Can a debtor be sent to prison for unpaid debts?

No, the Georgian Constitution prohibits imprisonment simply for failing to pay a civil debt. "Bringing" a debtor means physically escorting them to the execution officer for an interview, not sending them to jail.

What if the debtor is residing abroad?

If the debtor is officially proven to be outside Georgia, local police cannot physically bring them. The enforcement proceedings might be suspended, or the creditor may need to seek enforcement in the foreign jurisdiction.

Who bears the cost of the police search?

Any administrative or logistical costs incurred during the search and bringing of the debtor are added to the enforcement fees and ultimately must be paid by the debtor.

Locating and Bringing the Debtor in Tbilisi, Georgia

Introduction and Service Overview

During enforcement proceedings, there are frequent cases where the debtor deliberately avoids cooperation with the execution officer, goes into hiding, changes their place of residence, and ignores official summonses. In such circumstances, the enforcement process may reach a dead end, as the physical presence of the debtor and their interrogation regarding their financial status are essential for conducting a series of investigative or legal actions. The law grants the creditor and the execution officer a powerful lever—the institution of locating and bringing the debtor. This service entails the execution officer issuing an order to the relevant departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to trace the person's whereabouts and forcibly bring them to the enforcement bureau or a specific site of enforcement action.

Locating and bringing a debtor is a temporary but strict restriction of a person's freedom of movement, which is permissible only in exact cases provided by law and in compliance with the principle of proportionality. It serves to ensure the administration of justice and sends a clear signal that disregarding a court decision will not go unpunished.

What the Locating and Bringing Service Covers

This service encompasses a combination of legal and police measures. It begins when the debtor, despite multiple warnings, fails to appear before the execution officer without a valid reason. The service covers the issuance of a reasoned ruling by the execution officer for the police to locate and forcibly bring the debtor. Based on this ruling, the police are authorized to conduct operational-search activities, interview neighbors and family members, check border crossing histories, and establish the person's actual whereabouts.

Upon finding the individual, the service involves physically escorting them to the enforcement bureau. Once brought on-site, the execution officer is empowered to demand that the debtor fill out a property declaration, provide explanations about hidden assets, or have them attend a specific enforcement action, such as the handover of a child to the other parent. This service is strictly targeted and concludes as soon as the enforcement action is completed, after which the person is released.

Common Practical Scenarios

The mechanism of bringing a debtor is most frequently utilized in sensitive family disputes. For example, when a court has ruled to hand over a minor child to the mother, but the father hides the child and goes into hiding himself. In this scenario, based on the execution officer's ruling, the police begin searching for the father and, upon finding him, forcibly bring him along with the child to enforce the court's decision.

A second common scenario relates to large financial debts. The director of a debtor company or a private individual evades meeting the execution officer to avoid signing an inventory act or disclosing bank account details. By employing the search and bring mechanism, the police compel the individual to appear and legally answer the execution officer's questions, thereby clearing the path for the creditor to recover the debt.