Seizure: which assets are spared?
Seizure: which assets are spared?
"I've heard that when a home is seized, certain personal items cannot be removed by the Debt Collection Office. Is this true? Is there a law or regulation in Geneva that specifies which ones?"
David, Geneva
The law governing the enforcement of pecuniary debts is governed in full by the Federal Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act (LP). Cantonal law specifies the competent authorities and the procedure to be followed.
The concept of unseizable assets is defined by art. 92 LP. The federal law lists 11 categories of property, including objects reserved for the personal use of the debtor or his family, domestic animals, religious objects and books, tools, appliances, instruments and books used in the exercise of a profession, foodstuffs, soldiers' equipment and weapons, entitlement to life annuities, assistance benefits, capital annuities and compensation, old-age and survivors' insurance annuities and entitlements to pension and vested benefits not yet due.
More specifically, "objects reserved for personal use" include clothing and personal effects, as well as furniture and household utensils essential to the family (such as beds, a cooker or a washing machine). As the list depends on the debtor's situation, the Federal Court has accepted, for example, that a car may exceptionally be an indispensable means of support and therefore exempt from seizure.
It should also be noted that an exception to the non-seizability of these objects exists when their value is disproportionate to that of a simple object that serves the same purpose; however, even in this case, such objects may only be removed if the pursuer makes available replacement objects of the same use or the sum necessary to acquire them. Lastly, objects may not be seized if it can be assumed from the outset that the proceeds of their realisation would exceed the costs by so little that their seizure is not justified.
