Debt recovery in Georgia — loans, IOUs, enforcement

The limitation period for a claim to repay a loan is 3 years (Civil Code, Article 129) — usually from the day the money was due. So don't wait: once it has passed, the debtor can argue that the claim is time-barred.

The law doesn't always require a loan agreement to be in writing, but in a dispute documents decide: the contract, an IOU, bank transfers, messages. The effective annual interest rate on a loan must not exceed 50% — this applies to every loan, including between private individuals.

Recovering a debt step by step

1. We gather evidence — the contract, IOU, transfers, messages, witnesses.
2. We send the debtor a written demand with a deadline — often this alone is enough.
3. If they don't pay, we file a lawsuit. The court fee is 3% of the amount claimed, but at least 100 GEL.
4. Together with the lawsuit we can ask the court to freeze the debtor's property or account so it isn't disposed of before the case is decided.
5. After the judgment, the National Bureau of Enforcement collects the debt and the debtor is entered into the debtors register.

When you can skip the court

If the loan agreement was certified by a notary and the parties agreed in it to the issue of a writ of execution, once the debt is due the notary issues the writ (Law on Notaries, Article 38) and enforcement starts without a court case. That is why we recommend signing larger loans before a notary.

A claim based on a promissory note can be heard by the court under a simplified procedure — only documents and the parties' explanations are used as evidence.