, arrangements with creditors, or court-ordered liquidations)—all factors that significantly impact the feasibility and convenience of debt recovery and may influence the choice of legal strategy, including precautionary measures.
Having access to this information allows for:
- Evaluating the most appropriate legal actions, including precautionary measures, and in some cases requesting the provisional enforcement of the judicial decisions obtained;
- Avoiding useless or unproductive litigation, which would only result in unnecessary costs and delays;
- Planning a targeted and effective enforcement action, by precisely identifying which assets to pursue;
- Exploring out-of-court solutions, such as settlement offers or negotiated agreements, which are often quicker and more advantageous;
- Strengthening the creditor’s bargaining position.
In essence, asset investigations are simple in form but highly effective in practice, enabling the optimization of time, costs, and strategy in debt recovery procedures. Law firms can rely on authorized investigative companies and accredited databases, always in full compliance with current privacy laws and legal access protocols.
This framework is further strengthened by Article 492-bis of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, which allows creditors—holding an enforceable title and formal demand (precetto)—to submit a request directly to the Bailiff (Ufficiale Giudiziario) to carry out telematic searches for attachable assets. The most recent legal reform has streamlined this process by eliminating the need for prior authorization by the President of the Court, except in exceptional cases of urgency.
Nonetheless, every debt recovery case requires a tailored approach. It is essential to conduct a thorough preliminary analysis of the credit and the debtor's profile, to select the most effective investigative tools, and to define the most suitable legal strategy to maximize results while minimizing risks and timelines.
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