# Introduction
At the end of November 2021, a draft amendment to the Law on Court Costs in Civil Cases was prepared, which reduces the court fee for a lawsuit containing a pauliańska complaint, i.e. a claim under Article 527 of the Civil Code. This is a claim against the debtor and the purchaser (usually of real estate), when a legal act of the debtor (e.g., sale, donation) has wronged the creditor by hiding property from execution. Most often, the debtor makes a donation / sale of property to a relative / related person, preventing the creditor (including the factor) from carrying out execution.
The project has been lying around for quite some time and interestingly enough in the new version of the day 18.08.2023 has been referred to the President for signature, which means that it may enter into force to the extent of our interest from 1.01.2024.
# What is the purpose of the proposed changes
In the justification of the draft one can read that the main purpose of the law is to protect creditors, who quite often in situations of claiming debts using a pauliańska complaint are economically weak entities and the current court fee of up to PLN 200,000 is an unnecessary weakening of their position on the part of the state. The justification should be agreed with.
# What will change
Article 13f has been added to the Law on Court Costs in Civil Cases, according to which, in cases for recognition as ineffective a legal act of a debtor performed to the detriment of creditors, if the creditor's claim against the debtor has been established by a final court decision, a fixed fee of PLN 1,000 will be charged on the value of the subject of the dispute, rather than 5% on the value of the subject of the dispute, as previously.
# What this means for factoring
From the perspective of the factoring industry (especially collection/legal departments), the proposed changes should be viewed positively. Significantly - the standard situation of an aggrieved factor as a creditor just usually includes CPS exceeding PLN 20,000, and very often the creditor already has an enforcement title. Reducing the court fee will encourage factors to actively enforce their creditor rights. Perhaps part of the case will also be pulled "out of the freezer" due to lower litigation costs. By how much can a factor's situation improve? Below is an example of how much the lawsuit fee will drop by.
| Currently | After the amendment comes into force | |
| CPS - 100,000 | PLN 5,000 | PLN 1,000 |
| CPS - 500,000 | PLN 25,000 | PLN 1,000 |
| WPS - 1,000,000 | PLN 50,000 | PLN 1,000 |
As you can see - especially in these large cases - the difference for the creditor can be even dozens of times. As success fees are not uncommon in pauliańska complaint cases, the creditor has a chance to significantly reduce the initial cost of the case at the expense of a later premium.
# Entry into force
The project has been lying around for quite some time and interestingly enough in the new version of the day 18.08.2023 has been referred to the President for signature, which means that it may enter into force to the extent of our interest from 1.01.2024.
