The nature of the judicial measures available for plaintiffs is to

secure the possible result of the claim. These judicial measures are

known as interim or provisional measures, since they may be requested

when filing the initial claim or as motions during the proceeding. If the

Court decides in favor of the plaintiff, he/she would have an asset, as a

guarantee, to recover whatever the debtor owes him/her. Both our

Costa Rican Civil Procedures Code and our Judicial Collection

Proceeding Law regulate these interim measures.

 

 

Interim measures are usually used to freeze assets; these measures

are the following:

 

1. Annotation of the seizure of property (Anotación del embargo):

The plaintiff requests the annotation of the claim into the asset’s

record and the judge orders the Public Registry to make the

annotation. This annotation is kind of a warning for potential

buyers of the property or vehicle, which are aware that the asset

could be auctioned if the judge decides in favor of the creditor.

With the annotation of the seizure, the creditor will not lose the

right over the debtor’s assets, even if the debtor sells the assets to

a third party.

 

 

2. Seizure of the assets (Ejecución del embargo): The seizing of

property is normally used for movable assets such as

computers, desks, chairs, among others. The seizure is granted

when the debtor does not have properties or vehicles to

guarantee the debt during the proceeding and it is carried out

by a judicial executor. The executor places the assets in the

custody of a third party assigned by the Court, called depositario
judicial.