Most creditors approach a Montenegrin debtor with one question — how do I sue? — when the statute is organised around a different one: what document am I holding? The Zakon o izvršenju i obezbjeđenju opens two separate doors, gives them different speeds, and attaches a suspension rule that decides, before anything is filed, whether an objection from the debtor stops you for a year or does not stop you at all.
The text read here is the consolidated Act covering Službeni list Crne Gore nos. 036/11, 028/14, 020/15, 022/17, 076/17, 025/19 and 070/26 of 20 May 2026. That last number matters: many freely available copies of this Act still stop at 025/19 and are missing the 2026 amendments entirely.
Door one: an enforcement document
An izvršna isprava is the classical route — a judgment or equivalent. Article 22 sets the test of suitability: the document is fit for enforcement if it states the enforcement creditor and enforcement debtor, and the subject, type, scope and deadline for performance of the obligation. Where no voluntary performance deadline is stated, the enforcement order fixes it.
Article 21 covers settlements: a court settlement, or one concluded in administrative proceedings, is enforceable once the claim under it has fallen due, proved by the settlement record, a public document or a certified document. Article 23 makes a notarial deed enforceable once it has become enforceable under the law governing that act — which is why the notarial route matters when a contract is being drafted, not when it is being breached.
Article 24 deals with a detail creditors routinely lose: if the default interest rate changed after the enforcement document arose, the order can be made for the changed rate on the application of either party; and where costs were awarded, default interest on the awarded costs runs from the date of the enforcement document until collection.
Door two: an authentic document — no judgment required
This is the door most commercial creditors should be looking at. Article 25 allows enforcement for a money claim on the basis of a vjerodostojna isprava, and lists them exhaustively.
| Authentic document | Article 25 item |
|---|---|
| Bill of exchange and cheque | 1 |
| Bond and other serially issued security giving a right to nominal value | 2 |
| Invoice with a delivery note or other written proof the debtor was notified of the obligation | 3 |
| Extracts from business books for utilities, electricity, telephone and similar services | 4 |
| Bank guarantee | 5 |
| Letter of credit | 6 |
| Certified statement authorising the bank to transfer funds from the debtor's account | 7 |
| Interest calculation with evidence of the basis, maturity and amount | 8 |
| Certified interim or final construction situation for works executed | 9 |
| Statement of open items signed and certified by both creditor and debtor | 10 |
Two entries deserve a builder's attention. Item 3 means a properly documented invoice — with a delivery note or other written proof the debtor was notified — is enough to open enforcement without ever obtaining a judgment. Item 9 means a certified interim or final construction situation does the same for executed works, which is the enforcement counterpart of the contract mechanics set out in our construction contract guide.
Article 25 also requires the same suitability particulars as Article 22, and adds a practical condition: where maturity is not apparent from the document itself, enforcement is ordered only if the creditor has submitted written proof that it called on the debtor to perform within a set period.
The rule that decides everything: does an objection stop you?
Here the two doors diverge sharply, and the difference is worth more than any drafting in the underlying contract.
| Question | Enforcement document | Authentic document |
|---|---|---|
| Does the debtor's objection suspend enforcement | No, Art. 49(3) | Yes, Art. 60 |
| Can enforcement run before the order is final | Yes, Art. 61(1) | No, Art. 61(2) |
| Exception | Where the law provides otherwise | Bill of exchange, Art. 60 and Art. 61(2) |
| Grounds for objection | Eleven, listed in Art. 50 | Five, listed in Art. 58 |
| Evidence required with the objection | All grounds and evidence at once, Art. 51 | Specified written proofs, Art. 59 |
| Where a well-evidenced objection leads | Second-instance decision | Conversion into litigation, Art. 60 |
Article 49(3): an objection against an enforcement order based on an enforcement document does not suspend enforcement of the order, unless the law provides otherwise. Article 61(1) completes it: such enforcement is carried out before the order becomes final.
The authentic-document route is the mirror image. The closing paragraph of Article 60 provides that the objection suspends enforcement of the order — except where the order was made on the basis of a bill of exchange. And Article 61(2): enforcement ordered on an authentic document cannot be carried out before the order is final, again except on a bill of exchange.
So the invoice route is cheap and fast to start and stops dead on a one-page objection. That is not a reason to avoid it — most debtors do not object, and an unopposed authentic-document enforcement is the fastest route in the statute. It is a reason to know, before you extend credit, which document you will be holding when it goes wrong.
The bill of exchange is the only authentic document that does not stop
Article 61(3) goes further than removing the suspension. Where enforcement is ordered on a mjenica, the bank is obliged, on the enforcement order, to block the funds in the debtor's account, and to transfer them on the instruction of the javni izvršitelj.
That is a materially different commercial instrument from an invoice, and it is available at the point of contracting rather than at the point of default. Where a Montenegrin counterparty is being given credit, the question of whether the arrangement is supported by a bill of exchange is a question about enforcement speed, not about formality.
What can actually be seized
Article 26 lists the means of enforcement for a money claim: sale of movables; sale of real estate; transfer of a money claim; transfer of a claim for delivery of movables or real estate; monetisation of other property rights; transfer of funds held in a bank account; and sale of shares and sale of stakes (udjeli) in companies.
The last of these is the one creditors overlook when the debtor is a company inside a group: the debtor's shareholding in another company is itself a means of enforcement. Article 26 also sets the limits — objects outside commerce and objects statutorily exempt cannot be seized, and nor can facilities, weapons and equipment intended for the defence and security of the state. Whether something may be seized is assessed by reference to the circumstances at the time the enforcement proposal is filed, unless the Act provides otherwise.
The clocks
The deadlines in this Act are short in both directions, and the debtor's are shortest.
Article 47: an objection against the enforcement order, or against a decision rejecting the enforcement proposal, must be lodged within five days of service. It is filed with the court or the javni izvršitelj that decided the proposal, and the javni izvršitelj must forward the file to the court within five days.
Article 48 puts a clock on the court too: the second-instance council decides within 15 days of receiving the file, and a single judge — deciding objections against a javni izvršitelj's order made on an enforcement document — within eight days.
Article 50 lists the eleven grounds available against an order based on an enforcement document: lack of jurisdiction; the document not being an enforcement document; the decision not being enforceable; the decision having been set aside, annulled or varied; the settlement having been annulled; the deadline or condition not having arrived; enforcement on exempt or restricted assets; the claim having ceased on a fact arising after enforceability, or before it where the debtor could not raise it then; the creditor having deferred performance for a period not yet expired; the enforcement deadline having expired; and the claim or obligation not having passed to the creditor or debtor.
Article 51 is the trap on the debtor's side, and the reason creditors should not assume an objection is a delay tactic that can be improved later: the debtor must state all grounds and attach all evidence with the objection, and after the deadline no new facts or evidence are admissible. Article 52 leaves one exception — the ground that the claim has ceased may be raised late, until enforcement has been carried out, and only on facts arising after the objection deadline.
On the authentic-document side, Article 58 narrows the grounds to five: the document is not authentic in law; the claim did not arise; untrue content was entered; the obligation has not fallen due; or the obligation has been performed or otherwise ceased. Article 59 requires specific written proof — a final court decision or a Central Depository Agency extract where untruth is alleged, the payment order where payment is alleged, or other written documents. Article 59a gives the creditor five days to reply once the objection is served on it.
Article 60 then sets the filter. If the debtor attaches no evidence, or the evidence does not make its allegations probable, the objection is rejected. If it does make them probable, the enforcement order is set aside in the part ordering enforcement and the matter continues as proceedings on an objection against a payment order — that is, it becomes ordinary litigation, with the delay that implies.
One practical detail worth knowing before a field visit is scheduled: under Article 62, enforcement is carried out every day between 08:00 and 21:00, and outside those hours only where there is obvious evasion.
What this page does not cover
Enforcement stops where insolvency begins, and the creditor's position inside a stečaj is a different regime with different rankings and deadlines; that sits in a separate piece, and the off-plan buyer's version of it is already set out in our developer insolvency guide. Recognition of a foreign judgment before you can enforce it here is also a separate question with its own statute. The wider commercial-dispute landscape, including the courts and limitation periods, is covered in our debt collection and enforcement guide, and where the dispute is decided at all is examined in our arbitration or court guide.
Everything above was read in the consolidated text named at the top and checked on 26 August 2026. We have not attributed any specific change to the 070/26 amendment; we have simply read the Act as consolidated to include it.
Before you extend credit to a Montenegrin company
The enforcement question is decided at contract stage, not at default. Will you hold an enforcement document, an authentic document, or a bill of exchange — because those are three different speeds? If the relationship is construction, is the certified situation under Article 25(9) actually being certified as the works proceed? If it is supply, does the invoice carry the delivery note or other written proof of notification that Article 25(3) requires? And has anyone looked at whether the debtor's most valuable asset is a stake in another company, which Article 26 makes a means of enforcement in its own right?
Send us the contract, the invoicing trail and the security package, and we will tell you which door the documents open and how fast it moves. This work sits in our enforcement and insolvency practice, and connects to company formation where the counterparty structure is being set up.
