Prosecution of partners in a civil partnership

WhenProsecution of partners in a civil partnership a creditor has a civil partnership (SCI, SCP, SCCV, etc...) as its debtor; unlike a limited liability company, for example, it has the possibility of turning directly against the partners of the civil partnership. 

In fact, while the partner of an SA or a SARL is protected by the partnership, the partner of a SCI, a SCP, a SCCV, etc. is liable on his own property for the debts of the civil partnership.

Thus, the creditor of a defaulting civil partnership can seek settlement of his debt from the partners.

Under what conditions? 

Toutefois, chaque associé n’est tenu qu’à proportion de ses parts dans la société civile. Ainsi, un associé détenant 50% du capital d’une SCCV peut  se voir réclamer 50% de la dette de la société due au créancier. En effet, l’article 1857 du code civil est ainsi rédigé : « A l’égard des tiers, les associés répondent indéfiniment des dettes sociales à proportion de leur part dans le capital social à la date de l’exigibilité ou au jour de la cessation des paiements. L’associé qui n’a apporté que son industrie est tenu comme celui dont la participation dans le capital social est la plus faible. »

Civil society has yet to be unsuccessfully pursued.
Indeed, Article 1858 of the Civil Code provides that "creditors can only pursue the payment of debts against a partner after having previously and in vain pursued the legal person. »

Is it necessary, however, to wait until the civil partnership is in judicial liquidation before being able to seek settlement from the partners?
While for a long time the courts have refused to allow proceedings to be brought against the partners of a civil partnership unless it is in judicial liquidation, the Court of Cassation, in a decision of 26 June 2012, clarified this by holding that "the fact that a legal person is not the subject of collective proceedings is not such as to exclude the possibility that the company's assets are insufficient to pay the creditor".

Thus, in order to be able to bring proceedings against the partners, it will be sufficient to justify that the proceedings against the civil society are futile.
Thus, a bailiff should first of all be mandated to initiate proceedings against the civil partnership, and only in the event of failure (unsuccessful seizures-attributions, default notices, etc...) can proceedings be initiated against the partners.

How do you start a lawsuit?

A writ of execution condemning a civil partnership is not directly enforceable against the partners does not constitute a writ of execution against them. However, in view of the writ of execution and the documents of futile proceedings, the court hearing summary proceedings may order the partners to pay a provision up to the amount of their share in the capital of the partnership.

It is only once this interim order has been made that the creditor can then initiate proceedings against the partners.

The special case of an industrial partner

A partner who has contributed only his industry is held as the partner with the lowest equity interest.

This must be taken into account when calculating each partner's contribution.

As an example, in the case of a Professional Civil Partnership (100 shares) comprising three partners, the first of whom is a contributor in industry, the second holds 75 shares and the third 25 shares, the contributor in industry will be required to pay the debts of the company up to 25 shares.
Thus, for a company debt of €20,000, the participation of each of the partners is as follows:
- partner holding 75 shares : (€20,000 / 125) x 75, i.e. €12,000.
- partner holding 25 shares : (20 000 € / 125) x 25 or 4 000 €.
- associate contributor in industry: (20 000 € / 125) x 25 or 4 000 €.

The case of the dissolved civil society

Le 11 juin 2013, la Cour de Cassation a été amené à préciser le sort des poursuites à l’encontre des associés d’une société civile dissoute.
En effet, si l’article 1859 du code civil précise que « toutes les actions exercées contre les associés non liquidateurs ou leurs héritiers et ayants cause se prescrivent par cinq ans à compter de la publication de la dissolution de la société », la Cour de Cassation a opéré une distinction entre les actions exercées dans le bt de recouvrer une dette de la société dissoute et celles exercées pour obtenir le recouvrement d’une dette d’un associé envers la société dissoute.

Thus, in this case the partner of a dissolved civil partnership owed a sum of money to the said partnership. In order to avoid payment, he invoked the five-year limitation period set out in article 1859, cited above.
The Court of Cassation did not agree, holding that the five-year limitation period of Article 1859 only applies to actions for recovery from a shareholder of a debt contracted by a dissolved company.