Frequently Asked Questions

Amendments to Article 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which establish the minimum consumption needs amount (MVPD) to be left in a debtor's account, have applied since 1 July 2022. (For 2026, the minimum consumption needs amount is EUR 468.)

The MVPD does not apply where enforcement is carried out against a debtor's fundsheld by third parties (including cases where deductions from amounts due to the debtor are made by employers, Sodra or other institutions).

Since 1 July 2024, under Article 736 of the Code of Civil Procedure, when a debt is recovered under one or more enforcement documents, 10% is deducted from the part of wages and equivalent payments and benefits that does not exceed the minimum monthly wage (MMA) set by the Government. Where periodic maintenance payments, compensation for personal injury or other damage to health, or compensation for loss of a breadwinner are being recovered, 30% of income is deducted from the part up to the MMA, unless otherwise specified in the writ of execution or provided by law or by the court.

From the part of income exceeding the MMA but not exceeding 2 MMAs, 30% is deducted under one or more enforcement documents. Where periodic maintenance payments, compensation for personal injury or other damage to health, or compensation for loss of a breadwinner are being recovered, 50% is deducted, unless otherwise provided by law or by the court. From the part of income exceeding 2 MMAs, 50% is deducted under one or more enforcement documents, unless otherwise provided by law or by the court.

A debtor who supports family members who are unable to work may make use of the relief provided for in Article 736(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure: a written request may be submitted to the judicial officer, on the basis of which the amount deducted from income exceeding the MMA or from income exceeding 2 MMAs may be reduced by 10% for each dependant. When reducing the amount of deductions, dependants for whose maintenance deductions are already made from the debtor's wages are not taken into account.

Under Article 735 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the amount of deductions from the debtor's wages and other equivalent payments and benefits is calculated on the basis of the amounts accrued for payment to the debtor after taxes (mandatory contributions) have been deducted. In other words, the 10%, 30% or 50% portions of income deducted for debt repayment are calculated on the debtor's income remaining after taxes have been paid.

A final court judgment must be complied with immediately, as soon as possible. If, following a decision by a court or another authority, a person does not voluntarily pay the debt or fulfil another obligation within the time limits laid down by law, the decision may be submitted to a judicial officer for enforcement.

Compulsory enforcement by a judicial officer is a measure of last resort in the enforcement of justice. It is used when a person fails to fulfil an obligation on time and does not make use of the options provided by law to defer payment of the debt or pay it in instalments.

Under Article 606(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, writs of execution issued on the basis of court judgments may be submitted to judicial officers for enforcement within 5 years from the date on which the court judgment becomes final.

Other time limits for submitting enforcement documents for enforcement are laid down in Article 606 of the Code of Civil Procedure: Enforcement documents concerning reinstatement in employment may be submitted for enforcement within one month from the first day following the adoption of the decision; The time limits within which decisions of other officials or authorities may be submitted for enforcement are laid down by the relevant laws;

Where periodic payments are recovered under a court judgment, the enforcement documents remain valid throughout the period for which the payments were awarded, and the time limit laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article begins to run from the due date of each payment.

To ensure that the holder of a frozen account has funds for essential needs, a non-attachable amount (NS) is set in the bank account. This is the portion of the debtor's funds from which debts are not recovered.

Where a person receives no income, the NS corresponds to the minimum consumption needs amount (MVPD) (EUR 450 in 2025). Where a debtor receives wages and/or social-purpose payments (benefits), the NS may be higher: it corresponds to the amount of social-purpose payments received each month or to the portion of the debtor's wages left for living expenses.

NS funds may be withdrawn from ATMs or used to pay for goods and services online.

A judicial officer may set a non-attachable amount higher than the MVPD where the debtor provides information about funds from which recovery is prohibited or restricted (such as various targeted payments, benefits, wages and equivalent income). It is usually sufficient to provide a bank statement for the previous two months showing the amounts and sources of income received. If wages are only expected to be received, a certificate from the employer should be provided to the judicial officer.

It is important to inform the judicial officer about the source of funds received as promptly as possible. This helps avoid situations in which the Information System for Restrictions on Monetary Funds automatically debits all funds under the general procedure and they subsequently have to be refunded.

Important rule: NS funds may be used only within one calendar month. If the full NS amount is not used during the month, the unused portion is allocated to debt repayment in a subsequent month.

Deductions are calculated on net salary. Under Article 735 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the amount of deductions from the debtor's wages and other equivalent payments and benefits is calculated on the basis of the amounts accrued for payment to the debtor after taxes (mandatory contributions) have been deducted.

If the non-taxable income amount (NPD) applies to an employee, deductions for debt repayment are calculated on the amount remaining after the NPD has been applied. If the NPD does not apply, deductions are calculated on the amount remaining after taxes.

Overpayments of Personal Income Tax (GPM) refunded by the State Tax Inspectorate are treated as funds from which debts are recovered under the general procedure. This means that the entire amount of the overpayment may be debited towards repayment of the debt.

Refunded GPM overpayments are not periodically received wages or other income treated as equivalent to wages by law, from which debts are repaid each month by making deductions at the rates specified in Article 736 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Refunded GPM overpayments are also not included in the exhaustive list of monetary amounts exempt from recovery laid down in Article 739 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Under this Article, debts may not be recovered from 11 types of amounts belonging to the debtor:

1. compensation for wear and tear of tools belonging to an employee and other compensation paid where work is performed under conditions differing from normal working conditions;
2.  amounts paid to an employee who is travelling on a business trip, being transferred, taking up employment or being sent to work in another locality;
3. maternity, paternity and childcare benefits;
4. child benefits paid under the Law on Benefits for Children of the Republic of Lithuania;
5. funeral allowance;
6. benefits paid under the Law on Social Assistance Pensions and the Law on Targeted Compensation of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as other targeted social benefits, allowances and compensation paid from the State and municipal budgets as social support for low-income residents;
7. social insurance orphan's pension and social insurance widow's/widower's pension paid under the Law on Social Insurance Pensions of the Republic of Lithuania, State orphan's pension paid under the Law on State Pensions of the Republic of Lithuania, State orphan's pension for officers and servicemen paid under the Law on State Pensions for Officers and Servicemen of the Republic of Lithuania, State orphan's annuity for signatories, and the State orphan's annuity of the President of the Republic;
8. severance payments, except where the recoveries referred to in Article 736(1)(1) of this Code are being enforced; where the debtor is paid a severance payment exceeding one month's average wages, when such recoveries are enforced, deductions are made separately from the amount corresponding to each month's average wages included in the severance payment;
9. funds held in the personal account of a convicted person opened at a custodial institution, up to one half of the amounts specified in Article 38(3) of the Code for the Execution of Sentences of the Republic of Lithuania;
10. the single-person benefit paid under the Law on the Single-Person Benefit of the Republic of Lithuania; 
11. pension assets accumulated in a pension fund and paid out on the grounds specified in Article 4(8)(5) of the Law on Pension Accumulation of the Republic of Lithuania.

Data on enforcement proceedings conducted by all judicial officers in Lithuania are centrally stored in the Judicial Officers' Information System.

Information on whether any debt is being recovered by judicial officers can be obtained by logging in to the Enforcement Proceedings Portal of the Judicial Officers' Information System at www.antstoliai.lt (free of charge), or by sending a signed request by post or by email to dokumentai@antstoliurumai.lt for information about enforcement proceedings being conducted in respect of the applicant. The request must state the applicant's name, surname, personal identification number and contact address.

Information about enforcement proceedings is provided only to the person against whom the proceedings are being conducted or to that person's authorised representative (lawyer, heir, etc.). Information about enforcement proceedings is not provided to spouses, parents of adult children, other family members or acquaintances.

The certificate is prepared no later than within 15 working days after the applicant pays the cost of its preparation into the bank account of the Chamber of Judicial Officers of Lithuania. The request will not be registered or examined if a copy of proof of payment is not enclosed.  

Fee for natural and legal persons: EUR 30.

Payment details:

Chamber of Judicial Officers of Lithuania
Konstitucijos Ave. 15, LT-09319 Vilnius
Account No. LT92 4010 0424 0031 5815
Luminor Bank AB
Bank code 40100
SWIFT AGBLLT2X
Legal entity code 126198978

APPLICATION FORM FOR A CERTIFICATE

Yes. Claims for the recovery of any maintenance arrears are satisfied as first-priority claims, just like claims for the recovery of maintenance.

The Supreme Court of Lithuania has clarified that there is no legal basis for interpreting the concept of maintenance narrowly and linking it only to parents' obligations towards minor children. Therefore, under Article 754(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, all claims for the recovery of maintenance must be treated as first-priority claims, irrespective of the group of persons concerned (minor or adult children, persons with special needs, or others). The priority of recovery is also unaffected by whether maintenance is awarded in periodic payments or as a lump sum.

A narrow interpretation of the above legal provision would be considered contrary to the legislature's aim of protecting a socially sensitive public interest - ensuring a person's right to maintenance. If the claims of adult children for whom recovery of maintenance awarded while they were minors continues were classified only as third-priority claims, the principle of equality before the law would be breached, because their right to maintenance would receive less protection than that of other adults or persons claiming compensation for personal injury or other damage to health, or for loss of a breadwinner.

In the view of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the fact that the creditor - a minor child - has reached the age of majority does not in itself change the legal position of the parent specified in the court judgment when participating in enforcement proceedings intended to implement that judgment. Until the enforcement document has been fully enforced, the proceedings must continue as commenced unless the enforcement procedure or the parties are changed at the child's request, at the request of the parties to the proceedings, or on the judicial officer's own initiative.

No. However, in certain cases an adult child is entitled to apply to the court for an award of maintenance in their own right.

If a court judgment awarded periodic maintenance for a child until the age of majority, maintenance under that judgment is no longer calculated once the child turns 18. The fact that an adult child continues in education does not in itself extend the validity of the earlier court judgment.

Article 3.194(3) of the Civil Code provides that maintenance for a child is normally awarded until the child reaches the age of majority. However, in certain cases adult children are also entitled to maintenance from their parents.

Under Article 3.192¹ of the Civil Code, parents who are able to do so must support their adult children who are studying under a secondary education programme, a formal vocational education and training programme leading to a first qualification, or a full-time higher education programme, are no older than 24, and require financial support. In such a case, the adult child must apply to the court for an award of maintenance in their own right. In each case, the court individually assesses the child's needs, the financial circumstances of the child and the parents, and other relevant circumstances.

What happens to maintenance arrears accrued before the child reaches the age of majority?

Maintenance arrears accrued before the age of 18 do not disappear, but once the child is an adult, they exercise their rights in relation to those arrears in their own right.

While the child is a minor, one of the parents safeguards the child's rights relating to the recovery of maintenance. Once the child reaches the age of majority, the adult child exercises their right to maintenance, including the right to maintenance arrears accrued before reaching the age of majority, in their own right. If one of the parents has already applied to a judicial officer for the recovery of maintenance, once the child reaches the age of majority the judicial officer takes the necessary procedural steps to amend the creditor's details and continues the recovery of the debt.

Yes. A judicial officer must inform the parties to enforcement proceedings about the seizure of property and other procedural actions. However, the debtor is not notified of the seizure in advance, in order to prevent property or funds from being concealed.

The procedure for serving the property seizure act and the inventory of property on the creditor and the debtor is governed by Article 679 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Under the law, the property seizure act and the inventory of property, where one has been drawn up, must be served on the creditor and the debtor against signature. If it is not possible to serve these documents in person, they are sent by registered post.

Under Article 604 of the Code of Civil Procedure, documents sent by registered post to participants in enforcement proceedings are deemed to have been served five days after the date of dispatch (except for a judicial officer's notices requiring compliance with a decision - if such notices cannot be served, they must be published in the local press).

A registered letter is sent to the address specified in the decision of the court or other authority, or to the address at which the creditor's or debtor's place of residence is declared. The parties to the proceedings are responsible for informing the judicial officer of any change of address. The law requires them to notify the judicial officer immediately in writing of any change in their place of residence or registered office. If no notification of such a change is given and the creditor's or debtor's new place of residence or registered office is unknown, notices are sent to the address specified in the enforcement document and are deemed to have been duly served (except for the notices referred to above, which are published in the local press).

Under Article 728 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania, a judicial officer is entitled to seize securities, including shares.

The procedure for the sale of securities is laid down in Articles 729-732 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Securities included in the trading lists of a stock exchange are sold in accordance with the procedure laid down in the rules of the exchange for the sale of blocks of shares. Other securities are sold by auction in accordance with the general procedure.

Yes. If, when a service contract is terminated, the client avoids collecting documents belonging to them, ignores requests to collect them or refuses to sign a document handover and acceptance certificate, a judicial officer may be asked to serve the documents.

At the request of a natural or legal person, a judicial officer may serve on another party a notice, an invitation to collect documents, a formal claim or other documents having legal significance. Service of procedural and other documents by a judicial officer is an effective way of notifying persons who avoid fulfilling their obligations of legally significant events, or of serving documents where it is particularly important that they are delivered at a precisely specified time.

Documents are served at a person's place of residence, workplace or other location. If the addressee cannot be found, the judicial officer may serve the documents on members of the addressee's family, the building administration, the head of the local administrative ward or the administration of the addressee's workplace.