If you received an attachment notice of your due date, please be aware that cannot be fully pledged. On the other hand, it is important to bear in mind that there are ways to resolve the attachment and release its due.
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Liens arise for debts you have and have not paid
If you have a debt that you have not paid, failing to pay an invoice or failing to pay installments on a credit you have contractedthe creditor has a set of mechanisms to receive the amount owed. First, it will try to negotiate a payment method with you, proposing, for example, restructure the debt, giving it a longer term to pay off, or setting a payment plan. If they do not reach an agreement, the creditor can resort to an enforcement process with the court with a view to attachment. However, attachment can also occur due to debts to Finance or Social Security. In this case, it is a tax enforcement process that determines the attachment. Read also: Electricity bill with more than 6 months: Claim, you have the right not to pay
What is an attachment?
An attachment is the Judicial seizure of assets to settle debts to third parties.If you are subject to a lien, a movable or immovable property, a bank account or even the salary, is no longer entitled to them. The pawned goods will serve to pay the amounts owed. Read also: Do you know what the current account between taxpayers and the State is? There’s news
There are rules on the attachment of assets
Not all assets can be pledged. For example, goods that cannot be transferred to third parties, instruments and objects essential for the disabled or for the treatment of patients, work instruments and objects essential for the exercise of the activity or professional training of the executed or essential in the domestic economy, cannot be pawned (article 736 and 737 of the Civil Code) Likewise, the value of the pledged asset must be adequate to the amount owedlimited to the value of the debt and possible execution expenses (Article 735)
Why the attachment of the due date
The attachment of the due date it is the way that enforcement agents use the most as it is the fastest and most efficient way to obtain funds for debt settlement.But if you have a lien on your salary, this does not mean that you are left without the entirety of it. There are limits that have to be met and, in in some cases, the attachment of the salary is not even possible.
Amount pledged is only a part of your salary
As we mentioned, the salarieso cannot be pledged in their entirety. Pursuant to article 738 of the Civil Code only 1/3 of your net income can be pledged. That is, 2/3 of your income is unseizable (but with maximum and minimum limits). The law obliges you to leave the means necessary for their subsistence.
Income encompasses more than salary
You income considered for attachment purposes they include salaries, periodic benefits paid as a result of retirement or any other social benefit, insurance, accident compensation, annuities for life, or benefits of any nature that ensure their subsistence.
All values you receive are considered
In order to calculate the amount on which the attachment will apply, in addition to the base salary, bonuses, salary supplements, exemption from working hours, food allowance as well as holiday and Christmas allowances.
Attachment of maturity on net value
Assuming that you only have income from your salary, take into account that the attachment considers the net value of your income, that is, after deducting the IRS and your Social Security contribution.
There are minimum and maximum values of unseizability
The pledge of your due date cannot leave you with less than the equivalent of the national minimum wage. but not too cannot keep an amount higher than three national minimum wages.Thus, if 2/3 of your salary (the unattachable amount) is less than the minimum wage, that is, 705 euros in 2022, then the amount pledged will be the difference between your salary and 705 euros. 2/3 of your salary exceeds three minimum wages, that is, 2,115 euros, then the amount pledged will be the difference between your salary and 2,115 euros.
Alimony is an exception
If your debt is child support, for example, then the minimum limit of unseizability is not the minimum wage, but the value of the social pension of the non-contributory regime (213.91 euros in 2022).
In what situations can there be no attachment of salary?
In fact, there are situations in which an attachment cannot be made on the salary. It is the case if you only receive the minimum wage, work part-time, are unemployed, insolvent or if you are an emigrant and have no income in Portugal.
How is the salary attached?
Your employer receives from the enforcement agent a notification to deduct from your salary the value pledged and transfer it to a current bank account of this, which in turn will make it reach the creditor.
When pawned, check the value
It must, from now on, find the pledged value. For such: Calculate your net salary;Calculate the attachable amount, to do so, multiply your net salary by 1/3;Subtract from the net salary the attachable value to find out how much you will receive after the attachment; Check that this value meets the unattachment limits , that is, it is equal to or greater than €705 and less than €2,155 (or in other words if it is equal to or greater than one minimum wage and less than three minimum wages).
Practical examples of attachment
In a first case, the Pedro (not his real name) has a net salary of €1,100. The pledgeable value is €1,100 x 1/3 = €366.67. Thus, the amount you would receive would be €1,100-€366.67 = €733.33. As this amount exceeds €705, this will be your salary for the duration of the attachment. In a second example, the Luís (not his real name) has a net salary of €850. The pledgeable value is €850 x 1/3 = €283.33. Thus, the amount you would receive would be €850-€283.33 = €566.67. As this amount is less than €705, only €13833 (€705 – €566.67) can be pledged. Your salary, while the attachment lasts, will be €705.Finally, the Diogo (not his real name) has a net salary of €3,500. The pledgeable value is €3,500 x 1/3 = €1,166.67. Thus, the amount you would receive would be €3,500-€1,166.67 = €2,333.33. As this amount is greater than €2,155, this will be the amount you will receive while the attachment lasts, which in this case will be €1,345. For this calculation, you can use the salary attachment simulator provided by the Specialty College of Enforcement Agents.
What to do to disagree with the attachment of the due date?
If you consider that the attachment is abusive or does not agree with the value has at its disposal some legal mechanisms
Opposition to execution
After being notified of the attachment, has 20 days to file opposition to the execution. It may be based on any reasonable justification, such as having already paid the debt. If you only know that you have been pledged when your salary is reduced, you can simultaneously oppose the pledge.
Opposition to attachment
You can ask for an opposition attachment if this is, in any way, illegal. For example, if it does not comply with the limits of unseizability provided for by law or has a mismatched value to the underlying debt.
Request to reduce the amount of the attachment
In exceptional cases, such as serious family situations, you can ask for the attachment to be reduced to 1/6 of your net salary for a reasonable period, or suspension thereof for a maximum period of one year. It is up to the court to accept this request or not.
When does the attachment end?
Every month the pledged amount will be transferred to the enforcement agent’s account, until full settlement of the debt.
How to avoid attachment
If you received a notice of attachment, you already know that you have to pay the debt. Talk to the foreclosure agent or creditor and come to an agreement for debt settlement. Only in this way will you be able to free yourself from the attachment on your due date. Also read: Certificate of non-debt: What is it for and how to obtain it
A professional writer by day, a tech-nerd by night, with a love for all things money.