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Decree-Law No. 38 of 1980
Promulgating the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law
Articles of Promulgation
Article One
The provisions of the attached Civil and Commercial Procedure Law shall be applied.
Article Two
Decree-Law No. 6 of 1960 Promulgating the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law and the decisions issued in implementation thereof are hereby repealed, as are Part One of Law No. 5 of 1961 Regulating Legal Relations Involving a Foreign Element and Part One of Law No. 40 of 1972 on Cases of Appeal in Cassation and its Procedures. The Decree issued on 28 Dhu al-Hijjah 1384 AH, corresponding to 29 April 1965 AD, on the Procedures to be Followed before the Summary Courts is likewise repealed, as is every other provision that conflicts with the provisions of this Law.
Article Three
The courts shall, without fees and of their own motion, refer the actions pending before them that have become within the jurisdiction of other courts under the provisions of this Law, in the state in which they stand. Where one of the parties is absent, the court registry shall serve the referral order on him, summoning him to appear within the ordinary time limits before the court to which the action has been referred.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to actions in which part of the merits has been decided, actions in which a partial judgment disposing of part of the proceedings has been rendered, or actions in which a decision has been made to adjourn them for the pronouncement of judgment, even if the parties have been permitted to submit memoranda.
Article Four
Enforcement proceedings against real property shall continue in accordance with the provisions in force before this Law came into force where a judgment awarding the auction has been rendered in them under those provisions.
Article Five
This Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into force as of 1 November 1980.
Civil and Commercial Procedure Law
General Provisions
Application of the Law in Time
Article 1
Procedural laws shall apply to actions not yet decided and to procedural steps not yet completed before the date on which they come into force, with the exception of:
(a) Provisions amending jurisdiction, where they come into force after the closing of pleadings in the action.
(b) Provisions amending time limits, where the time limit began before the date on which they come into force.
(c) Provisions governing the means of challenge in respect of judgments issued before the date on which they come into force, where such provisions abolish or create any such means.
Every procedural step validly completed under a law in force shall remain valid unless otherwise provided.
Newly introduced time limits for forfeiture or other newly introduced procedural time limits shall run only from the date on which the provision introducing them comes into force.
Interest in the Action
Article 2
No claim or plea shall be admissible unless the person making it has an existing interest therein recognised by law. However, a potential interest shall suffice where the purpose of the claim is to take precautions against imminent harm or to secure a right whose evidence is feared to be lost when it is disputed.
No Combination of an Action on the Right and a Possessory Action
Article 3
The plaintiff in a possessory action may not combine it with a claim to the right, failing which his claim to possession shall lapse.
The defendant may not resist the possessory action by relying on the right. His action on the right shall not be admissible before the possessory action has been decided and the judgment issued therein has been enforced, unless he has actually relinquished possession to the opposing party.
Likewise, judgment in the possessory action may not be based on the existence or non-existence of the right.
Service
Article 4
Where the law prescribes a mandatory time limit for taking a step that is effected by service, the time limit shall not be deemed to have been observed unless service is effected within it.
Article 5
Unless the law provides otherwise, all service shall be effected by process servers or enforcement officers.
The document of service shall be drawn up by the party requesting service, or on the basis of his particulars by the case officer, and the parties or their representatives shall provide every possible assistance to complete service.
Subject to Article (10) of this Law, service shall be effected by email or by any modern electronic means of communication capable of storage and retrieval as specified by a resolution of the Minister of Justice.
This shall apply to personal status disputes and family disputes.
Where service by email or by any modern electronic means of communication cannot be effected, the court may, of its own motion or at the request of any of the parties, authorise service by the ordinary method.
The Minister of Justice shall, in coordination with the Public Authority for Civil Information or any other competent body, issue a resolution setting out the conditions and rules governing the procedures for service, its receipt and its electronic signature, the approved websites, the body accrediting the signature or other electronic data, the certification certificates it issues and the licence required therefor in such cases.
The electronic signature in respect of service shall have the effect prescribed for signatures in this Law and in the Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Matters, provided that its creation complies with the technical and technological conditions and rules that ensure confidence in the various means, the integrity of the authenticated information and the possibility of preserving the signed electronic instrument in accordance with the conditions of its integrity, and with the other technical rules laid down by the aforementioned resolution of the Minister of Justice.
Entities, companies, establishments and individuals shall provide the Public Authority for Civil Information with their mobile telephone contact details, email address or any approved means of electronic communication, and the latest update of such data shall be relied upon.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 6
No service or enforcement may be carried out before seven o’clock in the morning or after seven o’clock in the evening or on official holidays, except in cases of necessity and with the written permission of the judge of interim matters or the Director of the Enforcement Department. Any breach of the provisions of this Article shall entail nullity.
Article 7
If the person effecting service sees grounds for refusing to effect service, he shall immediately refer the matter to the judge of interim matters or the Director of the Enforcement Department, as the case may be, who shall order, after hearing the party requesting service, that the document be served, that it not be served, or that such changes as he deems fit be made thereto, and his order in this respect shall be final, unless the order is for non-service, in which case the requesting party may file a grievance against it with the Court of First Instance in chambers, which shall finally decide the grievance after hearing the person effecting service and the requesting party.
Article 8
Every document of service shall contain the following particulars, failing which it shall be null and void:
(a) The day, month, year and hour at which service was effected.
(b) The full name, occupation or post, and domicile or chosen domicile of the party requesting service, the email address or electronic means of communication used in the service, and the full name, occupation or post, and domicile of his representative if he is acting for another.
(c) The full name, occupation or post, domicile, place of work and email address of the person to be served; if his domicile or place of work is not known at the time of service, his last domicile, place of residence or place of work in Kuwait or abroad.
(d) The full name and post of the person effecting service, the entity to which he belongs, and his signature on both the original and the copy.
(e) The subject of the service.
(f) If the service is paper-based, the full name of the person to whom it was delivered and his signature on the original acknowledging receipt.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 9
Except for service by modern electronic means of communication, the copy of the document of service shall be delivered to the person to be served himself, or at his domicile or place of work, and it may be delivered at the chosen domicile in the cases specified by law.
The copy of the document of service shall be delivered to the person to be served in person wherever he may be found.
If the person effecting service does not find the person to be served at his domicile, he shall deliver the copy there to whoever states that he is his agent, that he works in his service, or that he is one of those residing with him, being a spouse, relative or relative by marriage. If he does not find the person to be served at his place of work, he shall deliver the copy there to whoever states that he is one of those in charge of the management of that place or one of those working there. In all cases, the copy of the document of service shall be delivered only to a person who appears to have attained fifteen years of age and where neither he nor his representative has an apparent interest conflicting with that of the person to be served.
If the person effecting service does not find anyone to whom the copy may validly be delivered in accordance with the preceding paragraphs, or if any of the persons mentioned therein whom he finds refuses to sign the original acknowledging receipt or to receive the copy, he shall deliver it on the same day to the officer in charge of the police station, or his deputy, within whose district the domicile or place of work of the person to be served is located, as the case may be. He shall also, within twenty-four hours of delivering the copy to the police station, send to the person to be served at his domicile, place of work or chosen domicile a registered letter by post, or any other postal correspondence whose delivery can be proved, enclosing the copy with either of them and notifying him that the copy has been delivered to the police station.
He shall state at the time, in the original and the copy of the document of service, all the steps he has taken to effect service.
Any breach of the provisions of this Article shall entail nullity.
* The first paragraph was amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 10
Except as provided in special laws, service shall be sent as follows, failing which the service shall be null and void:
(a) In respect of the State, service shall be sent to the Ministers, the directors of the competent departments and the Governors, or to their deputies, except for statements of claim, statements of appeal, all documents of the proceedings in the action or appeal, and judgments, service of which shall be sent to the Fatwa and Legislation Department.
(b) In respect of public legal persons, service shall be sent to their legal representative or his deputy; however, service of statements of claim, statements of appeal, all documents of the proceedings in the action or appeal, and judgments shall be sent to the Fatwa and Legislation Department, except for those relating to the Municipality, service of which shall be sent to its Legal Department, unless the special law of any such person provides otherwise. Where service under clauses (a) and (b) is sent to the Fatwa and Legislation Department, it may be delivered to whomever the President of the Fatwa and Legislation Department delegates at the courts for this purpose.
(c) In respect of prisoners, service shall be sent to the prison director or his deputy.
(d) In respect of seamen on merchant vessels, or persons working on them, the copy of the document of service shall, if the vessel is anchored in a Kuwaiti port, be delivered to the master or to the ship’s agent.
(e) In respect of companies, associations and other private legal persons, where service by email or by any modern electronic means of communication cannot be effected, the copy of the document of service may, with the court’s permission, be delivered to their legal representative, one of those in charge of their management or one of the general partners, or to the deputy of any of them. If the person to be served is not present, the copy shall be delivered to whoever states that he is one of those working at the head office, and if they have no head office, the copy shall be delivered to one of the aforementioned persons in person, at his place of work or at his original or chosen domicile, and the provisions of Article (9) of this Law shall apply to service in this case.
(f) In respect of members of the Army, the Police or the National Guard, whether officers, non-commissioned officers or other ranks, service shall be sent to the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior or the National Guard, as the case may be, where service is requested at their place of work.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 11
A person residing outside the State of Kuwait may validly be served at his email address or by any modern electronic means of communication known to the party requesting service; otherwise, he shall be served at his known domicile abroad, and the documents of service shall be delivered to the Public Prosecution, which shall send them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for delivery through diplomatic channels.
Service shall take effect upon the copy reaching the person served; however, the time limit shall be deemed to have been observed from the time the documents are delivered to the Public Prosecution.
If the domicile or place of work of the person to be served is not known, the copy of the document shall be delivered to the Public Prosecution.
Any breach of the provisions of this Article shall entail nullity.
* The first paragraph was amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Domicile and Place of Work
Article 12
Electronic service shall take effect from the time it is established that the person served has received the service from the competent body charged with effecting it, which may subsequently be retrieved from that body. Data issued by electronic systems shall be deemed equivalent to the original in cases where the law requires a step to be taken on the original document, and the absence of the recipient’s signature thereon shall not entail nullity. Paper-based service shall take effect from the time the copy is delivered to the person served, or from the time he refuses to receive it or to sign the original acknowledging its receipt, provided that the procedures set out in the fourth paragraph of Article (9) have been followed.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 13
Domicile is the place where a person habitually resides. Place of work is the place where a person carries on a trade or craft or manages his property and, in respect of a public employee or worker, it is the place where he habitually performs his work.
A person may have more than one domicile or more than one place of work at the same time, and where there are several, they shall all be of equal standing.
Article 14
The domicile of a minor, an interdicted person, a missing person or an absent person is the domicile of his legal representative.
The domicile of a legal person is the place where its head office is located; however, the place where one of its branches is located may be deemed its domicile in respect of matters falling within that branch’s activity, and in the case of a legal person whose principal office is abroad and which carries on activity in Kuwait, the place where its local management is located shall be deemed its domicile in respect of that activity.
* The second paragraph was amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 15
A chosen domicile may be adopted for the performance of a specific legal act. It shall be the domicile for everything relating to that act, unless it is expressly stipulated that it is restricted to certain acts to the exclusion of others.
The existence of a chosen domicile may be proved only in writing.
Article 16
Where the law requires a party to designate his original domicile, place of work or a chosen domicile and he fails to do so, or his statement thereof is incomplete or incorrect such that he cannot be served, he may be served at the court registry with all documents that could validly have been served on him at his original domicile, place of work or chosen domicile.
If, after the commencement of the proceedings, a party cancels or changes his original or chosen domicile or his place of work without serving notice thereof on the opposing party, service on him at the former domicile or place of work shall be valid, and the copy shall, where necessary, be delivered to the administrative authority in accordance with Article (9).
Computation of Time Limits
Article 17
Where a time limit is expressed in days, months or years, the day of service, or the day on which the event that the law regards as setting the time limit running occurred, shall not be counted, and the time limit shall expire at the end of its last day if the step is required to be taken within it; but where the time limit is one that is required to expire before the step is taken, the step may not be taken until after the end of the last day of the time limit.
Where the time limit is expressed in hours, the hour at which it begins and the hour at which it ends shall be computed in the manner set out above.
Time limits expressed in months or years shall be computed according to the Gregorian calendar unless the law provides otherwise.
If the last day of the time limit falls on an official holiday, it shall be extended to the first working day thereafter.
Article 17 bis
In cases where the Council of Ministers decides to suspend or halt work in the public utilities of the State to protect security, public peace or public health, as required by the supreme interest of the country, the period of suspension or halt shall not be counted within the procedural time limits prescribed in this Law, the Criminal Procedures and Trials Law and the Law on Cases of Appeal in Cassation and its Procedures, provided that their computation shall resume from the day designated by the Council of Ministers for the return to work.
* Added by Law No. 5 of 2020.
Distance Period
Article 18
Where the law prescribes a time limit for appearance or for taking a step, a distance period of sixty days shall be added for a person whose domicile is outside the State of Kuwait.
This time limit may be reduced by order of the judge of interim matters according to the circumstances, and such order shall be served together with the document.
This time limit shall not apply to a person who is served in person in Kuwait while he is present there.
Nullity
Article 19
A procedural step shall be null and void if the law so provides, or if it is tainted by a material defect that has caused harm to the party.
Nullity shall not be adjudged, even though provided for, if the step has caused no harm to the party.
Article 20
Nullity may be invoked only by the party in whose interest it was prescribed, and nullity may not be invoked by the party who caused it, all of the foregoing except in cases where the nullity relates to public order.
Nullity shall cease if the party in whose interest it was prescribed waives it, expressly or impliedly, except in cases where it relates to public order.
Judge of Interim Matters
Article 21
A null procedural step may be corrected even after nullity has been invoked, provided that this is done within the time limit prescribed by law for taking the step. The step shall be effective only from the date of its correction.
Article 22
The judge of interim matters in the Court of First Instance is the president of the court, his deputy, or whichever of its judges is delegated for that purpose. In the Summary Court, it is its judge.
Article 22 bis
Repealed.
* Repealed by Law No. 10 of 1996.
Book Two – Litigation before the Courts
Part One – Jurisdiction and Valuation of the Action
Chapter One – International Jurisdiction of the Courts
Article 23
Kuwaiti courts shall have jurisdiction to hear actions brought against a Kuwaiti national and actions brought against a foreigner who has a domicile or place of residence in Kuwait, all of the foregoing except for real property actions relating to immovable property located abroad.
Article 24
Kuwaiti courts shall have jurisdiction to hear actions brought against a foreigner who has no domicile or place of residence in Kuwait in the following cases:
(a) If he has a chosen domicile in Kuwait.
(b) If the action relates to immovable or movable property located in Kuwait, or relates to an obligation that arose, was performed or was required to be performed there, or relates to a bankruptcy declared there.
(c) If the action is an objection to a marriage contract and the contract is intended to be concluded before a Kuwaiti notary.
(d) If the action relates to a claim for dissolution of marriage, judicial divorce or separation and is brought by a wife who lost Kuwaiti nationality by marriage, where she has a domicile in Kuwait, or if the action is brought by a wife who has a domicile in Kuwait against her husband who had a domicile there, where the husband has deserted his wife and established his domicile abroad after the ground for dissolution, judicial divorce or separation arose, or has been deported from Kuwait.
(e) If the action relates to a claim for maintenance for a mother or a wife, where they have a domicile in Kuwait, or for a child residing there.
(f) If the action concerns the parentage of a child residing in Kuwait, or the deprivation, restriction, suspension or restoration of guardianship over his person.
(g) If the action relates to a personal status matter and the plaintiff is a Kuwaiti national or a foreigner who has a domicile in Kuwait, where the defendant has no known domicile abroad, or where Kuwaiti law is applicable to the action.
(h) If the action relates to a matter of guardianship over property, where the minor or the person sought to be interdicted has a domicile or place of residence in Kuwait, or where the last domicile or place of residence of the absent person was there.
(i) If one of the co-defendants is a Kuwaiti national, or a foreigner who has a domicile, place of residence or chosen domicile in Kuwait.
Article 25
Kuwaiti courts shall have jurisdiction over matters of inheritance and actions relating to the estate in the following cases:
(a) If the succession was opened in Kuwait.
(b) If the deceased was a Kuwaiti national.
(c) If all or part of the estate property is in Kuwait, all or some of the heirs are Kuwaiti nationals, and the court of the place where the succession was opened lacks jurisdiction under its own law.
Article 26
Kuwaiti courts shall have jurisdiction to decide an action even if it does not fall within their jurisdiction under the preceding Articles, if the party accepts their jurisdiction expressly or impliedly.
Article 27
Where an action falling within their jurisdiction is brought before the Kuwaiti courts, they shall also have jurisdiction to decide preliminary questions and incidental claims to the original action, and any claim connected with that action which the proper administration of justice requires to be heard together with it.
Kuwaiti courts shall also have jurisdiction to order interim and precautionary measures to be enforced in Kuwait, even if they lack jurisdiction over the original action.
They shall also have jurisdiction over compulsory enforcement measures taken in Kuwait and over disputes relating thereto.
Article 28
If the defendant does not appear and the Kuwaiti courts lack jurisdiction to hear the action under the preceding Articles, the court shall, of its own motion, rule that it lacks jurisdiction.
Chapter Two – Subject-Matter Jurisdiction
Article 29
The Summary Court shall have jurisdiction to rule at first instance in civil and commercial actions whose value does not exceed five thousand dinars, and its judgment shall be final if the value of the action does not exceed two thousand dinars.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025.
Article 30
The Summary Court shall not have jurisdiction to rule on an incidental claim or a claim connected with the original claim if, by reason of its value or nature, it does not fall within its jurisdiction.
If such a claim is brought before it, it may rule on the original claim alone if this does not prejudice the proper administration of justice; otherwise, it shall, of its own motion, rule to refer the original action and the incidental or connected claim, in their current state, to the Court of First Instance, and the referral judgment shall not be subject to challenge.
However, if the subject of the incidental claim is compensation for bringing the original action or for the manner of conduct therein, the Summary Court shall have jurisdiction whatever the amount of compensation claimed.
Article 31
A judge of the level of the Summary Court shall be delegated at the seat of the Court of First Instance to rule provisionally, and without prejudice to the substance of the right, in the following matters:
(a) Summary matters at risk from the passage of time.
(b) Interim enforcement disputes.
However, this shall not preclude the court hearing the merits from also having jurisdiction over these matters if they are brought before it incidentally.
In case of necessity, the parties may be summoned to appear before the judge of summary matters at his home. The means by which the person bringing the action communicates with the clerk and the judge in this case shall be regulated by a resolution of the Minister of Justice upon the proposal of the President of the Court of First Instance.
Article 32
The summary judiciary shall have jurisdiction to order the imposition of judicial custodianship over movable or immovable property, or a body of property, in respect of which a dispute has arisen or the right to which is not established, if the person having an interest in the property has reasonable grounds to fear imminent danger from leaving the property in the hands of its possessor.
The custodian shall be appointed by agreement of all the persons concerned. If they do not agree, the judge shall appoint him. The custodian may be selected from among the custodians entered in the “Register of Judicial Custodians”, the organisation of which and the conditions for entry therein shall be governed by a resolution of the Minister of Justice.
Custodianship shall end by agreement of all the persons concerned or by a court judgment.
Article 33
If the judgment ordering custodianship is silent as to the custodian’s obligations, rights and powers, the following provisions shall apply:
(a) The custodian shall undertake the preservation and management of the property and its return, together with the revenue collected, to the person whose right thereto is established. He shall exercise the care of an ordinary person in preserving and managing the property. He may not, directly or indirectly, substitute for himself any of the persons concerned in the performance of all or part of his task without the consent of the others.
(b) The custodian may not, other than in acts of management, dispose of the property except with the consent of all the persons concerned or with the authorisation of the court.
(c) The custodian may receive remuneration unless he has waived it.
(d) The custodian shall submit to the persons concerned an account of what he has received and spent, supported by the documents evidencing the same.
(e) Upon the end of the custodianship, the custodian shall promptly return the thing entrusted to his custody to whomever the persons concerned choose or the judge appoints.
Article 34
The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to rule at first instance in civil and commercial actions that do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Summary Court, unless the law provides otherwise. Its judgment shall be final if the value of the action does not exceed five thousand dinars.
It shall also have jurisdiction to rule at first instance in all disputes relating to personal status, namely marriage, divorce, parentage, maintenance prescribed by Sharia, guardianship over property and person, tutelage, curatorship, interdiction, absence, declaration of a missing person as dead, inheritance, wills, waqf and other personal status matters, unless the law provides otherwise. Its judgment shall be final in matters of inheritance, wills, waqf and dowry if the value of the action does not exceed five thousand dinars.
It shall likewise have jurisdiction to rule on appeals brought before it against judgments issued at first instance by the Summary Court or by the judge of summary matters.
* Amended by Law No. 42 of 1987.
Article 35
The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to rule on an incidental claim or a claim connected with the original claim, whatever its value or nature.
Article 36
The High Court of Appeal shall have jurisdiction to rule on appeals brought before it against judgments issued at first instance by the Court of First Instance.
Chapter Three – Valuation of the Action
Article 37
The value of the action shall be assessed as at the day on which it is brought. In all cases, the valuation shall be based on the final claims of the parties.
Article 38
The valuation of the action shall include damages, revenue, costs and other ancillary amounts of determined value that are due on the day the action is brought. However, in all cases, regard shall be had to the value of the building or plantings if their removal is sought.
Amounts falling due under continuing contracts after the action is brought shall not be included in the valuation.
Article 39
Actions relating to ownership of immovable property shall be valued at the value of the immovable property; actions concerning a right of usufruct or bare ownership shall be valued at half the value of the immovable property; and actions concerning a right of easement shall be valued at one quarter of the value of the immovable property encumbered by the right. Possessory actions shall be valued at the value of the right to which the possession relates.
Actions relating to movable property shall be valued at its value.
Article 40
Where the action is for the validity, annulment or rescission of a contract, it shall be valued at the value of the subject matter of the contract, and in respect of exchange contracts, the action shall be valued at the value of the greater of the two considerations.
Where the action is for the validity, annulment, rescission or termination of a continuing contract, the valuation shall be based on the total monetary consideration for the entire term of the contract; if the said contract has been partly performed, the action for its rescission shall be valued on the basis of the remaining term.
Where the action is for the eviction from or delivery of immovable property, the valuation shall be in accordance with the rules set out in the preceding paragraph, and an action for the extension of the contract shall be valued on the basis of the monetary consideration for the period to which the extension of the contract is disputed.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 41
Where the action is between a creditor and his debtor concerning an attachment or an accessory real right, it shall be valued at the value of the debt or the value of the property subject to the attachment or the real right, whichever is less; an action brought by third parties claiming entitlement to that property shall be valued at its value.
Article 42
Actions for validation of a signature and original actions of forgery shall be valued at the value of the right evidenced in the document whose signature is sought to be declared valid or which is sought to be declared forged.
Article 43
Where an action comprises claims arising from a single legal cause, the valuation shall be based on their aggregate value; if they arise from different legal causes, the valuation shall be based on the value of each of them separately.
Where the action is brought by one or more persons against one or more persons on the basis of a single legal cause, the valuation shall be based on the value of the amount claimed, without regard to the share of each of them therein.
Article 43 bis
Actions for compensation arising from civil liability brought against an air carrier for an amount in units of Special Drawing Rights shall be valued at their equivalent in Kuwaiti dinars according to the valuation approved by the International Monetary Fund on the day the action is brought.
Any change in the value of the units occurring after the action is brought shall not be included in this valuation.
* Added by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 44
Where the action is for a claim that cannot be valued according to the foregoing rules, its value shall be deemed to exceed five thousand dinars.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 3 of 1988.
Part Two – Filing and Registration of the Action
Article 45
An action shall be brought before the court at the request of the plaintiff by a statement of claim filed with its court registry, unless the law provides otherwise. The statement of claim shall contain the following particulars:
(a) The plaintiff’s full name, occupation or post, domicile and place of work, and the full name, occupation or post, domicile and place of work of his representative.
(b) The defendant’s full name, occupation or post, domicile and place of work, and the full name, occupation or post, domicile and place of work of his representative. If the defendant or his representative has no known domicile or place of work, his last domicile, place of residence or place of work.
(c) Designation of a chosen domicile for the plaintiff in Kuwait if he has no domicile there.
(d) The subject matter of the action, the claims and their grounds.
(e) The date on which the statement of claim was submitted to the court registry.
(f) The court before which the action is brought.
The action shall be deemed brought, and shall produce the effects of its filing, from the date on which its statement of claim is filed with the court registry, even if the court lacks jurisdiction.
Article 45 bis
Recourse may be had to the court registry’s (electronic litigation system) using an approved electronic signature. This system shall cover the filing of statements of claim, the challenging of judgments, the payment of court fees, the submission of letters, the filing, inspection and exchange of memoranda and documents, the service of judicial documents, the holding of court hearings electronically and remotely using audio-visual electronic communication technology between the parties to the action, and the issuance of judgments and orders and the procedures for their enforcement. Data issued by electronic systems shall be deemed equivalent to the original in cases where the law requires a step to be taken on the original document.
A case preparation office for actions or appeals, as the case may be, may be established in each court, which shall, before the action or appeal is presented to the circuit, examine the requests, actions and appeals submitted through the electronic litigation system to verify that their particulars are complete and their documents are in order, and register them in that system, pending the date of the scheduled hearing.
The Regulations of the electronic litigation system shall be issued by a resolution of the Minister of Justice, setting out the rules and provisions to be followed in respect thereof, and they may, where necessary, include the rules and provisions relating to the establishment of the case preparation office for actions or appeals, as the case may be, and its working mechanism, all of the foregoing subject to the provisions of this Law governing such procedures and in a manner consistent with that system.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 46
Upon submitting his statement of claim, the plaintiff shall submit to the court registry copies thereof equal in number to the defendants, and a copy for the court registry. He shall submit, together with the statement of claim or at the first hearing scheduled for hearing the action, all the documents supporting his action and an explanatory memorandum.
The defendant shall file his documents and a memorandum of his defence no later than the second hearing.
Article 47
The court registry shall enter the action in the register kept for that purpose on the day the statement of claim is submitted and shall fix the date of the hearing scheduled for hearing it, and the original statement of claim and its copies shall be delivered to the process server for service and the return of the original to the court registry. In actions other than actions for recovery and interim objections to enforcement, the original statement of claim and its copies may, at the plaintiff’s request, be delivered to him so that he may submit them to the process server for service and the return of the original to the plaintiff, who shall return it to the court registry.
The court’s delivery of a copy of the statement of claim to the defendant present at the hearing scheduled for hearing the action, whether in person or through his agent, or its tender to either of them and his refusal to receive it, shall be deemed equivalent to service of the statement of claim.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 44 of 1987.
Article 48
The time limit for appearance before the Summary Courts, the Courts of First Instance and the Court of Appeal shall be five days, and in case of necessity this time limit may be reduced to two days.
The time limit for appearance in summary actions, whether before the judge of summary matters or before the court hearing the merits, shall be twenty-four hours, and in case of necessity this time limit may be reduced to one hour, provided that service is effected on the opposing party in person, unless the action is a maritime action.
The reduction of time limits in the foregoing cases shall be by leave of the judge of interim matters, and a copy of such leave shall be served on the opposing party together with the statement of claim.
Failure to observe the time limits for appearance shall not entail nullity, without prejudice to the right of the person served to an adjournment in order to complete the time limit.
Article 49
At the request of the defendant, the action may be deemed never to have been filed if the defendant has not been summoned to appear within ninety days from the date on which the statement of claim was submitted to the court registry, and this was attributable to the act of the plaintiff.
Article 50
If the action is filed within six months of the death of the deceased, the plaintiff may lodge its statement of claim with the court registry and serve it on his heirs collectively in their capacity as such, without stating their names, at the last domicile of their deceased.
The plaintiff shall re-serve the statement of claim on all the heirs by their names and capacities, in person or at the domicile or place of work of each of them, before the hearing set for the hearing of the action, or within the time limit set by the court for the service of the heirs who were not served for the first hearing and did not attend it.
If the action is a summary action, re-service on the apparent heirs shall suffice.
In all cases, one of the heirs may stand as representative of the estate in actions filed by or against it by third parties.
Article 51
If the plaintiff and the defendant appear before the court of their own accord and submit their dispute to it, the court may hear the action forthwith and decide it if possible; otherwise, it shall set another hearing for it. The court clerk shall complete the procedures for entering the case on the roll after collecting the fee.
Article 52
In the cases in which the law provides for the filing of an action by way of summons to appear, the plaintiff shall submit to the process server the statement of claim containing, in addition to the particulars provided for in Article (45), the day and hour at which the defendant is required to appear.
Upon receiving the original of the served statement of claim, the plaintiff shall submit it to the court registry for the registration of the action no later than the day preceding the date of the hearing set for its hearing.
The defendant may request the registration of the action on the day of the hearing by submitting the copy served on him, if the plaintiff has not registered it. The presiding judge may permit the registration of the action on the day of the hearing if he finds cause therefor.
Article 53
A resolution of the Minister of Justice shall determine the procedures for establishing the plaintiff’s knowledge of the date of the hearing, the regulatory time limit to be observed by the court registry in setting the hearing, and that to be observed by the process server in serving the statement of claim; the procedures for delivering the statement of claim from the court registry to the plaintiff or to the process server and returning it from either of them to the court registry; and the procedures for submitting documents and memoranda to the court registry and withdrawing documents from the case file. The resolution shall determine the disciplinary sanctions and penalties to be imposed where the said bodies fail to observe the time limits and procedures provided for therein, provided that the penalty shall not exceed a fine of two hundred dinars.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Part Three – Attendance and Absence of the Parties
Chapter One – Attendance and Representation in the Proceedings
Article 54
The parties shall appear in person on the day set for the hearing of the action, or shall be represented by such lawyers as they appoint as their agents. The court may accept as their agent a person of their choosing who is related to them by marriage, kinship or affinity up to the fourth degree.
The agent shall prove his agency on behalf of his principal, and it shall suffice to prove the power of attorney that he submits a document to that effect; if such document is not an official document, the signature of the principal shall be authenticated.
The power of attorney may be granted at the hearing by a declaration recorded in its minutes, in which case the declaration shall take the place of authentication of the signature.
If there are several agents, any one of them may act alone in the case, unless prohibited from doing so by the terms of the power of attorney.
Article 55
As soon as a power of attorney is issued by one of the parties, the domicile of his agent shall be deemed effective for the service of the documents necessary for the conduct of the action at all levels of litigation at which it is heard, unless the power of attorney is restricted to a particular level; and the withdrawal or dismissal of the agent shall not prevent the proceedings from continuing against him unless the said party has served the opposing party with notice of the appointment of a substitute or of his intention to conduct the action himself.
The agent may not withdraw from the agency at an inappropriate time.
* The first paragraph was amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 56
A power of attorney for litigation shall empower the agent to perform the acts and procedures necessary for filing the action and pursuing it or defending it, and to take precautionary measures until judgment on its merits is rendered at the level of litigation for which he was appointed, to serve such judgment and to receive the fees and costs, without prejudice to the matters for which the law requires a special authorisation.
Article 57
Whatever the agent declares at the hearing in the presence of his principal shall be deemed to have been declared by the principal himself, unless the principal denies it during the hearing of the case at the same hearing. If the principal is not present, the following shall not be valid without a special authorisation: admission of the right claimed, waiver of it, settlement or arbitration in respect of it, acceptance of the oath, tendering it or returning it, abandonment of the proceedings, waiver of the judgment in whole or in part or of any means of challenging it, lifting of an attachment, relinquishment of securities while the debt subsists, a challenge of forgery, recusal of the judge or of the expert, an actual tender or its acceptance, or any other act for which the law requires a special authorisation.
Article 58
No judge, nor the Attorney General, nor any member of the Public Prosecution, nor any employee of the courts may act as agent for the parties in appearance or pleading, whether orally, in writing or by giving opinions, even if the action is brought before a court other than the court to which he belongs, failing which the act shall be null and void.
However, they may do so on behalf of those whom they legally represent, and on behalf of their wives and their ascendants and descendants up to the second degree.
Chapter Two – Absence
Article 59
If neither the plaintiff nor the defendant appears at the first hearing or at any other hearing, the court shall, after verifying the validity of the service, decide the action if it is ready for judgment; otherwise, it shall order that it be struck off the roll. The court shall order the striking of the action off the roll if both parties appear and agree to the striking off. If the plaintiff or the appellant fails to appear for the second time, the court may, instead of striking it off the roll, deem the action never to have been filed.
If the absent party appears before the end of the hearing, the striking off shall be deemed never to have occurred.
The action shall be deemed never to have been filed if the two parties do not appear after it has been resumed, or if neither party serves the other with notice of the resumption of the action within ninety days of its being struck off the roll; and the period of striking off shall be included in the calculation of this time limit if it recurs, even if it is not continuous.
The time limit shall not be deemed observed unless the service reaches the opposing party before it expires.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 60
In actions in which the judgment is rendered as final, if the defendant alone fails to appear at the first hearing or to submit a defence memorandum and he has not been served in person, the court shall adjourn the hearing of the action to a subsequent hearing for which the plaintiff shall serve him; and the defendant shall be deemed to have been served in person even if he refuses to receive the copy of the document of service or to sign for its receipt, provided that the procedures provided for in the fourth paragraph of Article (9) have been followed.
If there are several defendants – in the aforementioned actions – and some have been served in person and others have not been served in person, and they all fail to appear at the first hearing or to submit a defence memorandum, or those who were not served in person so fail, the court shall adjourn the hearing of the action to a subsequent hearing for which the plaintiff shall serve those of the absentees who were not served in person.
If the defendant in the cases provided for in the two preceding paragraphs was served on the Public Prosecution in accordance with the second paragraph of Article (11) of this Law, or if the defendant is a government entity or a public juristic person, service shall not be repeated.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 61
At the hearing at which his opponent fails to appear, the plaintiff may not make new claims or amend the original claims, unless the amendment is purely in the interest of the defendant and does not affect any of his rights. Nor may the defendant, in the absence of the plaintiff, request judgment against him on any claim.
Part Four – Order of the Hearing and Examination of the Action
Article 62
If, in the absence of the defendant, the court finds that the service of the statement of claim on him is null and void, it shall adjourn the action to a subsequent hearing for which the plaintiff shall serve him.
If, in the absence of the plaintiff, the court finds that he had no legal knowledge of the hearing, it shall adjourn the action to a subsequent hearing for which the court registry shall serve him.
Article 63
If the absent party appears before the end of the hearing, every judgment rendered against him at that hearing shall be deemed never to have been rendered.
Article 64
Pleadings shall be public, unless the court, of its own motion or at the request of one of the parties, decides to conduct them in camera in order to preserve public order or out of regard for public morals or the sanctity of the family.
Article 65
The control and management of the hearing shall be vested in the presiding judge, who shall put questions to the parties and the witnesses; the members sitting with him may request him to put such questions as they consider should be put.
The presiding judge may expel from the courtroom any person who disturbs order, and if such person does not comply, the court may immediately sentence him to imprisonment for twenty-four hours or to a fine of one hundred dinars, and its judgment to that effect shall be final.
If the disturbance is committed by a person performing a function in the court, the court may, during the session of the hearing, impose such disciplinary sanctions as the administrative head may impose.
The court may, until the end of the hearing, revoke the judgment it renders pursuant to the two preceding paragraphs.
* The second paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 66
The presiding judge shall order that a record be drawn up of every offence committed during the session of the hearing and of such investigative measures as he considers should be taken, and shall then order that the papers be referred to the authority competent for investigation, disposition and prosecution to take the necessary action thereon; and he may, if circumstances so require, order the arrest of the person who committed the offence.
Article 67
The court shall begin by seeking to reconcile the parties, and if no settlement is reached, it shall order that the claims or pleas made orally by the parties or their agents be recorded in the minutes of the hearing. The defendant shall be the last to speak.
The court may, even of its own motion, order the deletion of offensive expressions, or expressions contrary to public morals or public order, from any procedural document or memorandum.
Article 68
The court may permit the parties, during the course of the action, to submit new documents, memoranda or means of proof.
Upon reserving the action for judgment, it may permit the submission of documents or final memoranda within the time limits it sets.
The memoranda of the parties shall be submitted by lodging them with the court registry or by an endorsement on the original copy by the opposing party or his agent acknowledging receipt of a copy thereof.
Article 69
If one of the parties to the proceedings submits a document that he could have submitted within the time limits provided for in Article (46), and this results in the postponement of the decision on the action, and there is no other reason for its postponement, the court shall impose on him a fine of not less than fifty dinars and not more than one hundred and fifty dinars.
If the party submits the document that was the subject of the fine, the court may relieve him of it.
Nevertheless, either party may submit documents in reply to the defence, pleas or incidental claims of his opponent.
* The first paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 70
The court may impose on any party who fails to lodge documents or to take any procedural step within the time limit it has set for him a fine of not less than fifty dinars and not more than one hundred and fifty dinars, by a decision not subject to challenge, recorded in the minutes of the hearing and having the executory force of judgments; and the court may relieve the person against whom the fine was imposed of the fine in whole or in part if he presents an acceptable excuse.
In the cases referred to in the preceding paragraph, the court may, instead of imposing the fine on the plaintiff, order a stay of the action for a period not exceeding three months, unless the defendant, if present, objects; and if the period of the stay elapses without the plaintiff carrying out that for which the action was stayed, the court may order that the action be deemed never to have been filed, unless the defendant, if present, objects.
If the period of the stay elapses and the plaintiff does not move to resume his action within the thirty days following its expiry, the court shall order that the action be deemed never to have been filed, unless the defendant, if present, objects.
* The first paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 71
A judgment imposing a fine rendered in accordance with the provisions of the two preceding Articles shall be enforced after the person against whom it was rendered has been notified by registered letter from the court registry, accompanied by a copy of the operative part of such judgment.
Article 72
Except in case of necessity, the court may not adjourn the action for a period exceeding three weeks at a time, nor adjourn it more than once for the same reason attributable to one of the parties.
The pronouncement of the adjournment decision shall constitute service on the parties of the new date, unless the said hearings are prevented from proceeding consecutively for any reason whatsoever, in which case the court registry shall inform the parties of the new date by registered letter.
The case may not be reserved for judgment for a period exceeding four weeks. If the case is reopened for pleading, this shall be for serious reasons recorded in the minutes of the hearing.
Article 73
The parties may, at any stage of the action, request the court to record in the minutes of the hearing any settlement or other agreement they have reached, to be signed by them or by their agents. If they have put their agreement in writing, the written agreement shall be appended to the minutes of the hearing and its content recorded therein. In both cases, the minutes of the hearing shall have the force of an executory instrument, and a copy thereof shall be issued in accordance with the rules prescribed for the delivery of copies of judgments.
Article 74
In cases where a foreign law is applied, the court may require the parties to submit the texts on which they rely, accompanied by an official translation from the Ministry of Justice or by a translation from the body designated by the court.
If one of the parties submits documents written in a foreign language, they shall be accompanied by an official translation, or by an unofficial translation to which his opponent does not object, or by a translation from the body designated by the court; and the court may in all cases require the parties to submit an official translation.
Article 75
The judge shall be attended at hearings and in all evidentiary procedures by a clerk who shall draw up the minutes and sign them together with the judge, failing which the act shall be null and void.
Article 76
A resolution of the Minister of Justice shall determine the procedures to be followed by court employees in implementing the decisions of the court, and the disciplinary sanctions and penalties to be imposed where they contravene such procedures, provided that the penalty shall not exceed a fine of two hundred dinars.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Part Five – Pleas, Incidental Claims and Admitted Claims
Chapter One – Pleas
Article 77
The plea for referral of the action to another court on grounds of connexity, the plea of nullity not related to public order, and all other procedural pleas not related to public order shall be raised together before any other procedural plea, any claim or defence in the action, or any plea of inadmissibility, failing which the right to raise those not raised shall lapse.
The right of the challenging party to raise these pleas shall likewise lapse if he does not raise them in the statement of appeal.
All the grounds on which a procedural plea not related to public order is based shall be raised together, failing which the right to raise those not raised shall lapse.
Article 78
The plea of lack of jurisdiction of the court for want of judicial authority, or by reason of the subject matter or the value of the action, may be raised at any stage of the action, and the court shall rule on it of its own motion.
If the court rules that it lacks jurisdiction by reason of the subject matter or the value of the action, it shall order the referral of the action in its current state to the competent court. It shall set for the parties the hearing at which they are to appear before the court to which the action is referred. The pronouncement of the judgment shall constitute service on the parties of the hearing so set.
The court to which the action is referred shall be bound to hear it.
Article 79
The plea for referral on grounds of connexity may be raised before either of the two courts, and the court to which the action is referred shall be bound to hear it.
If the court orders the referral, it shall set for the parties the hearing at which they are to appear before the court to which the action is referred. The pronouncement of the judgment shall constitute service on the parties of the hearing so set.
Article 80
The nullity of the service of statements of claim and of summonses to appear arising from a defect in the service, in the designation of the court or in the date of the hearing shall be cured by the appearance of the person served at any hearing set for the hearing of the action or by his lodging a defence memorandum.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 81
The plea of inadmissibility of the action may be raised at any stage of the action.
If the court of first degree considers that the plea of inadmissibility of the action for want of standing of the defendant is well founded, it shall adjourn the action for the service of the person having standing.
If the action is brought against a government entity or a public juristic person, the effect of the rectification shall extend back to the date on which the action was filed, even if the rectification was made after the time limit prescribed for filing it.
Article 82
The plea that the action may not be heard because it has already been adjudicated may be raised at any stage of the action, and the court shall rule on it of its own motion.
Chapter Two – Incidental Claims
Article 83
The court shall rule on pleas separately unless it orders that they be joined to the merits, in which case the court shall state what it has ruled on each of the plea and the merits.
Article 84
Incidental claims are those directed by the plaintiff against the defendant, being additional claims; or by the defendant against the plaintiff, being the defendant’s counterclaims; or by either of them against a third party, being the impleading of third parties; or by a third party against either of them, being intervention. The court may order the joinder of a third party in the manner set out in Article (88).
Article 85
The plaintiff or the defendant may submit such incidental claims as are connected with the original claim in such a way that it is in the interest of the proper administration of justice that they be heard together.
Such claims shall be submitted to the court by the ordinary procedures for filing an action before the day of the hearing, or by a memorandum delivered in the usual manner, or by a request made orally at the hearing in the presence of the opposing party and recorded in its minutes.
Article 86
A party may join in the action any person who could have been made a party to it when it was filed, and may join a guarantor therein whenever there is a cause giving rise to the guarantee; this shall be done by the ordinary procedures for filing an action before the day of the hearing, with due observance of the time limits for appearance. It may also be done at the hearing if the person whose joinder is sought appears and consents before the court to this procedure.
Article 87
Any person having an interest may intervene in the action, either joining one of the parties or seeking judgment for himself on a claim connected with the action; this shall be done by the ordinary procedures for filing an action before the day of the hearing, or by a request made orally at the hearing in the presence of the parties and recorded in its minutes.
Article 88
The court may, even of its own motion, order the joinder of any person whose joinder it considers to be in the interest of justice or for the establishment of the truth. The court shall set the hearing for which such person is to be served, and shall designate which of the parties is to effect his joinder and serve him for that hearing, by the ordinary procedures for filing an action, with due observance of the time limits for appearance.
The court may also instruct the court registry to serve a full summary of the claims of the parties in the action on any person whom it considers, in the interest of justice or for the establishment of the truth, should be aware of them.
Article 89
Incidental claims shall not be accepted during the period in which the action is reserved for judgment, even if the submission of memoranda during that period has been permitted.
The court shall decide the said claims together with the original action whenever possible; otherwise, it shall retain the incidental claim for decision after it has been investigated.
* The first paragraph was amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 89 bis
If it becomes apparent to the court that one of the original or incidental claims, or part of either of them, is admitted before it, it may decide thereon at the request of the interested party and retain the remainder for decision.
* Added by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Part Six – Stay, Interruption, Lapse, Extinction by Lapse of Time and Abandonment of Proceedings
Chapter One – Stay and Interruption of Proceedings
Article 90
The court shall order a stay of the action if it considers that judgment on its merits should be made contingent on the determination of another question on which the judgment depends. As soon as the cause of the stay ceases, any of the parties may move to resume the action.
Article 91
The action may be stayed upon the agreement of the parties not to proceed with it for a period not exceeding six months from the date on which the court approves their agreement, and such stay shall have no effect on any mandatory time limit that the law may have set for taking any step.
If none of the parties moves to resume the proceedings in the action within the thirty days following the expiry of the period – whatever the duration of the stay – the plaintiff shall be deemed to have abandoned his action and the appellant to have abandoned his appeal.
* The second paragraph was amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 92
The proceedings shall be interrupted by operation of law upon the death of one of the parties, or his loss of capacity to litigate, or the cessation of the capacity of the representative who was conducting the proceedings on his behalf, unless any of these occurs after the closing of the pleadings in the action. If there are several parties, the court shall rule that the proceedings are interrupted in respect of the party affected by the cause of interruption and shall adjourn the hearing in respect of the others.
The proceedings shall not be interrupted by the death of the agent ad litem, nor by the termination of his agency by withdrawal or dismissal; and the court may grant an appropriate period to the party whose agent has died or whose agency has terminated, if he has appointed a new agent within the fifteen days following the termination of the first agency.
The interruption of the proceedings shall result in the suspension of all procedural time limits that were running against the party affected by the cause of interruption, and in the nullity of all procedures taken during the interruption.
Article 93
The action shall resume its course in respect of the party affected by the cause of interruption by a summons to appear served on the person who takes the place of the party who died, lost his capacity to litigate or ceased to have capacity, at the request of the other party, or by a summons served on that other party at the request of such persons; the action shall likewise resume its course if the heirs of the deceased, or the person who takes the place of the party who lost capacity to litigate or of the party whose capacity ceased, attend the hearing that had been set for its hearing and proceed with it.
Article 94
If a cause of interruption occurs after the closing of the pleadings in the action, the court may decide the action on the basis of the final statements and claims, or may reopen the pleadings at the request of the person who has taken the place of the deceased, of the party who lost capacity to litigate or of the party whose capacity ceased, or at the request of the other party.
Chapter Two – Lapse, Extinction by Lapse of Time and Abandonment of Proceedings
Article 95
Any party having an interest may, where the action is not proceeded with owing to the act or omission of the plaintiff, request a judgment declaring the lapse of the proceedings once one year has elapsed since the last valid procedural step in the litigation; and in cases of interruption, the period for the lapse of the proceedings shall begin only from the day on which the person requesting the judgment declaring the lapse of the proceedings has served the heirs of his deceased opponent, or the person who has taken the place of the party who lost capacity to litigate or of the party whose capacity ceased, with notice of the existence of the action between him and his original opponent. The period for the lapse of the proceedings shall run against all persons, even if they lack capacity or have limited capacity.
Article 96
The request for a judgment declaring the lapse of the proceedings shall be submitted – by the ordinary procedures for filing an action – to the court before which the action in which the lapse of the proceedings is sought is pending. The lapse of the proceedings may be invoked by way of a plea if the plaintiff moves to resume his action after the year has elapsed.
Article 97
Where judgment is rendered declaring the lapse of the proceedings on appeal, the judgment appealed against shall be deemed final in all cases. Where judgment is rendered declaring the lapse of the proceedings in a petition for reconsideration before judgment is rendered accepting the petition, the petition itself shall lapse. After judgment is rendered accepting the petition, the rules governing appeal or the first instance shall apply, as the case may be.
Article 98
The proceedings shall – in all cases – be extinguished upon the lapse of three years from the last valid procedural step taken therein.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 99
The plaintiff may abandon the proceedings by service on his opponent, or by an express statement in a memorandum signed by him or by his agent with his opponent having been made aware of it, or by making the request orally at the hearing and having it recorded in the minutes.
Abandonment shall not take effect after the defendant has presented his defence except with his acceptance. Nevertheless, such acceptance shall not be required if he has pleaded the lack of jurisdiction of the court, the referral of the case to another court, the nullity of the statement of claim or that the action may not be heard because it has already been adjudicated, or any other plea the purpose of which is to prevent the court from proceeding with the hearing of the action.
Abandonment shall result in judgment against the abandoning party for the costs.
Article 100
If a party – while the proceedings are pending – waives, expressly or impliedly, a procedural step or a procedural document, such step or document shall be deemed never to have existed; whereas waiver of a judgment shall entail waiver of the right established by it.
Article 101
A judgment declaring the lapse of the proceedings, or their extinction by the passage of time, or their abandonment shall result in the cessation of the judgments rendered therein ordering an evidentiary procedure and in the cancellation of all procedures in the proceedings, including the filing of the action; but it shall not affect the right for which the action was filed, nor the definitive judgments rendered therein, nor the procedures preceding those judgments, nor the admissions made by the parties or the oaths they have sworn.
However, this shall not prevent the parties from relying on the investigative procedures and expert work that have been carried out, unless they are null and void in themselves.
Part Seven – Disqualification, Recusal and Withdrawal of Judges
Article 102
A judge shall be disqualified from hearing the action and shall be barred from hearing it, even if none of the parties seeks his recusal, in the following cases:
(a) If he is the spouse of one of the parties or is a relative of that party by blood or by marriage up to the fourth degree.
(b) If he or his spouse has pending litigation with one of the parties or with that party’s spouse.
(c) If he is the agent of one of the parties in his private affairs, or his guardian or curator, or is presumed to be his heir, or is the spouse of the guardian or curator of one of the parties, or is related by blood or by marriage up to the fourth degree to that guardian or curator, or to a member of the board of directors or one of the managers of a company that is a party to the action, where that member or manager has a personal interest in the action.
(d) If he, his spouse, any of his relatives by blood or by marriage in the direct line, or a person for whom he acts as agent, guardian or curator, has an interest in the pending action.
(e) If he is related by blood or by marriage up to the fourth degree to one of the judges of the circuit, or is related by blood or by marriage up to the second degree to the representative of the Public Prosecution or to counsel for one of the parties.
(f) If he has given a legal opinion in the action, pleaded in it on behalf of one of the parties or written on it, even before taking up judicial office, or has previously heard it as a judge, expert or arbitrator, or has given testimony in it.
(g) If he has brought an action for compensation against the applicant for recusal or has filed a complaint against him with the competent authority.
Article 103
Any act or decision of a judge in the cases referred to in the preceding Article shall be null and void, even if made by agreement of the parties. If such nullity occurs in a judgment issued by one of the Cassation Circuits, the party may request that Circuit to set aside the judgment and to rehear the appeal in cassation before a Cassation Circuit on which the Counsellor who caused the nullity does not sit.
Article 104
A judge may be recused on any of the following grounds:
(a) If he or his spouse has an action similar to the action he is hearing, or if litigation arises between either of them and one of the parties or that party’s spouse after the filing of the action before the judge, unless such action was brought with the intention of removing him from hearing the action before him.
(b) If his divorced wife by whom he has a child, or any of his relatives by blood or by marriage in the direct line, has pending litigation before the courts with one of the parties to the action or with that party’s spouse, unless such litigation was brought after the filing of the action before the judge with the intention of securing his recusal.
(c) If one of the parties works for him.
(d) If he has habitually eaten or lived with one of the parties, or has received a gift from him shortly before or after the filing of the action.
(e) If there is enmity or affection between him and one of the parties such that he is unlikely to be able to judge without bias.
Article 105
If a judge is disqualified from hearing the action or a ground for recusal exists in respect of him, he shall inform the president of the court so as to be permitted to withdraw. This shall be recorded in a special record kept at the court.
A judge, even if he is fit to hear the action and no ground for recusal exists in respect of him, may, if he feels embarrassment in hearing the action for any reason, refer the matter of his withdrawal to the president of the court for consideration of approving his withdrawal.
Article 106
If a ground for recusal exists in respect of a judge and he does not withdraw, a party may request his recusal. Recusal shall be made by a declaration filed at the court registry, signed by the applicant himself or by his agent authorised for that purpose by a special power of attorney, which shall be attached to the declaration. The declaration of recusal shall set out its grounds and shall be accompanied by such supporting documents as exist. Upon filing the declaration, the applicant for recusal shall deposit by way of security the sum of two hundred dinars; the security shall be multiplied by the number of judges whose recusal is sought, and the court registry shall not accept the declaration of recusal unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. Where there are several applicants for recusal, a single security for each judge shall suffice if they submit their application in a single declaration, even if their grounds of recusal differ.
Upon the rejection of the application for recusal, the lapse of the right to it, its inadmissibility or its nullity, the court shall order the applicant for recusal to pay a fine of not less than five hundred dinars and not more than one thousand dinars; the fine shall be multiplied by the number of judges whose recusal is sought, and the security shall be forfeited in these cases by operation of law.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 107
The application for recusal shall be submitted before any plea or defence is raised in the case, failing which the right to it shall lapse. Nevertheless, recusal may be requested if its grounds arise thereafter, or if the applicant for recusal proves that he was unaware of them. In all cases, a party’s right to request recusal shall lapse if the declaration of recusal is not made before the closure of the pleadings on the first application for recusal submitted in the action, provided that he was notified of the hearing set for its consideration and the grounds for recusal existed and were known to him until the closure of the pleadings.
An application for the recusal of the same judge may not be repeated in the action.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 108
The court registry shall refer the declaration of recusal to the president of the court; if the judge whose recusal is sought is the president, the declaration shall be referred to the person acting in his place. The person to whom the declaration is referred shall immediately inform the judge whose recusal is sought of the declaration.
The judge shall reply in writing to the facts and grounds of the recusal within the two working days following his being so informed. If he does not reply within this time limit, or admits the grounds of recusal and those grounds are legally valid for recusal, the president of the court shall issue an order for his withdrawal.
If the judge replies to the grounds of recusal and does not admit a ground legally valid for his recusal, the person to whom the declaration was referred shall designate the circuit that is to hear the recusal and shall set a date for its hearing before that circuit as a matter of urgency. The court registry shall notify the applicant for recusal and the judge of that date, and shall also notify the other parties to the original action thereof, so that they may submit any applications for recusal they may have in accordance with the preceding Article. The said circuit shall examine the application for recusal in chambers and shall then give judgment after hearing the statements of the applicant for recusal and the observations of the judge where necessary or if he so requests. In the examination of the application for recusal, the judge may not be interrogated, nor may an oath be put to him.
Where applications for recusal are submitted before the closure of the pleadings on the first application for recusal, the president of the court, or the person acting in his place as the case may be, shall refer those applications to the same circuit before which that application is pending, so that it may decide on all of them in a single judgment. The proceedings on the application for recusal shall be pursued and the application decided even if the applicant declares that he waives it, and the judgment on the application for recusal shall be pronounced in open session within a period not exceeding one month from the date of its hearing before the circuit.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 109
The submission of the first application for recusal shall entail the stay of the original action until a final judgment is given on the application. Nevertheless, the court hearing the application for recusal may, in case of urgency and at the request of one of the parties, assign a judge in place of the judge whose recusal is sought; such assignment may also be requested if the judgment at first instance rejecting the application for recusal has been issued and appealed.
The submission of an application for the recusal of the court hearing the application for recusal shall not entail the stay of its hearing of that application.
Nevertheless, where the recusal of any of its members is sought, that court may, at the request of one of the parties, order a stay of the hearing of the application for recusal, and in that case the provision of the first paragraph of this Article shall apply.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 109 bis
The submission of any further application for recusal, whether by the party who submitted the first application for recusal or by any other party, shall not entail the stay of the original action.
Nevertheless, the court hearing the application for recusal may, at the request of one of the parties, order a stay of the proceedings in the original action, and in that case the provision of the preceding Article shall apply.
* Added by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 110
If the recusal of all or some of the judges of the Court of First Instance is sought such that the number remaining is insufficient to give judgment, the application for recusal and the judges’ replies to it shall be referred to the High Court of Appeal; if that Court allows the application, it shall hear the action and give judgment on its merits as a final judgment.
If the recusal of all or some of the Counsellors of the circuits of the High Court of Appeal is sought such that the number remaining is insufficient to give judgment, the application for recusal shall be referred to the Cassation Circuit; if it allows the application, it shall give judgment on the merits of the original action.
If the recusal of one or more Counsellors of the Cassation Circuit is sought, the application shall be decided by a Cassation Circuit of which that Counsellor is not a member. An application for the recusal of all or some of the Counsellors of the Cassation Circuits such that the number remaining is insufficient to decide the application for recusal, or to decide the merits of the action if the application for recusal is allowed, shall not be admissible.
Article 111
The applicant for recusal may appeal the judgment issued on his application concerning the recusal of a judge of the Summary Court or the Court of First Instance, even if the subject matter of the action is one decided by final judgment. The appeal shall be made by a declaration filed at the registry of the Court of First Instance within the five days following the day of its issue.
The court registry shall, of its own motion, send the declaration of appeal and the recusal file to the High Court of Appeal within the three days following the declaration of appeal. The registry of the High Court of Appeal shall submit the papers to the president of that Court so that he may refer the appeal to one of its circuits to hear it and give its judgment in the manner set out in the third paragraph of Article (108).
The registry of the High Court of Appeal shall return the case file to the Court of First Instance, together with a copy of the appellate judgment, within the two days following the day on which that judgment is pronounced.
Part Eight – Judgments
Chapter One – Issuance of Judgments
Article 112
Deliberation on judgments shall be secret among the judges assembled together. No one other than the judges who heard the pleadings may take part in it.
Judgments shall be issued by a majority of opinions. If no majority is reached and the opinions divide into more than two, the group fewer in number, or the group that includes the most junior judge, shall join one of the two opinions held by the larger number, after the opinions have been taken a second time.
The judges who took part in the deliberation shall attend the reading of the judgment; if any of them is prevented, he shall have signed the draft of the judgment.
Article 113
During deliberation, the court may not hear one of the parties except in the presence of the other party, nor may papers or memoranda be accepted from one of the parties without the other party being apprised of them.
Article 114
Once the pleadings in the action are complete, the court shall give judgment in it or shall postpone the pronouncement of the judgment to another early hearing which it shall set, and it may not thereafter postpone the pronouncement of the judgment more than twice.
Whenever the court sets a hearing for the pronouncement of the judgment, it may not postpone the pronouncement of the judgment or reopen the case for pleadings except by a decision which the court announces at the hearing and which is recorded in its minutes, and the pronouncement of that decision shall be deemed service on the parties of the new date, unless the said hearings are prevented from proceeding consecutively for any reason whatsoever, in which case the court registry shall inform the parties of the new date by registered letter.
Article 115
Judgment shall be pronounced by reading its operative part in open session. Judgments shall contain the grounds on which they are based, failing which they shall be null and void. The draft of the judgment containing its grounds, signed by the presiding judge and the judges, shall also be deposited upon the pronouncement of the judgment, failing which the judgment shall be null and void. This draft shall be kept in the file and no copies of it shall be given, but the parties may inspect it until the original copy of the judgment is completed.
Nevertheless, a judgment need not contain grounds if it is issued by a court of first degree granting all the claims of the plaintiff and the defendant did not appear in the action and did not submit a memorandum of his defence.
Refusal to grant provisional enforcement of the judgment shall not be deemed a rejection of some of the claims for the purposes of the preceding paragraph.
Article 116
The judgment shall state the court that issued it, the date and place of its issue, whether it was issued in a commercial matter or a summary matter, the names of the judges who heard the pleadings, took part in the judgment and attended its pronouncement, the member of the Public Prosecution who gave his opinion in the case, if any, the full names of the parties, their capacities, the domicile or place of work of each of them, and whether they were present or absent.
The judgment shall also contain a summary account of the facts of the action, then the claims of the parties and a brief summary of their pleas and essential defences and the opinion of the Public Prosecution, followed by the grounds of the judgment and its operative part. Insufficiency in the factual grounds of the judgment, any omission or serious error in the names and capacities of the parties, and failure to state the names of the judges who issued the judgment shall render the judgment null and void.
Article 117
The presiding judge and the clerk of the hearing shall sign the original copy of the judgment containing the facts of the action, the grounds and the operative part within three days of the deposit of the draft, and that copy shall be kept immediately in the case file. A plain copy of it may be given to any person, even one having no interest in the action, provided that the names and capacities of the parties are not mentioned in it. If a cause prevents the presiding judge from signing the original copy of the judgment, or delays the signature in a manner harmful to justice or to the interests of the parties, it may be signed by the president of the court or his deputy; and if any such cause arises in respect of the clerk of the hearing, the head of the registry may sign in his place. All of this shall be recorded in the margin of the original copy of the judgment.
In the event of the loss of both the draft and the original copy of the judgment, the president of the competent court may certify the copy of the judgment taken from the original copy, after the circuit that issued the judgment has verified its authenticity, and it shall be stamped with the seal of the court and deposited in place of the original copy in the case file. Where this is not possible, the plaintiff may take the procedures for filing the action anew without fees.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 118
The copy of the judgment under which enforcement is carried out shall be stamped with the seal of the court and signed by the clerk after he has appended the executory formula to it. It shall be delivered only to the party having an interest in the enforcement of the judgment, and provided that the judgment is enforceable.
If the court registry refuses to issue the first executory copy, the applicant for it may submit a petition to the judge of interim matters of the court that issued the judgment so that he may issue his order on it as provided in the Part on orders on petitions.
A second executory copy may not be delivered to the same party unless the first copy has been lost or cannot be used for any reason whatsoever, and the request for its delivery shall be submitted by petition to the judge of interim matters so that he may issue his order on it as provided in the Chapter on orders on petitions.
Chapter Two – Costs of the Action
Article 119
Upon issuing the judgment that ends the proceedings before it, the court shall, of its own motion, decide on the costs of the action.
The costs, including lawyers’ fees, shall be awarded against the party against whom judgment is given in the action. If there are several parties against whom judgment is given, the costs shall be apportioned among them in proportion to the interest of each of them in the action, as assessed by the court. They shall not be jointly and severally liable for the costs unless they were jointly and severally liable in the original obligation adjudicated. The costs of intervention shall be awarded against the intervener if he had independent claims and judgment was given declaring his intervention inadmissible or rejecting his claims.
Article 119 bis
The court shall assess lawyers’ fees at the request of the party in whose favour judgment is given, within the limits of his claims and in the light of the actual fees he has incurred, having regard to the subject matter of the action and the level of litigation pending before it.
* Added by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 120
If each of the two parties fails in some of the claims, the court may order that each party bear the costs it has paid, or order the apportionment of the costs between them as assessed by the court, or award all of them against one of them.
Article 121
The court may order the party who won the action to pay all or part of the costs if the right was admitted by the party against whom judgment was given, or if the party in whose favour judgment was given caused unnecessary costs to be incurred, or left the opposing party unaware of conclusive documents in his possession in the action or of the content of those documents.
Article 122
If the action or the defence in it was intended merely to vex, compensation may be awarded against the person who so intended. The court that heard the vexatious action or defence shall have jurisdiction to hear this claim, which shall be brought before it by an incidental claim or by an original action, unless the claim, by reason of its value or nature, does not fall within its jurisdiction.
* Amended by Law No. 26 of 2015.
Article 123
The costs of the action shall be assessed by an order on petition submitted by the party in whose favour judgment was given to the president of the bench that issued the judgment. This order shall be served on the party against whom the costs are awarded. The lapse provided for in Article (163) shall not apply to it.
Each of the parties may file a grievance against the assessment of costs made by that order. The grievance shall be made either before the process server upon service of the order, or by a declaration filed at the registry of the court that issued the judgment within the eight days following service of the order. The process server or the court registry, as the case may be, shall set the day on which the grievance is to be heard before the court in chambers, and the parties shall be served with notice thereof three days before the day set.
Chapter Three – Correction and Interpretation of Judgments
Article 124
The court may, by a decision issued at the request of one of the parties or of its own motion and without pleadings, correct any purely material errors, whether clerical or arithmetical, occurring in its judgment. The clerk of the court shall make this correction on the original copy of the judgment and shall sign it together with the presiding judge.
If the decision rejects the correction, it may not be challenged except together with a challenge to the judgment itself. A decision making the correction may, however, be challenged independently by the means of challenge available against the judgment subject to correction, if the challenging party contends that the decision was not confined to correcting purely material errors.
Article 125
If there is obscurity or ambiguity in the operative part of the judgment, any of the parties may request the court that issued it to interpret it, and the request shall be submitted by the ordinary procedures for filing an action.
The clerk shall record the interpretative judgment in the margin of the original copy of the original judgment. The interpretative judgment shall be deemed complementary to the original judgment, and the rules on ordinary and extraordinary means of challenge that apply to that judgment shall apply to it.
Article 126
If the court omits to decide on some of the substantive claims, the interested party may serve the opposing party with a summons to appear before it for that claim to be heard and decided. This shall be done within six months from the judgment becoming final and conclusive.
Part Nine – Means of Challenging Judgments
Chapter One – General Provisions
Article 127
Judgments may be challenged only by the party against whom judgment was given, and may not be challenged by a party who has accepted the judgment expressly or impliedly or by a party who was awarded all his claims, unless the law provides otherwise. The court may not worsen the position of the challenging party by reason of a challenge brought by him alone.
Article 128
Judgments issued in the course of the action that do not end the proceedings may not be challenged until the judgment ending the entire proceedings has been issued, except for interim or summary judgments, judgments ordering the stay of the action, and judgments capable of compulsory enforcement.
However, judgments of lack of jurisdiction and referral to the competent court may, by way of exception, be challenged directly before the Court of Cassation, and the challenge shall be heard in chambers. The Cassation Prosecution may give its opinion orally or with brief grounds, and the Court shall decide the challenge with summary grounds. In the latter case, the court to which the action has been referred shall stay it until the challenge is decided.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025.
Article 129
The time limit for challenging a judgment shall run from the date of its issue unless the law provides otherwise. This time limit shall run from the date of service of the judgment on the party against whom judgment was given in cases where he failed to appear at all the hearings set for the hearing of the action and did not submit a memorandum of his defence, and likewise where the party against whom judgment was given failed to appear and to submit a memorandum at all the hearings following the resumption of the action after it was prevented from proceeding consecutively for any reason whatsoever.
The time limit shall also run from the date of service of the judgment if one of the causes of interruption of the proceedings occurred, even after the closure of the pleadings, and the judgment was issued without joining the person taking the place of the party who died, lost his capacity to litigate or ceased to have the capacity in which he acted.
The judgment shall be served on the party against whom judgment was given in person or at his original domicile or place of work, and the time limit shall also run against the party who served the judgment.
Failure to observe the time limits for challenging judgments shall result in the lapse of the right of challenge, and the court shall declare the lapse of its own motion.
Article 130
The time limit for challenge shall be suspended by the death of the party against whom judgment was given, by his loss of capacity to litigate, or by the cessation of the capacity of the person who was conducting the proceedings on his behalf, and the suspension shall end only after the judgment has been served on the heirs at the last domicile of the deceased, or on the person taking the place of the party who lost his capacity to litigate or whose representative’s capacity ceased.
If the remainder of the time limit for challenge is less than ten days, it shall be extended to ten days, unless the period prescribed for the challenge is shorter than that, in which case the remainder of the time limit shall be extended to complete that period.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 131
If the party in whose favour judgment was given dies during the time limit for challenge, the opposing party may file the challenge and serve it on his heirs collectively, without stating their names and capacities, at the last domicile of the deceased. The challenge shall thereafter be served again on all the heirs by name and capacity, in person or at the domicile or place of work of each of them, before the hearing set for hearing the challenge or within the time limit set by the court for serving the heirs who were not served for the first hearing and did not attend it. If the action is a summary one, service again on the apparent heirs shall suffice.
If the party in whose favour judgment was given loses capacity to litigate during the time limit for challenge, or if the capacity of the person who was conducting the proceedings on his behalf ceases, the challenge may be filed and served on the person who lost his capacity or whose representative’s capacity ceased, and the challenge shall thereafter be served again on the person taking the place of that party, in person or at his domicile or place of work, before the hearing set for hearing the challenge or within the time limit set by the court as aforesaid.
Article 132
The challenge shall be served on the opposing party in person, or at his original domicile, or at his place of work, or at his chosen domicile stated in the document of service of the judgment.
If the respondent is the plaintiff or the appellant and he did not state his original domicile or place of work in the statement of claim instituting the action or in the statement of appeal, and this information is not apparent from other papers in the action, he may be served with the challenge at the last chosen domicile he stated in the statement of claim instituting the action, the statement of appeal or the other papers of the action. If the statement and the other papers also contain no chosen domicile, he shall be served, in application of the provisions of the first paragraph of Article (16), at the registry of the court before which the challenge is brought.
Article 133
A challenge to a judgment shall not entail a stay of its enforcement.
Nevertheless, the court before which the challenge is brought may, at the request of the challenging party, order a stay of enforcement of the judgment if serious damage is feared from enforcement and the grounds of challenge to the judgment are such that its setting aside is likely.
The court ordering the stay of enforcement may require security to be provided or may order whatever it considers sufficient to safeguard the right of the respondent. The order staying enforcement of the judgment shall extend to the enforcement procedures taken by the party in whose favour judgment was given on the basis of the challenged judgment from the date of the request for stay of enforcement.
Article 134
A challenge shall benefit only the party who filed it and may be invoked only against the party against whom it was filed.
However, if the judgment was issued in an indivisible matter, or in a joint and several obligation, or in an action in which the law requires certain persons to be joined, any of the parties against whom judgment was given who has missed the time limit for challenge or has accepted the judgment may challenge it, during the hearing of the challenge filed within the time limit by one of his co-parties, by joining that co-party in his claims; if he does not do so, the court shall order the challenging party to join him in the challenge. If the challenge is filed within the time limit against one of the parties in whose favour judgment was given, the others shall be joined even after the expiry of the time limit in respect of them. If the challenge filed by one of the parties against whom judgment was given, or against one of the parties in whose favour judgment was given, is held null and void, the challenge shall be null and void in respect of all.
If a challenge is filed within the time limit by the warrantor or by the party claiming under the warranty against the judgment issued in the original action, and their defence in it was the same, whichever of them has missed the time limit or accepted the judgment may challenge it by joining his co-party. If a challenge is filed within the time limit against either of them, the other may be joined even after the expiry of the time limit in respect of him.
Article 135
The challenging party or the respondent may, after the judgment on the challenge has been issued, request the competent court to award him compensation if the challenge or the manner of pursuing it was intended to vex.
* Amended by Law No. 26 of 2015.
Article 135 bis
If the challenged judgment is set aside for nullity, and that nullity is due to a cause relating to the service of the statement of claim instituting the action, the court shall, together with the nullity, order the return of the action to the court of first degree to hear it after notifying the parties, and the filing of the challenge shall be deemed equivalent to service of the claims set out therein.
* Added by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 136
A decision of the Minister of Justice shall determine the procedures governing the request for the file of an action in which the judgment issued has been challenged and its dispatch to the court or circuit hearing the challenge, the time limits for the various actions, the procedures for establishing the challenging party’s knowledge of the date of the hearing, the time limit to be observed by the court registry in setting the hearing and that to be observed by the process server in serving the statement of challenge, and the procedures for the delivery of the statement by the court registry to the challenging party, the delivery of documents and memoranda to the court registry and the retrieval of documents from the file.
The decision shall determine the disciplinary sanctions and penalties to be imposed on anyone who contravenes the said procedures and time limits, provided that the penalty does not exceed a fine of two hundred dinars.
* The second paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Chapter Two – Appeal
Article 137
An appeal shall be filed by a statement lodged with the registry of the court to which the appeal is brought, in accordance with the procedures prescribed for filing an action, and the time limit provided for in Article (49) shall be thirty days. The statement shall contain particulars of the judgment appealed against, the grounds of appeal and the claims, failing which it shall be null and void.
Upon filing the appeal, the appellant shall deposit by way of security fifty dinars if the judgment appealed against was issued by a Summary Court and one hundred dinars if it was issued by the Court of First Instance. The court registry shall not accept the statement of appeal unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. A single security shall suffice where there are several appellants if they bring their appeal by a single statement, even if their grounds of challenge differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing this security, as shall persons exempt from court fees.
The security shall be forfeited by operation of law where the appeal is held inadmissible, impermissible, lapsed or null and void.
* The second paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 138
Except in the cases excepted by law, the parties may appeal judgments of courts of first degree issued in the exercise of their first-instance jurisdiction.
Nevertheless, judgments issued as final judgments by courts of first degree may be appealed if the judgment was issued contrary to a previous judgment that has not acquired the force of res judicata.
In that case, the previous judgment shall be deemed appealed by operation of law if it had not become final when the appeal was filed. Judgments issued as final judgments by courts of first degree may also be appealed on account of a nullity in the judgment or a nullity in the procedures that affected the judgment.
Article 139
Judgments rendered in summary matters may be appealed, whatever the court that rendered them.
Article 140
The value of the action shall be assessed, for the purposes of the appeal threshold, in accordance with the provisions of Articles (37 to 44), and neither undisputed claims nor amounts actually tendered shall be counted in such assessment.
Where an incidental claim is submitted by the defendant, the assessment shall be based on the greater in value of the two claims, the principal or the incidental, unless the incidental claim is for compensation for the filing of the original action or for the manner of conducting it, in which case the principal claim alone shall be taken into account.
In assessing the appeal threshold for judgments rendered before a ruling on the merits, regard shall be had to the value of the action.
Article 141
The time limit for appeal shall be thirty days, unless the law provides otherwise, and the time limit shall be fifteen days in summary matters, whatever the court that rendered the judgment.
Article 142
Where the judgment was rendered on the basis of fraud committed by the opposing party, or on the basis of a forged document, or on the basis of false testimony, or by reason of the non-production of a document decisive in the action which the opposing party had withheld, the time limit for appealing it shall not begin to run until the day on which the fraud came to light, or on which the forger admitted the forgery or the forgery was established by judgment, or on which judgment was rendered against the false witness, or the day on which the withheld document came to light.
Article 143
The respondent may, until the close of pleadings, lodge a cross-appeal, either by the usual procedures, or by a memorandum containing the grounds of his appeal, or by stating it orally at the hearing in the presence of the parties and recording it in the minutes of the hearing.
The appeal referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed an incidental appeal if it is lodged after the expiry of the time limit for appeal or if the person lodging it had accepted the judgment at a time prior to the lodging of the principal appeal. The incidental appeal shall follow the principal appeal and shall lapse upon its lapse, whereas the cross-appeal shall not lapse upon the lapse of the principal appeal, whatever the manner in which it was lodged.
Article 144
The appeal shall transfer the action in the state in which it stood before the appealed judgment was rendered, solely with respect to the matters appealed.
The court shall hear the appeal on the basis of such new evidence, pleas and defences as are submitted to it, together with those that had been submitted to the court of first degree.
New claims shall not be admissible on appeal, and the court shall, of its own motion, rule them inadmissible. Nevertheless, wages, salaries and all other accessories falling due after the submission of the final requests before the court of first degree, and any increase in damages after the submission of such requests, may be added to the principal claim.
Likewise, while the subject matter of the principal claim remains unchanged, its cause may be changed or added to.
No person who was not a party to the action in which the appealed judgment was rendered may be joined on appeal. Nor may intervention therein be made except by a person seeking to join one of the parties, or by a person against whom the appealed judgment is binding and who is entitled to object to it in accordance with the provisions prescribed in this respect. An appeal against the judgment terminating the proceedings shall necessarily entail an appeal against all judgments previously rendered in the case, unless they have been expressly accepted, subject to the provisions of the first paragraph of this Article.
Article 145
An appeal against the judgment rendered on the alternative claim shall necessarily entail an appeal against the judgment rendered on the principal claim, in which case the party in whose favour judgment was rendered on the principal claim shall be made a party, even after the expiry of the time limit.
Where the court sets aside the judgment rendered on the principal claim, it shall remit the case to the court of first degree to rule on the alternative claim.
Article 146
Where the appellant abandons the proceedings on appeal, the court shall in all cases rule to accept his abandonment of the proceedings if he has waived his right of appeal, or if the time limit for appeal had expired at the time of the abandonment.
Article 147
The rules and procedures applicable to the action before the court of first degree shall apply to the appeal, unless the law provides otherwise.
Chapter Three – Petition for Reconsideration
Article 148
The parties may petition for reconsideration of judgments rendered as final in the following cases:
(a) If fraud capable of influencing the judgment was committed by the opposing party.
(b) If the judgment was based on documents which, after it was rendered, were admitted or adjudged to be forged, or was based on the testimony of a witness which, after it was rendered, was adjudged to be false.
(c) If the petitioner, after the judgment was rendered, obtained documents decisive in the action whose production his opponent had prevented.
(d) If the judgment awarded something not requested by the parties or more than they requested.
(e) If the operative part of the judgment is self-contradictory.
(f) If the judgment was rendered against a natural or legal person who was not duly represented in the action, save in the case of contractual representation.
Article 149
The time limit for the petition shall be thirty days.
In the cases provided for in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of the preceding Article, it shall not begin to run until the day on which the fraud came to light, or on which the forgery was admitted or established by judgment, or on which judgment was rendered against the false witness, or on which the withheld document came to light. In the case provided for in paragraph (f), the time limit shall begin to run from the day on which the judgment is served on the person duly representing the party against whom judgment was rendered.
Article 150
A petition for reconsideration shall be filed before the court that rendered the judgment by a statement of claim lodged with its court registry in accordance with the procedures prescribed for the filing of the action. The time limit provided for in Article (49) shall be thirty days, and the statement shall set out the judgment against which the petition is made and the grounds of the petition, failing which it shall be null and void.
The person filing the petition shall, upon submitting his statement, deposit by way of security fifty dinars if the judgment petitioned against was rendered by a Summary Court or the Court of First Instance, and one hundred and fifty dinars if it was rendered by the Court of Appeal, and the court registry shall not accept the statement of the petition unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. A single security deposit shall suffice where there are several persons filing the petition, if they have filed their petition by a single statement, even if the grounds of challenge differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing this security, as shall those who are exempt from court fees, and the security shall be forfeited by operation of law whenever the challenge is ruled inadmissible, impermissible, lapsed, null and void, or is dismissed.
The court hearing the petition may be composed of the same judges who rendered the judgment.
* The second paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 151
The court shall first rule on the admissibility of the petition and, if it admits it, shall fix a hearing for pleading on the merits without the need for fresh service; however, it may rule on the admissibility of the petition and on the merits in a single judgment if the parties have submitted their requests on the merits before it.
The court shall reconsider only the claims covered by the petition. Where the petition is ruled admissible, this shall entail the provisional stay of enforcement of the judgment by operation of law until the court rules on the merits of the action. The stay of enforcement shall extend to the enforcement measures taken by the party in whose favour judgment was rendered from the date of filing of the petition.
No petition for reconsideration may be made against the judgment dismissing the petition or against the judgment on the merits of the action after the petition has been admitted.
Chapter Four – Appeal in Cassation
Article 152
The parties may lodge an appeal in cassation against judgments rendered by the Court of Appeal, where the value of the action exceeds thirty thousand dinars or is of unassessable value, in the following cases:
(a) If the challenged judgment was based on a violation of the law or an error in its application or interpretation.
(b) If a nullity occurred in the judgment or a nullity occurred in the proceedings that affected the judgment.
The parties may also lodge an appeal in cassation against any final judgment, whatever the court that rendered it, which decided a dispute contrary to another judgment previously rendered between the same parties and having acquired the force of res judicata.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025.
Article 153
The time limit for an appeal in cassation shall be sixty days.
It shall be filed by a statement lodged with the court registry of the Court of Cassation or of the court that rendered the challenged judgment and signed by a lawyer, and the statement shall contain, in addition to the particulars relating to the names of the parties, their capacities and the domicile and place of work of each of them, the identification of the challenged judgment and its date, a statement of the grounds on which the appeal is based and the requests of the appellant; if the appeal is not made in this manner it shall be null and void, and the court shall, of its own motion, rule it null and void.
No ground of appeal other than those stated in the statement may be relied upon; nevertheless, grounds based on public order may be relied upon at any time, and the court shall take them into account of its own motion.
The appellant shall, upon lodging the appeal, deposit by way of security two hundred and fifty dinars if the challenged judgment was rendered by a Summary Court or by the Court of First Instance, and five hundred dinars if it was rendered by the Court of Appeal, and the court registry shall not accept the statement of appeal unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. A single security deposit shall suffice where there are several appellants, if they have filed their appeal by a single statement, even if the grounds of appeal differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing this security, as shall those who are exempt from court fees, and the security shall be forfeited by operation of law whenever the appeal is ruled inadmissible, impermissible, lapsed, null and void, or is dismissed.
The appellant shall likewise, at the time of submitting the statement, lodge with the court registry copies thereof equal in number to the respondents and a copy for the court registry, and he shall also lodge at the same time:
(a) An official copy or the served copy of the challenged judgment, and an official copy of the judgment of first instance if the challenged judgment referred to it in its grounds, failing which the appeal shall be ruled inadmissible.
(b) The documents supporting the appeal. The court registry of the court shall deliver to any party so wishing such copies of judgments, documents or papers as he requests, endorsed with the words “copy for submission to the Court of Cassation”. The Court of Cassation may order the joinder of the file of the case in which the challenged judgment was rendered, and where the statement of appeal was lodged with the court registry of the court that rendered the judgment, its court registry shall send all the papers of the appeal to the Court of Cassation on the day following the lodging of the statement.
Where it appears to the appellant that there are grounds to request the provisional stay of enforcement of the challenged judgment, he shall include this in the statement of appeal, and the court registry shall notify the Cassation Prosecution to give its opinion on the request in writing within three days or orally at the hearing. The appellant shall serve on his opponent the hearing and the statement of appeal, and the court may rule that the request be deemed never to have existed if service of the hearing fixed was not effected on the opponent and this was attributable to the act of the appellant. Where the court orders the stay of enforcement, it shall fix a hearing for the appeal before it within a time limit not exceeding six months and refer the appeal file to the Prosecution to lodge a memorandum of its opinion within the period it fixes for it.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025.
Article 154
The court registry shall enter the appeal in the register prepared for that purpose on the day the statement and its attachments are submitted, and shall deliver the original statement and its copies, if any, to the Service Section of the court no later than the following day for service and the return of the original; it shall also join the file of the case in which the challenged judgment was rendered, with all its contents, within one week at most.
Where the defendant in the appeal wishes to submit a defence, he shall lodge with the court registry, within a time limit of fifteen days from the date of his service with the appeal, a memorandum of his defence and copies thereof equal in number to the parties, and he may attach to it such documents as he sees fit to submit.
Memoranda or documents submitted by the parties after the time limits fixed for them may not be accepted; instead, the court registry shall draw up minutes, to be attached to the file, stating what was submitted, the date of its submission, its content and the name of the person who submitted it, and recording its return to him.
The Cassation Prosecution shall lodge a memorandum of its opinion on the grounds of appeal within sixty days, or endorse that opinion on the appeal file if that is sufficient, and return it to the court registry, all within a period not exceeding sixty days from the date on which the registry sent it to the Prosecution.
The court registry shall present the appeal to the court sitting in chambers; if the court considers that it is inadmissible for a defect of form or nullity in its proceedings, or because it is based on grounds contrary to the settled case law of the court which suffices to answer those grounds and there is no reason to depart from it, it shall decide its inadmissibility by a decision not subject to challenge, with brief grounds recorded in the minutes of the hearing; and if the court considers otherwise, it shall fix a pleading hearing to hear the appeal.
* Amended by Law No. 47 of 1994.
Article 155
The court registry of the court shall, after the Prosecution’s memorandum has been lodged, notify the parties of the hearing fixed to hear the appeal, and the court shall rule on the appeal, even in the absence of the parties and without pleading, unless the court considers this necessary, in which case it may hear the statements of the parties; it may, by way of exception, authorise them and the Cassation Prosecution to lodge supplementary memoranda within the time limit it fixes whenever it sees reason to do so, and the Prosecution shall be the last to speak.
* Amended by Law No. 47 of 1994.
Article 156
Where the court rules to quash the challenged judgment, it shall rule on the merits, unless it has quashed the judgment on account of its violation of the rules of jurisdiction, in which case it shall confine itself to ruling on the question of jurisdiction and designating the competent court where necessary. The judgments rendered by the court may not be challenged by any means of challenge.
* Amended by Law No. 47 of 1994.
Article 157
The rules and procedures applicable to appeals before the High Court of Appeal shall apply to appeals in cassation, insofar as they do not conflict with the provisions of this Chapter.
Part Ten – Third-Party Objection to the Judgment Rendered in the Proceedings
Article 158
A person against whom the judgment rendered in the action is binding, and who was neither joined nor intervened therein, may object to that judgment, provided that he proves fraud, collusion or gross negligence on the part of the person who represented him.
Likewise, joint and several creditors and debtors, and creditors and debtors under an indivisible obligation, may object to the judgment rendered against another creditor or debtor among them.
Article 159
The objection shall be filed with the court that rendered the judgment by the usual procedures for the filing of the action, and its statement shall set out the judgment objected to and the grounds of the objection, failing which it shall be null and void.
The court hearing the objection may be composed of the same judges who rendered the judgment.
The objector shall, upon lodging the objection, deposit by way of security fifty dinars if the judgment objected to was rendered by a Summary Court or by the Court of First Instance, and one hundred dinars if it was rendered by the Court of Appeal, and the court registry shall not accept the statement of objection unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. A single security deposit shall suffice where there are several objectors, if they have filed their objection by a single statement, even if the grounds of objection differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing this security, as shall those who are exempt from court fees, and the security shall be forfeited by operation of law whenever the objection is ruled inadmissible, impermissible, lapsed or null and void.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 160
The objection may be filed in the form of an incidental claim ancillary to a pending action, unless the court lacks jurisdiction thereover by reason of the type or value of the action or is lower than the court that rendered the judgment, in which case the objection may only be made by an original action filed with the court that rendered the judgment.
Article 161
The right to object to the judgment shall subsist unless the right of the objector has been extinguished by prescription.
Article 162
An objection to the judgment shall not stay enforcement, unless the court before which it is filed orders a stay for serious reasons.
An objection to the judgment shall entail the action being laid before the court anew, solely with respect to the matters covered by the objection.
Where the court accepts the objection, it may not set aside or vary the judgment objected to except with respect to those parts thereof that are prejudicial to the objector.
Only the person who filed the objection shall benefit from the judgment rendered on it.
Part Eleven – Orders on Petitions and Payment Orders
Chapter One – Orders on Petitions
Article 163
In the cases in which the law permits the obtaining of an order on petition, it shall be requested from the judge of interim matters at the competent court or from the presiding judge of the panel hearing the action, and this petition shall be in two identical copies and shall contain the facts of the request and its legal basis, the domicile and place of work of the applicant, and the designation of a chosen domicile for him in Kuwait if he has no domicile or place of work there, and the supporting documents shall be appended to the petition.
The judge shall issue his order in writing on one of the two copies of the petition no later than the day following its submission, and it shall not be necessary to state the grounds on which the order is based.
The court registry shall deliver to the applicant the second copy of his petition bearing a copy of the order, no later than the day following its issuance.
An order issued on petition shall lapse if it is not presented for enforcement within thirty days from the date of its issuance, and such lapse shall not prevent the obtaining of a new order.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 164
The applicant, if the order is issued rejecting his request, and the person against whom the order was issued, shall have the right to lodge a grievance with the competent court, unless the law provides otherwise; and the party against whom the order was issued shall have the right, instead of lodging a grievance with the competent court, to lodge a grievance with the same judge who issued the order, and the pendency of the original action before the court shall not prevent this.
The grievance shall be made by the usual procedures for the filing of the action, and it may be filed as ancillary to the original action by the procedures by which incidental claims are filed, and the grievance shall be reasoned, failing which it shall be null and void. Judgment on the grievance shall be rendered upholding, varying or setting aside the order. This judgment shall be subject to challenge by the means of challenge prescribed for judgments.
Article 165
A grievance against the order shall not stay its enforcement.
Nevertheless, the court or the judge may order a provisional stay of enforcement in accordance with the provisions of Article (133).
Chapter Two – Payment Orders
Article 166
By way of exception to the general rules on the filing of actions, the provisions set out in the following Articles may be followed, by ordinary means or by such electronic means as are prescribed by a resolution of the Minister of Justice, whenever the creditor’s right is established in writing and due for payment, and the amount claimed is a debt of money of a specified amount, with or without its statutory interest.
Those provisions shall be followed where the right holder is a creditor under a commercial paper and his recourse is confined to the drawer, the maker, the acceptor or the guarantor (aval) of any of them; however, if he wishes to have recourse against persons other than these, he shall follow the general rules on the filing of the action.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025.
Article 167
The creditor shall first require the debtor to pay within a time limit of at least ten days, and shall then obtain a payment order from the judge of the Summary Court or the presiding judge of the circuit at the Court of First Instance, as the case may be. The right stated in the demand for payment may not be less than that requested in the petition for the payment order, and it shall suffice for the demand for payment to be made by registered letter, or by any modern electronic means of communication capable of storage and retrieval prescribed by a resolution of the Minister of Justice.
The payment order shall be issued on a petition submitted by the creditor, to which shall be attached the instrument of the debt and proof that the demand for payment was made and of the closing of the account in cases where this is required, and this instrument shall remain with the court registry until the time limit for the grievance has expired. The petition shall be drawn up in two identical copies and shall contain the particulars of the statement of claim provided for in Article (45) of this Law.
The order shall be issued on one of the two copies of the petition within three days at most from its submission and shall state the amount payable, and shall also state whether it was issued in a commercial matter.
The aforesaid petition shall be deemed to produce the effects of the filing of the action from the date of its submission, even if the court lacks jurisdiction.
* The first, second and third paragraphs were replaced by Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025.
Article 168
Where the judge considers that the applicant should not be granted all his requests, or considers that the order should not be issued for any other reason, he shall refrain from issuing the order and shall fix a hearing for the action before the competent court, whereupon the applicant shall summon the debtor to appear before the court at the hearing fixed, by service containing the particulars of the petition referred to in the preceding Article. A refusal to grant provisional enforcement to the order shall not be deemed a rejection of some of the requests within the meaning of this Article.
Article 169
The petition and the payment order issued against the debtor shall be served on him in person at his original domicile or place of work, and they may be served on him by electronic mail or by any modern electronic means of communication capable of storage and retrieval prescribed by a resolution of the Minister of Justice.
The petition and the payment order issued on it shall be deemed never to have existed if they are not served on the debtor within six months from the date of issuance of the order.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025.
Article 170
The debtor may lodge a grievance against the order within ten days from the date of its service on him. The grievance shall be made before the Summary Court or the Court of First Instance, as the case may be, and shall be reasoned, failing which it shall be null and void, and the rules and procedures followed before the court of first degree shall be observed in hearing the grievance.
The acceptance of the grievance in form shall entail examination of the formal and substantive conditions for obtaining the order and a ruling on the merits of the dispute, unless there is a defect affecting the petition and the order relating to a violation of the rules of jurisdiction.
At the request of the grievant, the ruling may be confined to the payment order being deemed never to have existed, provided that another hearing is fixed to hear the merits. The payment order may not be appealed.
The judgment rendered on the grievance, where it is subject to challenge, shall be appealed in accordance with the rules or procedures prescribed for the appeal of judgments.
* Replaced by Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025.
Article 171
The rules on provisional enforcement shall apply to the payment order and to the judgment rendered on the grievance against it, according to the cases set out by law.
Article 172
Where the creditor referred to in Article (166) wishes to levy a precautionary attachment or an attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties, the ordinary procedures shall be followed for the attachment to be levied and for the action to validate the attachment.
Part Twelve – Arbitration
Article 173
Arbitration may be agreed upon in respect of a particular dispute, and arbitration may also be agreed upon in respect of all disputes arising from the performance of a particular contract. Arbitration may only be proved in writing. Arbitration shall not be permissible in matters in which settlement is not permissible, and arbitration shall be valid only by a person who has the capacity to dispose of the right that is the subject of the dispute.
The subject matter of the dispute shall be specified in the arbitration agreement or during the pleadings, even if the arbitrator is empowered to settle, failing which the arbitration shall be null and void.
The courts shall not have jurisdiction to hear disputes in respect of which arbitration has been agreed. The plea of lack of jurisdiction may be waived expressly or impliedly.
Arbitration shall not extend to summary matters unless otherwise expressly agreed.
Article 174
The arbitrator may not be a minor, a person under interdiction, a person deprived of his civil rights by reason of a criminal penalty, or a bankrupt who has not been rehabilitated.
Where there are several arbitrators, their number shall in all cases be odd. The arbitrator shall also be appointed in the arbitration agreement or in a separate agreement.
Article 175
Where the dispute arises and the parties have not agreed upon the arbitrators, or one or more of the agreed arbitrators refuses to act, withdraws, is removed, is recused by judgment, or is prevented from acting, and there is no agreement between the parties in this respect, the court originally competent to hear the dispute shall appoint the necessary arbitrators at the request of one of the parties by the usual procedures for the filing of the action. The number of arbitrators appointed by the court shall be equal to the number agreed upon between the parties or shall complete it, and the judgment rendered to this effect may not be challenged by any means of challenge.
Article 176
Arbitrators may not be empowered to settle, nor may they rule as amiable compositeurs, unless they are named in the arbitration agreement.
Article 177
Repealed.
* Repealed by Law No. 11 of 1995 on Judicial Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters.
Article 178
Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding Article or of any other law, it shall be a condition that the arbitrator agree to undertake his task, and acceptance shall be proved in writing.
Where the arbitrator, after accepting the arbitration, withdraws from performing his work without serious cause, he may be ordered to pay damages. The arbitrator may not be removed except with the consent of all the parties.
He may not be recused from rendering the award except for causes arising or coming to light after his appointment. Recusal shall be requested on the same grounds on which a judge is recused or is deemed disqualified from adjudicating. The request for recusal shall be filed with the court originally competent to hear the action within five days of the party being notified of the appointment of the arbitrator, or from the date on which the cause of recusal arose or came to his knowledge if this was subsequent to his notification of the appointment of the arbitrator.
In all cases, the request for recusal shall not be admissible if the arbitral award of the arbitrators has been rendered or the pleadings in the case have been closed. The person requesting recusal may appeal the judgment rendered on his request, whatever the value of the dispute submitted to arbitration.
Article 179
The arbitrator shall, within thirty days at most from accepting the arbitration, notify the parties of the date of the first hearing fixed to hear the dispute and of the place where it is to be held, without being bound by the rules prescribed in this Law for service. He shall fix a time for them to submit their documents, memoranda and defences. An award may be rendered on the basis of what is submitted by one side if the other fails to do so within the time fixed.
Where there are several arbitrators, they shall conduct the investigation procedures jointly and each of them shall sign the minutes, unless they unanimously delegate one of them to carry out a particular procedure and record his delegation in the minutes of the hearing, or the arbitration agreement confers this on one of them.
Article 180
The proceedings before the arbitrator shall be interrupted if any of the causes of interruption of the proceedings prescribed in this Law arises. The interruption shall produce the effects prescribed by law.
Where, in the course of the arbitration, a preliminary question arises that falls outside the jurisdiction of the arbitrator, or a document is challenged for forgery, or criminal proceedings are taken in respect of its forgery or in respect of another criminal incident, the arbitrator shall suspend his work until a final judgment is rendered thereon. The arbitrator shall likewise suspend his work to refer to the president of the court originally competent to hear the dispute for the following:
(a) Imposing the penalty prescribed by law on any witness who fails to appear or refuses to answer.
(b) Ordering a third party to produce a document in his possession that is necessary for rendering the award in the arbitration.
(c) Ordering letters rogatory.
Article 181
If the parties have not stipulated a time limit for the award in the arbitration agreement, the arbitrator shall render the award within six months from the date of notification of both parties to the proceedings of the arbitration hearing; failing which, any of the parties may refer the dispute to the court, or pursue it before the court if it had previously been brought before it.
If the dates of notification of the parties differ, the time limit shall run from the date of the last notification.
The parties may agree, expressly or impliedly, to extend the time limit fixed by agreement or by law, and they may authorise the arbitrator to extend it to a specified date. The time limit shall be suspended whenever the proceedings before the arbitrator are stayed or interrupted, and shall resume running from the date on which the arbitrator becomes aware that the cause of the stay or interruption has ceased. If the remainder of the time limit is less than two months, it shall be extended to two months.
Article 182
The arbitrator shall render the award without being bound by the procedures of litigation, save as provided in this Part.
Nevertheless, the parties may agree on specific procedures to be followed by the arbitrator. The arbitrator’s award shall be in accordance with the rules of law, unless the arbitrator is authorised to settle amicably, in which case the arbitrator shall not be bound by those rules, save for those relating to public order. The rules on provisional enforcement shall apply to arbitral awards. The arbitral award shall be rendered in Kuwait; failing which, the rules prescribed for arbitral awards rendered in a foreign country shall apply to it.
Article 183
The arbitrators’ award shall be rendered by a majority of votes and shall be made in writing. It shall in particular contain a summary of the arbitration agreement, a summary of the statements and documents of the parties, the grounds of the award and its operative part, the date and place of its rendering, and the signatures of the arbitrators. If one or more of the arbitrators refuses to sign the award, this shall be stated therein, and the award shall be valid if signed by a majority of the arbitrators, even if one or more of them has withdrawn or resigned after the action was reserved for judgment and the deliberation commenced in his presence; this is by way of exception to the provision of Article (175).
The award shall be drawn up in the Arabic language unless the parties agree otherwise, in which case an official translation shall be attached to it upon its deposit. The award shall be deemed rendered from the date on which the arbitrators sign it after it has been written.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 183 bis
The arbitrator shall have jurisdiction to correct purely material errors, whether clerical or arithmetical, occurring in the award, to interpret it if ambiguity or uncertainty occurs in its operative part, and also to decide on the substantive claims which were omitted from decision, within the time limit fixed by law or by agreement for rendering the award, in accordance with the rules provided for in Articles (124), (125) and (126) of this Law. If this is not possible, or the time limit fixed for the award has expired, these matters shall fall within the jurisdiction of the court originally competent to hear the dispute.
If the award is challenged by appeal where an appeal is permissible, or an original action for its nullity is filed, the court deciding the appeal or the action for nullity, to the exclusion of any other, shall have jurisdiction to correct material errors occurring in the award or to interpret it.
* Added by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 184
The original of the award, even if rendered on an evidentiary measure, shall be deposited together with the original of the arbitration agreement with the court registry of the court originally competent to hear the dispute within the ten days following the rendering of the award terminating the proceedings.
The clerk of the court shall draw up a record of such deposit.
Article 185
The arbitral award shall not be enforceable except by an order issued by the president of the court with whose registry the award was deposited, upon the request of an interested party, after examining the award and the arbitration agreement, after verifying that there are no impediments to its enforcement, and after the expiry of the time limit for appeal if the award is subject to appeal and is not accompanied by provisional enforcement. The enforcement order shall be placed at the foot of the original of the award.
Article 186
The arbitral award may not be appealed unless the parties agreed otherwise before it was rendered, in which case the appeal shall be filed before the Court of First Instance sitting in its appellate capacity and shall be subject to the rules prescribed for the appeal of judgments rendered by the courts, and its time limit shall run from the deposit of the original of the award with the court registry in accordance with Article (184).
Nevertheless, the award shall not be subject to appeal if the arbitrator was authorised to settle amicably, or acted as arbitrator on appeal, or if the value of the action does not exceed one thousand dinars, or if the award was rendered by the panel provided for in Article (177).
Any interested party may request the nullity of an arbitral award rendered as final in the following cases, even if it was agreed otherwise before it was rendered:
(a) If it was rendered without an arbitration agreement, or on the basis of an arbitration agreement that is null and void or has lapsed by expiry of the time limit, or if the award exceeded the limits of the arbitration agreement.
(b) If any of the grounds on which a petition for reconsideration may be filed is established.
(c) If a nullity occurred in the award, or a nullity occurred in the proceedings that affected the award.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 3 of 1988.
Article 187
The action for nullity shall be filed with the court originally competent to hear the dispute in accordance with the usual procedures for filing an action, within thirty days from service of the award. This time limit shall run in accordance with the provisions of Article (149) in cases where any of the grounds on which a petition for reconsideration may be filed is established.
The statement of claim shall contain the grounds of nullity; failing which, it shall be null and void.
The person filing the action shall, upon submitting its statement of claim, deposit one hundred dinars by way of security, and the court registry shall not accept the statement of claim unless it is accompanied by proof of deposit of the security. The deposit of a single security shall suffice where there are several plaintiffs if they file their action by a single statement of claim, even if the grounds of nullity differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing this security, as shall those exempt from court fees.
The security shall be forfeited by operation of law whenever judgment is rendered that the action is inadmissible, or that it may not be filed, or that it has lapsed, or that it is null and void, or that it is dismissed. If the court rules that the arbitrators’ award is null and void, it shall address the merits of the dispute and decide them.
* The third paragraph was amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 188
The filing of the action for nullity shall not stay the enforcement of the arbitral award. Nevertheless, the court hearing the action may, upon the request of the plaintiff, order a stay of enforcement of the award if serious harm is feared from enforcement and the grounds of nullity are such that a ruling of nullity of the award is likely. When ordering a stay of enforcement, the court may require the provision of security or order whatever it deems sufficient to safeguard the right of the defendant. The order staying enforcement of the award shall extend to the enforcement measures taken by the party in whose favour the award was rendered from the date of the request for a stay of enforcement.
Book Three – Enforcement
Part One – General Provisions
Enforcement Department
Article 189
Enforcement and the service relating to it shall be entrusted to the Enforcement Department, unless the law entrusts any of this to another body.
A member of the judiciary shall be seconded to head this Department, and one or more judges of the Court of First Instance shall be seconded to assist him, the most senior of whom shall act in place of the head in his absence or if he is prevented.
The enforcement measures and the service relating to them shall be carried out by a number of enforcement officers and process servers, and a sufficient number of employees shall be attached to the Department.
A number of police officers shall also be seconded to it to assist when enforcement measures and service relating to them are taken.
The Director of the Department shall supervise all the work of the Department and those working in it, including enforcement officers, process servers, employees and police officers. They shall refer to him in their work and shall comply with his directions.
The Director of the Department, or the judges assisting him, may issue non-contentious orders in the cases in which the law empowers the Director of the Enforcement Department to issue such orders. A grievance against them shall be made in the manner set out in the Chapter on orders on petitions, and, as regards the grievance against them, they shall be treated as orders issued by the President of the Court of First Instance.
The organisation of the Enforcement Department shall be regulated by a resolution of the Minister of Justice.
* Amended by Law No. 57 of 1989.
Executory Instrument
Article 190
Compulsory enforcement may only be carried out under an executory instrument, to satisfy a right that is certain to exist, fixed in amount and due for payment.
Executory instruments are:
(a) Judgments and orders.
(b) Notarised instruments, and records of settlement certified by the courts.
(c) Other documents to which the law grants this status.
Except in cases excepted by a provision of law, enforcement may only be carried out under a copy of the executory instrument bearing the following executory formula: “The body entrusted with enforcement shall proceed with it whenever so requested, and every authority shall assist in carrying it out, even by the use of compulsory force, whenever so requested in accordance with the law.”
Enforcement under the Draft of the Judgment
Article 191
In summary matters, or in cases where delay would be harmful, the court may, upon the request of the interested party, order the enforcement of the judgment on the basis of its draft, without service and without the executory formula being placed on it. In this case, the clerk shall deliver the draft to the enforcement officer, who shall return it upon completion of enforcement.
Enforceable Judgments and Provisional Enforcement
Article 192
Judgments may not be compulsorily enforced as long as an appeal against them is permissible, unless provisional enforcement is provided for by law or ordered in the judgment. Nevertheless, precautionary measures may be taken under them. If the party in whose favour the judgment was rendered enforces a judgment accompanied by provisional enforcement, he shall be bound to compensate the party against whom enforcement was carried out for the harm sustained should the judgment subsequently be set aside, even if the party seeking enforcement acted in good faith.
Article 193
Provisional enforcement shall be mandatory by operation of law in the following cases:
(a) Judgments rendered in summary matters, whichever court rendered them.
(b) Judgments rendered for maintenance, custody fees, nursing, or housing, or for the delivery of a minor or visitation of a minor.
(c) Orders issued on petitions and judgments rendered on grievances against them.
(d) Judgments rendered in commercial matters.
Provisional enforcement in the cases set out in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) shall be without security unless the judgment or order provides for the provision of security; in the case set out in paragraph (d), provisional enforcement shall be conditional on the provision of security.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 3 of 1988.
Article 194
The court may, upon the request of the interested party, attach provisional enforcement to its judgment, with or without security, in the following cases:
(a) If the party against whom judgment is rendered has admitted the existence of the obligation, even if he disputes its scope or claims that it has been extinguished.
(b) If the judgment was rendered in execution of a prior judgment that has acquired the force of res judicata or is accompanied by provisional enforcement without security, or is based on an official document whose forgery has not been alleged or a private document that has not been denied, provided that the party against whom judgment is rendered was a party to the prior judgment or a party to the document.
(c) If the judgment was rendered in favour of the party seeking enforcement in a dispute relating to it.
(d) If the judgment was rendered for the payment of wages, salaries or compensation arising from an employment relationship.
(e) If the judgment was rendered in one of the possessory actions, or for the eviction of a tenant of immovable property whose lease has expired or been rescinded, or was rendered for the eviction of an occupant of immovable property who has no title, provided that the plaintiff’s right is not denied or is established by an official document.
(f) In any other case, if delay in enforcement would result in serious harm to the interest of the party in whose favour the judgment is rendered, provided that this is fully stated in the judgment.
Article 195
Provisional enforcement, whether by operation of law or by judgment of the court, shall also extend to the accessories of the original claim and to the costs of the action. It may not be agreed, before the judgment is rendered, that provisional enforcement shall be attached to it outside the cases in which it applies.
Enforcement Conditional on Security
Article 196
In cases where the judgment or order may only be enforced against security, the person bound to provide it shall have the choice between providing a solvent surety or depositing a sufficient sum of money or sufficient securities with the treasury of the Enforcement Department, and accepting that the proceeds of enforcement be deposited with the treasury of the Enforcement Department or that the thing ordered to be delivered in the judgment or order be delivered to a trustworthy custodian.
Article 197
The person bound to provide security shall serve notice of his choice either through an enforcement officer by a separate document, or within the service of the executory instrument or of the demand for payment.
In all cases, the choice shall include the designation of a chosen domicile in Kuwait for the party seeking enforcement if he has no domicile or place of work there, so that the documents relating to the dispute over the security may be served on him there.
The interested party may, within three days of such service, file an action before the Summary Court contesting the solvency of the surety, the trustworthiness of the custodian, or the sufficiency of the amount deposited. The judgment rendered therein shall be final.
If the action is not filed within the time limit, or is filed and dismissed, the surety’s undertaking of security, or the custodian’s acceptance of the custodianship, shall be taken at the Enforcement Department, and the record containing the undertaking of the surety or the custodian shall serve as an executory instrument against him in respect of the obligations arising from his undertaking.
Objection to the Characterisation, Provisional Enforcement or Security in the Judgment or Order
Article 198
An objection may be made, by the usual procedures for filing an appeal or a grievance, against an error of law in the characterisation of the judgment or order, or in respect of provisional enforcement or security.
This objection may be raised at the hearing, even after the expiry of the time limits for appeal or grievance, during the hearing of an appeal or grievance filed within the time limit against the judgment or order, and the objection shall be decided by an interim judgment separately from the merits.
An objection to the characterisation shall be filed by the usual procedures for filing an action with the court that rendered the judgment, if the judgment is final and the court wrongly characterised it as a judgment of first instance.
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, Orders and Instruments
Article 199
An order may be made for the enforcement in Kuwait of judgments and orders rendered in a foreign country under the conditions prescribed in that country for the enforcement of judgments and orders rendered in Kuwait. Excepted from these conditions are judgments and orders rendered in favour of a Kuwaiti natural or legal person and sought to be enforced against property owned by a Kuwaiti natural or legal person.
The enforcement order shall be requested from the Court of First Instance in accordance with the usual procedures for filing an action, and the enforcement order may only be made after verifying the following:
(a) That the judgment or order was rendered by a competent court in accordance with the law of the country in which it was rendered.
(b) That the parties to the action in which the foreign judgment was rendered were summoned to appear and were duly represented.
(c) That the judgment or order has acquired the force of res judicata in accordance with the law of the court that rendered it.
(d) That it does not conflict with a judgment or order previously rendered by a court in Kuwait, and does not contain anything contrary to morals or public order in Kuwait.
* The first paragraph was amended by Law No. 38 of 2007 (Corrigendum: Kuwait Al-Youm, Issue No. 859, 24 February 2008).
Article 200
The provision of the preceding Article shall apply to arbitral awards rendered in a foreign country. The arbitral award shall have been rendered in a matter that may be submitted to arbitration under Kuwaiti law and shall be enforceable in the country in which it was rendered.
Article 201
An order may be made for the enforcement in Kuwait of instruments notarised in a foreign country under the same conditions prescribed in the law of that country for the enforcement of instruments notarised in Kuwait.
Article 202
The enforcement order referred to in the preceding Article shall be requested by a petition submitted to the Director of the Enforcement Department, and the enforcement order may only be made after verifying that the conditions required for the instrument to be enforceable under the law of the country in which it was notarised are fulfilled, and that it contains nothing contrary to morals and public order in Kuwait.
Article 203
The rules provided for in the two preceding Articles shall not prejudice the provisions of treaties between the State of Kuwait and other States in this regard.
Service of the Executory Instrument
Article 204
Enforcement shall be preceded by service of the executory instrument on the party against whom enforcement is sought (the debtor) in accordance with the provisions of this Law. If the executory instrument is an official contract for the opening of a credit, an extract of the debtor’s account taken from the creditor’s commercial books shall be served with it.
The service, whether ordinary or electronic, shall contain a statement of the amount claimed and a demand that the debtor pay, together with the electronic details of the creditor through which service is effected. If the creditor has no original domicile or place of work in the State of Kuwait, he shall designate a chosen domicile there.
In the case of enforcement by the eviction of immovable property or the delivery of movable or immovable property, the service of the executory instrument shall contain a sufficient identification of such property. If the executory instrument fixes a time limit for eviction or delivery, the service shall state that time limit. In all cases, enforcement may not commence before five days have elapsed from the date of the debtor’s receipt of the service referred to.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 204 bis
If the debtor does not pay the debt owed by him to the creditor after being served with it, the Director of the Enforcement Department, or the judges assisting him, may, upon the request of the creditor, take any of the following measures:
(a) Request a statement of the immovable property, movable property, usufruct rights or other existing or future financial rights belonging to the debtor and held with government entities.
(b) Request a statement of the existing or future funds or rights against third parties belonging to the debtor and held with banks, investment companies, clearing agencies or others.
In these two cases, the Director of the Enforcement Department, or the judges assisting him, may authorise the extraction of a statement of the dispositions made of such property and the name of the transferee, for a period of time prior to the issuance of the executory instrument, provided that it does not go back beyond the date on which the debt arose.
(c) Impose a travel ban on the debtor, or imprison him, or both, in accordance with the provisions set out in this Law.
The Director of the Enforcement Department, or the judges assisting him, may, without a request from the creditor, take any of the following measures:
(a) Notify the credit information company of the fact of non-payment, for entry in the debtor’s credit record in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned Law No. (9) of 2019.
(b) Delegate one of the specialists of the General Department of Experts whenever the enforcement proceedings so require.
(c) Any other measures provided for by law.
* Added by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 204 bis (A)
If the debtor, after the date on which the debt arose, disposes of his property without consideration, or for less than its price or the value at which it is traded in the market by a significant margin, the Director of the Enforcement Department, or the judges assisting him, may, upon the request of the creditor, order a suspension of dealings in that property if it is in the hands of the person who received it from the debtor. The creditor shall serve the order on his debtor and on the transferee by way of service of judicial documents as set out in this Law. If the transferee, after being served, does not comply with the order, judgment may be rendered against him in favour of the creditor for the debt being recovered, within the limits of the market value of the property at the time of its disposal.
The creditor shall, within one week from the day following the issuance of the order, file an action for the unenforceability of the dispositions in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned Civil Code, joining both his debtor and the transferee as defendants. The competent court hearing the action shall have the power to suspend the order, upon the request of the transferee, at any stage of the action until it renders a judgment on the merits and on the order.
The order suspending dealings shall be deemed never to have taken place if the creditor does not file the action within the period referred to in the preceding paragraph, or files it and it is struck off the roll, or it is ruled to be deemed never to have taken place, or the proceedings in it lapse, are abandoned or are extinguished.
* Added by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Receipt of the Debt by the Enforcement Officer
Article 205
The process server or the enforcement officer, as the case may be, shall, upon service of the executory instrument or at any stage of the proceedings, receive the debt when it is tendered to him and give a quittance, without the need for a special authorisation. If the amount tendered is part of the debt, he shall receive it and continue enforcement in respect of the remainder. In the absence of the party seeking enforcement, he shall deposit the sums he has received with the treasury of the Enforcement Department for the account of the party seeking enforcement on the same day, or on the following day at the latest.
Enforcement Procedures
Article 206
Enforcement shall be carried out by enforcement officers, who shall be bound to carry it out within its time limits whenever the interested party so requests. They may not break doors or force locks to carry out enforcement except in the presence of a police officer, who shall sign the enforcement record.
Article 207
If resistance or assault occurs against the enforcement officer, he shall take all precautionary measures and request the assistance of the public force.
Article 208
Whoever has been subrogated to the creditor in his right, by law or by agreement, shall be subrogated to him in the enforcement measures taken.
If the debtor dies, loses his capacity, or the capacity of the person conducting the proceedings on his behalf ceases before enforcement commences or before it is completed, enforcement may not be carried out against his heirs or whoever takes his place until eight days have elapsed from the date of their service with the executory instrument.
If the creditor dies, loses his capacity, or the capacity of the person conducting the proceedings on his behalf ceases after enforcement has commenced, the enforcement proceedings and all time limits running against him shall be stayed until the debtor serves his heirs or whoever takes his place with notice of the existence of the enforcement proceedings.
Before the expiry of six months from the date of death, the service referred to in the two preceding paragraphs may be made on the heirs collectively at the last domicile of their deceased, without stating their names and capacities.
Article 209
A third party may not pay what is due under the executory instrument, nor be compelled to pay it, until the debtor has been served with notice of the intention to carry out such enforcement at least eight days before it takes place.
Objections to Enforcement
Article 210
Objections to enforcement arising in the course of enforcement shall be brought before the judge of summary matters if what is sought is an interim measure.
The merits of these objections shall be brought before the competent court in accordance with the general rules.
Article 211
An objection to enforcement may be filed before enforcement commences.
For the objection to be admissible, it shall be filed before enforcement is completed, and the objector shall provide security of fifty dinars if the objection suspends enforcement, before the first hearing fixed for hearing it; failing which, the court shall rule that the objection is inadmissible. The deposit or provision of a single security shall suffice where there are several objectors if they file their objection by a single statement of claim, even if the grounds of the objection differ. The Government shall be exempt from depositing the security, as shall those exempt from court fees be exempt from depositing or providing it. The security shall be forfeited by operation of law whenever judgment is rendered that the objection is inadmissible, or not permissible, or has lapsed, or is null and void, or is dismissed, or is struck off the roll.
A judgment staying enforcement shall extend to the enforcement measures taken after the objection was filed.
The completion of enforcement after the judgment of the court of first instance on the objection is rendered shall not prevent an appeal against that judgment, whether enforcement was completed before or after the appeal was filed.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025.
Article 212
If an objection is raised upon enforcement and what is sought by it is an interim measure, the enforcement officer may stay enforcement or proceed with it as a precaution, summoning the parties in both cases to appear before the judge of summary matters, even on one hour’s notice and at his residence where necessary. Recording the making of such summons in the record shall suffice with respect to the person raising the objection. In all cases, the enforcement officer may not complete enforcement before the judge renders his judgment.
The enforcement officer shall make copies of his record equal in number to the parties, and a copy for the court registry, to which he shall attach the enforcement documents and the documents submitted to him by the objector. The court registry shall enter the objection in the register kept for that purpose on the day the copy is delivered to it. If the interim objection is filed by the usual procedures for filing an action, its filing shall result in a stay of enforcement.
The party bound under the executory instrument shall be joined as a party to the objection if it is filed by another person, whether it is filed by being raised before the enforcement officer as set out in the first paragraph or by the usual procedures for filing an action. If he is not joined in the objection, the court shall direct the objector to join him within a time limit it fixes; if the objector does not do so, the court shall rule that the suspensive effect on enforcement resulting from its filing has ceased, and it may rule that the objection is deemed never to have taken place.
The filing of any other objection shall not result in a stay of enforcement unless the judge of summary matters orders the stay. The provision of this paragraph shall also apply to objections filed after any substantive enforcement dispute that suspends enforcement.
The provision of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to the first objection filed by the party bound under the executory instrument if he was not joined in the prior objection or substantive dispute.
The objector shall submit his documents upon submitting the statement of claim of the objection or at the first hearing fixed for hearing it; failing which, the court may rule that the objection is deemed never to have taken place.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 213
An actual tender shall not result in a stay of enforcement if the tender is in dispute, and the judge of summary matters may order a temporary stay of enforcement upon deposit of the amount tendered or a greater sum which he specifies.
Article 214
If the court decides to strike the objection off the roll in accordance with Article (59), or rules to stay it in accordance with Article (70), the suspensive effect on enforcement resulting from the filing of the objection shall cease.
If the objection suspended enforcement and the objector loses his action, a fine of not less than fifty dinars and not more than three hundred dinars may be imposed on him, without prejudice to compensation where warranted.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Enforcement in Personal Status Matters
Article 215
Decisions and judgments rendered in personal status matters shall be enforced by the methods prescribed in Part Two of this Book if this requires the attachment and sale of property.
Other such decisions and judgments shall be enforced by administrative means through the administrative authorities or whomever the Minister of Justice designates for that purpose, unless the law provides otherwise.
Judgments rendered for the custody and care of a minor or for his delivery to a trustworthy person shall be enforced by the method referred to in the preceding paragraph, and they may be enforced compulsorily even if this leads to the use of force and the entry of homes. Those carrying out enforcement shall follow in this respect the orders of the Director of the Enforcement Department, and enforcement may be repeated whenever circumstances so require.
The court shall determine the manner of enforcing a judgment rendered for visitation of a minor, and this may not take place at a police station or at any administrative authority.
Part Two – Attachments
Chapter One – General Provisions
Article 216
Without prejudice to the provisions of any other law, the following may not be attached:
(a) Public property or private property owned by the State.
(b) The clothing required by the debtor, his spouse, and his relatives and in-laws living with him in a single household, and such household furniture and kitchen utensils as are necessary for them.
Such food and fuel as they require for one month; nor may anything required for the performance of their religious duties be attached.
(c) Property donated or bequeathed so that it or its yield shall be maintenance or a temporary or lifelong allowance, and sums awarded by the courts as maintenance or as a temporary allowance, or for expenditure for a specific purpose, all except to the extent of one quarter in satisfaction of a debt of established maintenance.
(d) Property donated or bequeathed subject to a condition that it may not be attached, where the attaching creditor is a creditor of the donee or legatee whose debt arose before the gift or bequest, except for a debt of established maintenance and within the limit of one quarter.
(e) Such books, tools and equipment as the debtor requires to practise his profession or trade personally, unless the attachment is to recover their price or the costs of their maintenance or established maintenance.
(f) Movable property deemed immovable by destination, if it is attached separately from the immovable property allocated to its service, unless the attachment is to recover its price or the costs of its maintenance.
(g) Wages and salaries, for which no special law has been issued regulating the conditions of their exemption from attachment, except to the extent of one half; in the event of competing debts, one half shall be allocated to the payment of debts of established maintenance and the other half to other debts.
(h) The private residence necessary for the habitation of a Kuwaiti debtor and his family, provided that he occupied it before the debt arose; this provision shall apply only to one residence of his. All the foregoing applies unless the attachment is to recover a debt owed to the Kuwait Credit Bank, or a debt secured by a privilege over that property in accordance with Articles 1080, 1081 and 1082 of the Civil Code, or maintenance awarded by judgment.
The debtor shall not benefit from this provision if the creditor proves that the debtor has disposed of his property, before or after the entry into force of this Law, by a disposition prejudicial to the creditor’s right.
A residence shall be deemed necessary if it is one of the government houses or a comparable private residence built on land with an area not exceeding one thousand square metres.
The judge of summary matters shall decide disputes arising from the assessment of the need of the debtor and his family for the residence, in a manner that observes the rights of the creditor and provides protection for the debtor in his private residence.
* Clause (h) was amended by Law No. 57 of 1989.
Article 217
If the attachment is not completed in one day, it may be completed on a following day or days, provided that they are consecutive, and the enforcement officer shall take whatever is necessary to preserve the attached items and the items sought to be attached until the record is completed. The record shall be signed whenever the attachment proceedings stop. However, if circumstances require the enforcement officer to continue the attachment proceedings beyond the times prescribed in Article (6) or on an official holiday, he may complete them without the need to obtain permission from the judge of interim matters.
Article 218
At any stage of the proceedings before the award of the auction, a sum of money equal to the debts for which the attachment was made and their accessories may be deposited in the treasury of the Enforcement Department, to be allocated exclusively to their payment. Such deposit shall result in the release of the attachment from the attached property and its transfer to the deposited sum.
If new attachments are subsequently made on the deposited sum, they shall have no effect as against those for whom the sum was allocated.
The debtor whose property is attached may, at any stage of the proceedings, request the judge of summary matters to determine a sum, or whatever may take its place, to be deposited by him in the treasury of the Enforcement Department for the purpose of payment to the attaching creditor. Such deposit shall result in the release of the attachment from the attached property and its transfer to what has been deposited, and what has been deposited shall become allocated to the payment of the attaching creditor’s claim upon its acknowledgement in his favour or a judgment in his favour establishing it.
Article 219
If the value of the right for which the attachment was made is disproportionate to the value of the attached property, the debtor may request the judge of summary matters to give judgment restricting the attachment to part of such property. This shall be by an action filed in accordance with the ordinary procedures, to which the attaching creditors and whoever is deemed by law to be a party to the proceedings shall be made parties.
The creditors as against whom the attachment has been restricted shall have priority over other creditors in recovering their rights from the property to which the attachment is restricted.
Article 220
If the attachment is manifestly null and void, any interested party may request the judge of summary matters, as against the attaching creditor, to give judgment that the attachment be disregarded and that the effects arising from it cease.
Article 221
The debtor, judges, members of the Public Prosecution, employees of the courts or of the bodies assisting the judiciary, and lawyers acting as agents for the party conducting the proceedings or for the debtor may not bid at the auction, either in person or through a nominee, failing which the sale shall be null and void.
* Amended by Law No. 26 of 2015.
Chapter Two – Precautionary Attachment
Article 222
Without prejudice to the provisions of any other law, a creditor holding a debt that is certain to exist and due for payment may make a precautionary attachment on the movables of his debtor in the following cases:
(a) Any case in which he fears the loss of the security for his right.
(b) For the lessor of real property, as against the lessee and the sub-lessee, on the movables, fruits and crops present in the leased premises, in order to secure the privilege conferred on him by law. He may also do so if such movables, fruits and crops have been removed without his knowledge, unless thirty days have elapsed since their removal or property sufficient to secure the privilege conferred on him remains in the leased premises.
Article 223
The owner of a movable, and whoever has a right in rem over it or a right to retain it, may make a precautionary attachment on it in the hands of whoever possesses it.
Article 224
If the creditor does not hold an executory instrument, or his debt is of an undetermined amount, the attachment may not be made except by an order of the judge of interim matters permitting the attachment and provisionally assessing the debt of the attaching creditor, on the basis of a reasoned petition submitted by the person applying for the attachment.
Before issuing the order, the judge may conduct a summary inquiry if the documents supporting the application are insufficient. In the case referred to in the preceding Article, the petition shall contain a full description of the movables sought to be attached.
However, such permission shall not be required if the creditor holds a judgment, even one not enforceable, provided that the debt established by it is of a determined amount.
If the action on the right has already been filed before the competent court, the permission to attach referred to in the first paragraph may be requested from the presiding judge of the panel hearing the action.
Article 225
Precautionary attachment on movables shall be governed by the rules and procedures set out in Chapter Four of this Part, except those relating to fixing the day of sale, unless such movables are liable to perish, in which case the provision of the second paragraph of Article (252) shall be observed. The attaching creditor shall serve the attachment record and the order issued for it on the debtor whose property is attached, if he has not previously been served with it, within eight days at most from the date on which it was made, failing which it shall be deemed never to have been made.
The attaching creditor shall also, within the aforementioned time limit, file before the competent court the action for establishment of the right and validity of the attachment, in cases where the attachment is made by order of the judge, failing which the attachment shall be deemed never to have been made.
If the action on the right has already been filed, the action for validity of the attachment shall be submitted to the same court so that it may hear both together.
If a judgment is given upholding the validity of the attachment and it is enforceable or becomes so, the procedures prescribed for sale in Chapter Four of this Part shall be followed, or enforcement shall be carried out by delivery of the movable in the case referred to in Article (223).
Article 226
If the lessor of real property makes an attachment on the movables of the sub-lessee in accordance with paragraph (b) of Article (222), the proceedings shall be directed against both the original lessee and the sub-lessee, and service of the attachment on the sub-lessee shall also constitute an attachment in his hands of the rent.
If the original lessee is not prohibited from sub-letting, the sub-lessee may request the lifting of the attachment on his movables, while the attachment in his hands of the rent remains.
Chapter Three – Attachment of the Debtor’s Property Held by Third Parties
Article 227
Any creditor holding a debt that is certain to exist and due for payment may attach the movables or debts owed to his debtor that are held by third parties, even if they are deferred or subject to a condition.
If the attachment is not made on a specific movable or debt, it shall cover all movables of the debtor whose property is attached that are in the hands of the garnishee, or debts owed to him that arise thereafter in the garnishee’s charge up to the time of the declaration of indebtedness, provided that the garnishee shall thereafter be bound to declare, in his declaration of indebtedness, any property added for the debtor or any credit balances in his favour, unless the attachment is lifted by the Enforcement Department.
Attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties shall be made on the movables of the debtor that are in the possession of his legal representative.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 228
When attaching the movables of the debtor in the possession of a third party, the procedure for attachment of movables in the hands of the debtor set out in Chapter Four of this Part may be followed if the third party agrees, at the time of the attachment, to the following of that procedure instead of attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties.
Article 229
If the creditor does not hold an executory instrument, or his debt is of an undetermined amount, the attachment may not be made except by an order of the judge of interim matters permitting the attachment and provisionally assessing the debt of the attaching creditor, on the basis of a petition submitted by the person applying for the attachment. However, such permission shall not be required if the creditor holds a judgment, even one not enforceable, provided that the debt established by it is of a determined amount.
Article 230
The attachment shall be made by service, through the enforcement officer, on the garnishee, and prior service on the debtor shall not be required. The document of service shall contain the following particulars:
(a) A copy of the judgment or executory instrument under which the attachment is made, or of the judge’s permission to attach or his order assessing the debt.
(b) A statement of the principal sum for which the attachment is made and its accessories.
(c) Identification of the debtor whose property is attached in a manner that removes all uncertainty, if the attachment relates to specific property, and a prohibition on the garnishee against paying or delivering what is in his hands to the debtor whose property is attached.
(d) The electronic mail address, domicile and place of work of the attaching creditor, and the designation of a chosen domicile for him in Kuwait if he has no domicile or place of work there.
(e) A requirement for the garnishee to make the declaration of indebtedness at the Enforcement Department before which the proceedings are taken, within ten days from his being served with the attachment, and of any property added for the debtor or credit balances in his favour, unless the attachment is lifted by the Enforcement Department.
If the document of service does not contain the particulars set out in clauses (a), (b) and (c), the attachment shall be null and void, and any interested party may invoke such nullity. If the garnishee has several branches, the attachment shall have effect only in respect of the branch designated by the attaching creditor.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 231
The attachment shall be notified to the debtor whose property is attached by serving it on him by the methods set out in this Law. The document of service shall state that the attachment has been made and its date, specify the judgment, executory instrument or order of the judge under which the attachment was made, the sum for which the attachment is made, the attached property, and the domicile and place of work of the attaching creditor, and designate a chosen domicile in Kuwait if he has no domicile or place of work there. The notification may be made on the same attachment document after it has been served on the garnishee. The attachment shall be notified within the eight days following its service on the garnishee, failing which the attachment shall be deemed never to have been made. Where there are several garnishees, the time limit shall be calculated separately for each of them.
The attaching creditor shall also, within the time limit referred to in the preceding paragraph, file against the debtor whose property is attached, before the competent court, the action for establishment of the right and validity of the attachment, in cases where the attachment is made by order of the judge, failing which the attachment shall be deemed never to have been made. If the garnishee is made a party to this action, he may not request to be removed from it, and the judgment given in it shall not be binding on him except as regards the validity of the attachment proceedings.
If the action on the right has already been filed, the action for validity of the attachment shall be submitted to the same court so that it may hear both together.
* Amended by Law No. 9 of 2020.
Article 232
The debtor whose property is attached may file an action before the competent court requesting the lifting of the attachment, and the filing of such action may not be invoked against the garnishee or the Enforcement Department unless it has been notified to them. Such notification shall prevent them from paying the attaching creditor until the action has been decided.
This effect shall not result from notification of the filing of another action requesting the lifting of the attachment, unless the court orders that they be prevented from paying.
* The last paragraph was added by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Article 233
The attachment shall not prevent the garnishee from paying, nor prevent the debtor whose property is attached from claiming payment from him. Payment shall be made by depositing what he owes in the treasury of the Enforcement Department. If the subject of the attachment is movables that cannot be deposited in that treasury, they may be delivered to a custodian appointed by the Director of the Enforcement Department on an application submitted to him by the garnishee or the debtor whose property is attached, and the attachment shall remain in force over the said sums or movables.
The deposit shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the garnishee of the attachments made in his hands, the dates of their service, the names, capacities and domicile, place of work or chosen domicile of each of the attaching creditors and the debtor whose property is attached, the instruments under which the attachments were made, and the sums for which they were made.
The Enforcement Department shall immediately notify the attaching creditor and the debtor whose property is attached, by registered letter, that the deposit has been made or that the movables have been placed in the hands of a custodian.
The deposit, or the placing of the movables in custody, shall dispense with the declaration of indebtedness if the sum or movable is sufficient to pay the debt of the attaching creditor.
If a new attachment is made on the deposited sum or on the movables placed in custody, so that either of them becomes insufficient, any of the earlier attaching creditors may require the garnishee to make the declaration of indebtedness within ten days from the day on which he is so required.
Article 234
If the deposit is not made in accordance with the preceding Article or Article (218), the garnishee shall make the declaration of indebtedness at the Enforcement Department before which the proceedings are taken, within ten days from his being served with the attachment. The declaration shall state the amount of the debt, its cause and the grounds of its extinction, if any, and shall specify all the attachments made in his hands, and he shall deposit the documents supporting his declaration or copies of them. If the garnishee holds movables, he shall attach to the declaration a detailed statement of them.
If the attachment is made in the hands of the Government, a public authority, a public institution or a bank, the declaration of indebtedness shall be made by a letter sent by the garnishee entity to the Enforcement Department before which the proceedings are taken, within the aforementioned time limit, containing the particulars of the declaration.
The garnishee shall not be exempted from the duty to make the declaration of indebtedness by the fact that he is not indebted to the debtor whose property is attached, in which case the declaration may be made by a statement recorded by the enforcement officer in the record of service of the attachment when it is made; nor shall professional secrecy exempt him from the duty to make the declaration of indebtedness.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 235
If the garnishee dies, loses his legal capacity, or his capacity or that of his representative ceases, the attaching creditor may serve the heirs of the garnishee, or whoever takes his place, with a copy of the attachment document and require them to make the declaration of indebtedness within ten days from such requirement.
Article 236
If the action disputing the declaration of indebtedness is filed by the attaching creditor, he shall not be deemed a third party as regards the evidence admissible to prove or disprove the action.
Article 237
If the garnishee fails to make the declaration of indebtedness in the manner prescribed by law, or submits an insufficient declaration, or declares what is untrue, or conceals the documents that he is required to deposit in support of the declaration, judgment may be given against him, in favour of the creditor who has obtained an executory instrument for his debt, for the sum for which the attachment was made, by an action filed in accordance with the ordinary procedures.
Enforcement of the judgment imposing this penalty shall be deemed payment of the attaching creditor’s right against the debtor whose property is attached.
The judgment imposing the said penalty shall not be given if the garnishee remedies the defect on account of which the action was filed before the close of pleadings in it, even before the court of second instance.
In all cases, the garnishee shall be ordered to pay the costs of the action and the compensation arising from his default or delay.
Article 238
After ten days from the date of his declaration of indebtedness, the garnishee shall pay to the attaching creditor the sum he has acknowledged, or so much of it as satisfies the attaching creditor’s right, provided that the latter’s right is, at the time of payment, established by an executory instrument and the procedures set out in Article (209) have been observed.
Article 239
If neither payment is made in accordance with the preceding Article nor deposit in accordance with Articles (218) and (233), the attaching creditor may enforce against the property of the garnishee under his executory instrument, accompanied by an official copy of the garnishee’s declaration, subject to the provisions of Article (204).
Article 240
If the attachment is on movables, they shall be sold by the procedures prescribed for the sale of movables attached in the hands of the debtor, without the need for a new attachment. If what is attached is a debt not yet due for payment, it shall be sold by the procedures set out in Article (262).
Article 241
A creditor may make an attachment in his own hands on what he owes to his debtor. This shall be done by service on the debtor containing the particulars required to be stated in the document notifying the attachment.
In cases where the attachment is made by order of the judge, the attaching creditor shall, within the eight days following service of the attachment on the debtor, file before the competent court the action for establishment of the right and validity of the attachment, failing which the attachment shall be deemed never to have been made.
Chapter Four – Attachment of Movables in the Debtor’s Possession
Article 242
The attachment shall be made by a record drawn up at the place where it is made, which shall contain, in addition to the particulars required to be stated in documents of service, the following:
(a) Mention of the executory instrument.
(b) Mention of the domicile or place of work of the attaching creditor, and the designation of a chosen domicile for him in Kuwait if he has no domicile or place of work there.
(c) The place of the attachment, the proceedings carried out by the enforcement officer, the obstacles and objections he encountered during the attachment, and the action he took in respect of them.
(d) The attached items itemised in detail, stating their type, descriptions, quantity, and weight or measurements, together with their approximate value.
(e) The fixing of a day and hour for the sale and the place where it will be held. The enforcement officer shall sign the attachment record, and the attachment may not be made in the presence of the party seeking enforcement.
The attachment shall not require the removal of the attached items from their location, and the items shall become attached merely by their being mentioned in the attachment record, even if no custodian is appointed over them.
The debtor may not be searched in order to attach what is in his pocket except with the prior permission of the Director of the Enforcement Department upon the creditor’s application.
If the attachment is made in the presence of the debtor or at his domicile or place of work, a copy of the record shall be delivered to him or to whoever is entitled to receive it on his behalf, in the manner set out in Article (9). If the attachment is made in his absence and other than at his domicile or place of work, he shall be served with the record in person or at his domicile or place of work within the seven days following the attachment at most.
Article 243
If the attachment is on jewellery or on gold or silver bullion, or bullion of another precious metal, or on jewels or precious stones, they shall be weighed and their descriptions accurately stated in the attachment record, and such items shall be valued by an expert appointed by the Director of the Enforcement Department at the request of the enforcement officer.
Works of art and other valuable items may be valued in the same manner at the request of the attaching creditor or the debtor whose property is attached. In all cases, the expert’s report shall be attached to the attachment record.
If it becomes necessary to remove them for weighing or valuation, they shall be placed in a sealed container, and this shall be stated in the record together with a description of the seals.
If the attachment is on cash or paper currency, the enforcement officer shall state its descriptions and amount in the record and deposit it in the treasury of the Enforcement Department.
Article 244
The enforcement officer shall appoint a custodian for the attached items, and shall choose the custodian himself if neither the attaching creditor nor the debtor whose property is attached brings forward a competent person. The debtor whose property is attached shall be appointed if he so requests, unless dissipation is feared and there are reasonable grounds for this, which shall be stated in the record; in that case the opinion of the debtor whose property is attached on those grounds, if any, shall be stated, and the matter shall be referred immediately to the Director of the Enforcement Department to take his decision thereon.
If the enforcement officer does not find at the place of attachment anyone who accepts the custody, and the debtor is present, he shall charge him with the custody, and his refusal of it shall be disregarded. If the debtor is not present, the enforcement officer shall take all possible measures to preserve the attached items and shall refer the matter immediately to the Director of the Enforcement Department, who shall order either their removal and deposit with a trustee who accepts the custody, chosen by the attaching creditor or the enforcement officer, or their removal to the stores of the Enforcement Department.
Article 245
If the custodian is present at the time of the attachment, the attached items shall be delivered to him at the place of their attachment after he has signed the attachment record and been given a copy of it. If he is absent or is appointed later, an inventory of the attached items shall be taken and they shall be delivered to him after he has signed the inventory record and been given a copy of it.
If the custodian refuses to sign the attachment or inventory record, or refuses to receive a copy of it, the reasons for this shall be stated in the record.
Article 246
A custodian who is not the debtor or the possessor shall be entitled to remuneration for his custody, and such remuneration shall have the privilege of judicial costs over the attached movables. The custodian’s remuneration shall be assessed by an order issued by the Director of the Enforcement Department on a petition submitted to him.
Article 247
The custodian may not use, exploit, lend or expose to damage the attached items, failing which he shall be deprived of the custody fee in addition to being ordered to pay damages. However, if he is their owner or holds a right of usufruct over them, he may use them for the purpose for which they are intended.
If the attachment is on livestock, goods, tools or machinery necessary for the management or exploitation of land, a factory, a workshop or an establishment, the Director of the Enforcement Department may, on a petition submitted by an interested party, order that the custodian be charged with the management or exploitation if he is fit to do so, or replace him with another custodian who will do so.
Article 248
The custodian may not request to be relieved of the custody before the day fixed for the sale except for reasons that warrant it, and he shall be relieved by an order on petition issued by the Director of the Enforcement Department. The enforcement officer shall take an inventory of the attached items when the new custodian takes up his task and shall draw up a record thereof, which this custodian shall sign and of which he shall receive a copy.
Article 249
If the enforcement officer proceeds to attach movables previously attached in the hands of the debtor, the custodian of them shall produce to him a copy of the attachment record and present the attached items, and the enforcement officer shall make an inventory of them in a record, attach whatever has not previously been attached, and make the custodian under the first attachment the custodian of them if they are in the same place.
This record shall be served within three days at most on the first attaching creditor, the debtor and the custodian if he is not present, and shall also be served on the enforcement officer who made the first attachment if he is not the one who drew up the inventory record.
Such service shall result in the attachment being maintained for the benefit of the second attaching creditor even if the first attaching creditor waives it, and it shall also be deemed an attachment in the hands of the enforcement officer on the sums realised from the sale.
If the first attachment on the movables is null and void, this shall not affect the subsequent attachments if they are valid in themselves.
Article 250
A creditor, even if he does not hold an executory instrument, may attach in the hands of the enforcement officer the price realised from the sale, in accordance with the rules for attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties, without the need to request a judgment upholding the validity of the attachment.
Article 251
Immediately after the attachment is completed, the enforcement officer shall affix, on the door of the place where the attached items are located and on the boards provided for that purpose at the Enforcement Department, notices stating the day, hour and place of the sale and the type of the attached items with a general description of them, and shall record that this has been done in a record appended to the attachment record.
The Director of the Enforcement Department may order that this be announced in the Official Gazette, a daily newspaper or other media. He may also, at the request of the attaching creditor or the debtor whose property is attached, permit additional means of announcement and publication at the expense of the applicant, and he may also order this of his own motion, to be deducted from the proceeds of the sale.
The affixing shall be established by its entry in a special register kept for that purpose at the Enforcement Department, and the publication shall be established by submitting a copy of the newspaper or a certificate from the media outlet.
Article 252
The sale shall take place at the place where the attached items are located or at the place designated by the Enforcement Department for the sale of attached property, unless the interest requires otherwise. It shall take place at least eight days after the date of delivery of a copy of the attachment record to the debtor or of his being served with it, and at least one day after the date on which the affixing or publication procedures are completed.
However, if the attached items are liable to perish or are goods subject to price fluctuations, the Director of the Enforcement Department may order that the sale be held at the place he deems fit and from one hour to the next, as circumstances require, on an application submitted to him by the custodian, an interested party or the enforcement officer.
If the sale does not take place on the day fixed in the attachment record, the enforcement officer shall fix another day for it, of which the custodian and the interested parties shall be served, and the affixing or publication shall be repeated in the manner set out in the preceding Articles.
Article 253
The sale shall be by public auction, called by the enforcement officer, on condition of immediate payment of the price. Exceptions may be made to this condition in the cases specified by a resolution of the Minister of Justice. The enforcement officer shall not begin the sale until he has taken an inventory of the attached items and recorded their condition in the sale record, and he shall record therein all the sale proceedings, the objections and obstacles he encountered and the action he took in respect of them. He shall also record the presence or absence of the attaching creditor and the debtor whose property is attached, and the signature of each if present or his refusal to sign.
The enforcement officer shall record in the record, as far as possible, the names of the bidders, the domicile and place of work of each of them, the prices offered by them and their signatures. The record shall in particular state the price at which the auction was awarded and the name, domicile, place of work and signature of the person to whom it was awarded.
It shall be sufficient, to announce the continuation or postponement of the sale, for the enforcement officer to state this publicly and record it in the sale record.
Article 254
If no one comes forward to buy the jewellery, the gold or silver bullion, the ornaments, jewels and precious stones, or the items valued according to the experts’ assessment, at their value, and the creditor does not accept recovering his debt from them in kind at that value, the time limit for their sale shall be extended to the following day if it is not a holiday, or to the first working day after the holiday. If no purchaser comes forward at the assessed value, the sale shall be postponed to another day, with the affixing or publication repeated within its time limits in the manner set out in the preceding Articles, and they shall then be sold to the person to whom the auction is awarded, even at a price lower than their assessed value.
Article 255
If the successful bidder does not pay the price immediately, the sale shall be repeated at his expense in the foregoing manner at whatever price, and he shall be liable for any shortfall in the price. The sale record shall be deemed an executory instrument against him for the difference in price, and he shall have no right to any increase in the price, which shall belong to the debtor and his creditors.
Article 256
If the sale of some of the attached items yields a sum sufficient to pay the debts for which the attachment was made, the remaining attached items may not be sold, and the attachment shall be lifted from them.
If other attachments are made in the hands of the enforcement officer, or of any other person holding the price of the items sold, they shall cover only what exceeds the payment of the debts for which the attachment was first made.
Article 257
If an action for recovery of the attached items is filed, the sale shall be stayed unless the judge of summary matters gives judgment for the continuation of enforcement, with or without the condition of depositing the price.
Article 258
The action for recovery shall be filed against the attaching creditor, the debtor whose property is attached and the intervening attaching creditors, and its statement of claim shall contain a full statement of the evidence of ownership. The plaintiff shall, upon submitting the statement of claim to the court registry, deposit whatever documents he may have, failing which judgment shall be given, at the request of any of the defendants, for the continuation of enforcement without awaiting the decision in the action, and this judgment may not be challenged.
Article 259
The attaching creditor shall be entitled to proceed with enforcement if the court orders the action to be struck off the roll or stayed pursuant to Article (70), or if it is deemed never to have been filed or a judgment is given deeming it so. He shall also be entitled to proceed with enforcement if judgment is given in the action dismissing it, or declaring lack of jurisdiction, or declaring it inadmissible, or declaring its statement of claim null and void, or declaring the lapse of proceedings in it, or accepting its abandonment.
The attaching creditor may proceed with enforcement even if the judgments referred to in the preceding paragraph are subject to appeal.
Article 260
If a second action for recovery is filed by the same claimant for recovery, and his first action was deemed never to have been filed or a judgment was given deeming it so, or dismissing it, or declaring it inadmissible, or declaring the court’s lack of jurisdiction, or declaring its statement of claim null and void, or declaring the lapse of proceedings in it, or accepting its abandonment, the sale shall not be stayed unless the judge of summary matters gives judgment staying it for serious reasons. This provision shall apply if the action for recovery is renewed after being struck off the roll or stayed pursuant to Article (70).
The same provision shall also apply if a second action for recovery is filed by another claimant for recovery. An action shall be deemed a second action when it is later in the date of its filing, even if filed before the cessation of the suspensive effect on the sale arising from the filing of the first action.
Chapter Five – Attachment of Shares, Bonds, Income and Interests
Article 261
Shares and bonds, if they are to bearer or transferable by endorsement, shall be attached in the manner prescribed for the attachment of movables.
The attachment of settled income, registered shares, profit shares owed by legal persons and the rights of limited partners shall be made in the manner prescribed for the attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties, and their attachment shall entail the attachment of their fruits, both those that have fallen due and those that fall due up to the day of the sale.
Article 262
Shares, bonds and the other items provided for in the preceding Article shall be sold through a bank, broker or money changer appointed by the Director of the Enforcement Department, who shall specify in his decision the procedures to be taken for giving notice of the sale.
Chapter Six – Attachment of Real Property
Article 263
The attaching creditor shall submit an application for attachment of the immovable property to the Enforcement Department, accompanied by the executory instrument, a copy of its service on the person against whom the attachment is sought together with the demand for payment pursuant to Article (204), and an official copy of the title deed of the person against whom the attachment is sought. The application shall contain the following particulars:
(a) The full name, occupation, domicile and place of work of the applicant, and his chosen domicile in Kuwait if he has no domicile or place of work there.
(b) The full name, occupation or post, domicile and place of work of the person against whom the attachment is sought.
(c) The conditions of sale.
(d) A description of the immovable property sought to be attached, stating its location, area, boundaries and real estate zone, and any other particulars helpful in identifying it, in accordance with what is recorded in the registers of the Real Estate Registration and Authentication Department.
The creditor may obtain, by petition, an order from the Director of the Enforcement Department authorising the enforcement officer to enter the immovable property to obtain the particulars necessary to describe it and determine its contents, and no grievance may be lodged against this order.
Article 264
The enforcement officer shall proceed, on the following day at the latest, to the Real Estate Registration and Authentication Department and shall register the application for attachment of the immovable property in the records of that Department. He shall annotate the application accordingly, specifying the date and hour of registration, and shall also annotate it with the place, day and hour of the sale, having regard to the time limits referred to in Article (266).
The enforcement officer shall obtain an official statement, from the real estate register, of the creditors holding registered rights and of the domicile and place of work of each of them.
Registration of the application for attachment shall result in the immovable property being deemed attached.
Article 265
Within seven days of the attachment, the enforcement officer shall serve each of the debtor, the holder and the real surety with a copy of the application for attachment, after it has been annotated to indicate its registration and to specify the place, day and hour of the sale.
He shall also, within the same time limit, serve this record on the registered creditors referred to in the preceding Article, and those creditors shall, upon being served, become parties to the proceedings as attaching creditors. Should any of them die, service shall be made on his heirs collectively at the domicile specified in the registration, provided that not more than six months have elapsed since the death.
Article 266
The Enforcement Department shall refer the enforcement file to the Court of First Instance immediately upon the service referred to in the preceding Article being effected, and the court registry shall give notice of the sale, not more than thirty days and not less than fifteen days before the day fixed for it, by publication in the Official Gazette and in one or more daily newspapers, as the judge of sales deems appropriate.
Before notice of the sale is given, the judge of sales shall appoint one or more experts to assess the price of the immovable property, or one or more competent licensed brokers to offer the attached immovable property for sale outside the court, and the experts or brokers so appointed shall be given a period of not more than thirty days and not less than fifteen days from the date on which the judge of sales assigns them to carry out their task.
The bidding shall open at the base price fixed by the expert or broker, together with the costs.
Article 267
The judge of sales shall be such judge of the Court of First Instance as is delegated for that purpose.
Article 268
The notice of the sale shall include the following particulars:
(a) The full name, occupation, domicile and place of work of each of the attaching creditor, the debtor, and the holder or the real surety.
(b) A description of the immovable property as stated in the application for attachment.
(c) The conditions of sale, the base price fixed by the expert or broker, and the costs.
(d) The court before which the sale will take place, and the day and hour of the bidding.
The attaching creditor, the debtor, the holder, the real surety and any interested party may obtain leave from the judge of sales to publish further notices of the sale in newspapers and other media on account of the importance or nature of the immovable property or of other circumstances, and additional publication shall in no case result in the sale being delayed. The judge’s order in this regard may not be the subject of a grievance.
Article 269
A disposition of the immovable property by the debtor, the holder or the real surety, and any mortgage or privilege arising therefrom, shall not be effective against the attaching creditors, even if they are ordinary creditors, nor against the person to whom the auction is awarded, if the disposition, mortgage or privilege was registered after registration of the application for attachment.
The fruits and revenues of the immovable property for the period following registration of the application for attachment shall attach to the property, and the revenue and the price of the fruits and crops shall be deposited in the treasury of the Enforcement Department. If the property is not leased, the person whose property is attached shall be deemed a custodian until the sale is completed, and the person whose property is attached who resides in the property may continue to reside in it without rent until the sale is completed. If the property is leased, the rent due for the period following registration of the application for attachment shall be deemed attached in the hands of the tenant as soon as he is instructed by the attaching creditor, or by any creditor holding an executory instrument, not to pay it to the debtor; if the tenant pays the rent before such instruction, his payment shall be valid and the person whose property is attached shall be accountable for it as custodian.
Article 270
If the immovable property is encumbered by a real security and has passed to a holder under a registered contract before the attachment, the holder shall, before the application for attachment, be given formal notice to pay the debt or to relinquish the property, failing which enforcement shall proceed against him.
In addition to the general particulars of documents of service and the demand to pay or relinquish, the formal notice shall include the following particulars:
(a) The executory instrument.
(b) The service on the debtor and the demand for payment made in accordance with Article (204).
(c) A description of the immovable property subject to enforcement as recorded in the records of the Real Estate Registration and Authentication Department.
The aforesaid formal notice shall also be addressed to the mortgagor in cases where enforcement is levied on immovable property mortgaged by a person other than the debtor.
Service of the formal notice shall have, with respect to the person served, all the effects provided for in the second paragraph of the preceding Article.
Article 271
The persons concerned shall raise the grounds of nullity in the notice provided for in Articles (266) and (268) by a report filed with the court registry of the Court of First Instance at least three days before the hearing fixed for the sale, failing which their right to raise them shall lapse.
The judge of sales shall rule on the aforesaid grounds of nullity on the day fixed for the sale before the bidding opens, and his judgment shall not be open to challenge by any means. If he rules that the notice procedures are null and void, he shall postpone the sale to a day he fixes and order those procedures to be repeated.
If he rules to reject the application for nullity, he shall order the bidding to proceed forthwith.
The debtor, the holder, the real surety and the creditors referred to in the second paragraph of Article (265) shall likewise raise the other grounds of nullity relating to the procedures preceding the sale hearing, as well as the grounds of objection to the conditions of sale, at least ten days before the date of that hearing, failing which their right to raise them shall lapse. This shall be done by an action filed in the ordinary manner before the competent court, and the person filing it shall deposit a copy of its statement of claim with the court registry of the Court of First Instance at least three days before the hearing fixed for the sale. The judge of sales (in his capacity as judge of summary matters) shall, at the request of the person filing the aforesaid action, rule to stay the sale or to proceed with it according to whether he finds those grounds to be serious or not, and his judgment shall not be open to challenge. If he rules to proceed with the sale, he shall order the bidding to proceed forthwith.
Article 272
The judge of sales shall assess the costs of the enforcement procedures, including advocates’ fees, and this assessment shall be announced at the hearing before the bidding opens and stated in the judgment of award of the auction.
Article 273
The judge of sales shall conduct the bidding on the day fixed for the sale, and the bidding may not begin until it has been verified that the judgment under which enforcement is levied has become final.
The bidding at the sale hearing shall begin with a call by the person delegated by the Enforcement Department. If no purchaser comes forward at the sale hearing, the judge shall rule to postpone the sale with a reduction of the base price by a proportion not exceeding one tenth, time after time, whenever the circumstances so require. If, however, one or more purchasers come forward at the sale hearing, the judge shall forthwith approve the highest bid at the hearing, and a bid that is not exceeded within five minutes shall be deemed to close the bidding.
Article 274
The person whose bid is approved by the judge shall, while the sale hearing is in session, deposit the full approved price, the costs and the registration fees, in which case the judge shall rule to award the auction to him.
If he does not deposit the full price, he shall deposit at least one fifth of the price, failing which the bidding shall be held again at his risk at the same hearing on the basis of the price at which the auction had been knocked down.
If at least one fifth of the price is deposited, the sale shall be postponed. If the bidder deposits the price at the next hearing, the auction shall be awarded to him, unless at that hearing someone comes forward who accepts to purchase at an increase of one tenth, accompanied by a deposit of the full price bid, in which case the bidding shall be held again at the same hearing on the basis of that price. If the first bidder does not deposit the full price at the next hearing and no one comes forward with a one-tenth increase, the bidding shall be held again forthwith at his risk on the basis of the price at which the auction had been knocked down to him at the previous hearing, and no bid that is not accompanied by a deposit of its full value shall be taken into account at that hearing.
In all cases, the submission of a letter of guarantee or of a cheque certified by a bank shall take the place of the deposit. If the person required to make the deposit is a creditor and the amount and rank of his debt justify exempting him from the deposit, the judge shall exempt him from depositing all or part of the price and costs which the law requires him to deposit.
The defaulting bidder shall be liable for any shortfall in the price of the immovable property, and the judgment of award of the auction shall include an order against the defaulting bidder to pay the difference in price, if any. He shall have no right to any surplus, which shall instead accrue to the debtor, the holder or the real surety, as the case may be.
The conditions of sale may not in any case contain anything to the contrary.
Article 275
At the request of any interested party, the bidding may be postponed at the same price if there are strong reasons for the postponement. The judgment ordering the postponement may not be challenged by any means of challenge.
In all cases in which the sale is held on its due date, the judge of sales shall, at the request of the interested party, fix another hearing for it, and the publication procedures shall be repeated as set out above.
If the postponement of the sale was preceded by the approval of a bid, the notice shall also include the following particulars:
(a) A summary description of the immovable property for which the bid was approved.
(b) The full name, occupation, and original domicile or place of work of the person whose bid was approved.
(c) The price at which the bid was approved.
Article 276
The judgment of award of the auction shall be issued with the preamble of judgments and without grounds, and shall include a copy of the application for attachment of the immovable property, a statement of the procedures followed in respect thereof and in giving notice of the sale, and a copy of the minutes of the sale hearing. Its operative part shall include an order to the debtor, the holder or the real surety to deliver the immovable property to the person to whom the auction has been awarded. The original copy of the judgment shall be deposited in the case file on the day following its issue.
This judgment shall not be served, and it shall be enforced compulsorily by requiring the debtor, the holder, the real surety or the custodian, as the case may be, to attend at the place of delivery on the day and at the hour fixed for it, provided that service to that effect is made at least two days before the day fixed for delivery.
If there are movables in the immovable property in which a person other than the person whose property is attached has a right, the person requesting enforcement shall apply by petition to the Director of the Enforcement Department for the measures necessary to safeguard the rights of the persons concerned, and the Director may hear the persons concerned whenever the circumstances so require before issuing his order.
If the person whose ownership has been divested resides in the immovable property, he shall remain in it as a tenant by operation of law, and the person to whom the auction has been awarded shall be bound to draw up a lease in his favour at the market rent.
Article 277
The judgment of award of the auction may not be appealed except for a defect in the bidding procedures or in the form of the judgment, or because it was issued without the procedures being stayed in a case where a stay is mandatory by law.
The appeal shall be filed in the ordinary manner within seven days of the pronouncement of the judgment.
Article 278
The court registry of the Court of First Instance shall, at the request of the person concerned, request the Real Estate Registration and Authentication Department to register the judgment of award of the auction after the person to whom the auction has been awarded has deposited the full price, unless he has been exempted from the deposit, and the rules laid down in the Real Estate Registration Law shall be followed in registering the judgment.
If the auction of the immovable property is awarded to its holder, registration of that judgment shall not be mandatory; instead, it shall be annotated in the margin of the registration of the instrument under which he acquired ownership of the property.
Such registration or annotation shall result in the sold property being purged of the privileges, registered mortgages and possessory mortgages whose holders were served in accordance with the second paragraph of Article (265), and only their right to the price shall remain.
Article 279
A third party may apply for the nullity of the enforcement procedures together with a claim of entitlement to all or part of the attached immovable property, by an action filed in the ordinary manner before the competent court, in which the attaching creditor, the creditors referred to in the second paragraph of Article (265), and the debtor, the holder or the real surety shall be impleaded. At the first hearing, the court shall order a stay of the sale procedures if the statement of claim contains a precise statement of the evidence of ownership or of the facts of possession on which the action is based and is accompanied by the documents supporting them.
If, however, the day fixed for the sale arrives before the court has ordered the stay, the person filing the action may request the judge of sales to stay the sale, provided that he deposits in the enforcement file an official copy of the served statement of claim.
Judgments issued in accordance with the two preceding paragraphs staying the sale or proceeding with it may not be challenged by any means.
Article 280
If the action for entitlement concerns only part of the attached immovable properties, the sale shall not be stayed in respect of the remainder.
Nevertheless, the judge of sales may, at the request of the person concerned, order the sale to be stayed in respect of all the properties if there are strong reasons for doing so.
Article 281
If the property sold is successfully claimed by a third party, the person to whom the auction was awarded shall have recourse for the price and for compensation, where warranted, and the conditions of sale may not provide for exemption from refunding the price.
Chapter Seven – Distribution of Enforcement Proceeds
Article 282
Once cash held by the debtor has been attached, or the attached property has been sold, or ten days have elapsed from the date of the garnishee’s declaration of what is owed in an attachment of the debtor’s property held by third parties, the attaching creditors and those deemed parties to the proceedings shall be exclusively entitled to the proceeds of enforcement without any further procedure, even if the proceeds are insufficient to satisfy their rights in full.
The exclusive entitlement of those creditors to the proceeds of enforcement shall not prevent other creditors of the debtor from attaching those proceeds to the extent that they exceed what the former are entitled to.
Article 283
If the proceeds of enforcement are sufficient to satisfy all the rights of the attaching creditors and of those deemed parties to the proceedings, the person holding those sums shall pay each creditor his debt upon production of his executory instrument or upon the debtor’s consent.
If one of them does not hold an executory instrument and the action to establish the right and the validity of the attachment is still pending, and the debtor has not consented to payment to him, an amount corresponding to the debt for which the attachment was made shall be set aside for that creditor and kept in the treasury of the Enforcement Department for his account pending the final determination of the action.
Article 284
If the proceeds of enforcement are insufficient to satisfy all the rights of the attaching creditors and of those deemed parties to the proceedings, the person holding those proceeds shall forthwith deposit them in the treasury of the Enforcement Department, together with a statement of the attachments levied in his hands. If he refuses to make the deposit, any person concerned may request the judge of summary matters to compel him to do so and to fix a time limit for the deposit, and if he fails to make the deposit within that time limit, compulsory enforcement may be levied on his personal property.
If the attaching creditors do not agree with the debtor and the holder on the distribution of the proceeds among them within the week following the deposit referred to in the preceding paragraph, the proceeds shall be distributed among them in accordance with the following provisions.
Distribution among the holders of privileged debts and the holders of registered rights shall be according to the order of their ranks as specified by law.
Article 285
The distribution procedures shall commence with the Director of the Enforcement Department, at the request of one of the persons concerned, preparing a provisional distribution list, which he shall deposit with the said Department. Upon the deposit of the list, the Department shall serve the debtor, the holder, the attaching creditors and those deemed parties to the proceedings to appear before the Enforcement Department at a hearing it fixes, with a view to reaching an amicable settlement.
If the persons concerned attend and reach agreement on the distribution by amicable settlement, the Director of the Enforcement Department shall record their agreement in minutes signed by him, the competent official and those present, and those minutes shall have the force of an executory instrument.
If one or some of the persons concerned fail to attend that hearing, their absence shall not prevent the amicable settlement from being made, provided that what is recorded for the absent creditor in the provisional list is not prejudiced. A person who failed to attend may not challenge the amicable settlement recorded by the Director of the Enforcement Department on the basis of the agreement of the parties present.
Once the settlement has been made in the manner referred to in the two preceding paragraphs, the Director of the Enforcement Department shall, within the following five days, prepare the final distribution list setting out the amount due to each creditor.
If all the persons concerned fail to attend the hearing fixed for the amicable settlement, the Director of the Enforcement Department shall deem the provisional list to be the final list.
Article 286
If an amicable settlement cannot be reached owing to objections by some of the persons concerned, the Director of the Enforcement Department shall order their contestations to be recorded in the minutes of the hearing, and no new contestations may be raised after that hearing. The contesting party shall file his action before the Court of First Instance within ten days from the date on which his contestation was recorded in the aforesaid minutes, impleading all the persons concerned, and the judgment issued therein shall be final and unappealable. The court registry shall send a copy of that judgment to the Enforcement Department immediately upon its issue.
Article 287
The Director of the Enforcement Department shall deposit with the said Department the final distribution list setting out the amount due to each creditor. The deposit shall be made within ten days of the expiry of the time limit for filing the contestation action if none is filed, or of receipt by the Enforcement Department of a copy of the judgment issued therein if one is filed. This list shall be drawn up on the basis of the provisional list, or on the basis thereof and of the judgment issued on the contestation, as the case may be.
In all cases, the Director of the Enforcement Department shall order disbursement orders on the Department’s treasury to be delivered, and the registrations to be cancelled, whether they relate to debts included in the list or to debts not reached by the distribution.
Article 288
Contestations of the provisional list shall not prevent the enforcement officer from ordering the delivery of disbursement orders to the creditors entitled to them who rank ahead of the creditors whose debts are disputed.
Part Three – Direct Enforcement
Article 289
In the case of enforcement by delivery of a movable or of immovable property, the enforcement officer shall go to the place where the thing is located in order to deliver it to the applicant, and shall state in his record the things to be delivered, the executory instrument and the date of its service. If the delivery concerns immovable property occupied by a precarious holder, the enforcement officer shall notify him to recognise the new holder.
If the things to be delivered are under attachment, the enforcement officer may not deliver them to the applicant, and the officer shall inform the attaching creditor.
The Director of the Enforcement Department shall issue the orders necessary to safeguard the rights of the persons concerned at the request of the interested party or of the enforcement officer.
Article 290
The enforcement officer shall inform the person obliged to vacate the immovable property of the day and hour on which he will carry out the eviction, at least three days before the day fixed.
When the fixed time arrives, he shall put the applicant in possession of the property. If there are movables in the said property which are not required to be delivered to the applicant for eviction and their owner does not remove them forthwith, the enforcement officer shall entrust their custody, in the same place, to the applicant, or shall move them to another place if the applicant does not agree to such custody. If those movables are under attachment or custody, the enforcement officer shall inform the creditor at whose request the attachment or custody was effected, and in both cases the enforcement officer shall refer the matter to the Director of the Enforcement Department to take such action as he deems necessary to safeguard the rights of the persons concerned.
The enforcement officer shall draw up a record stating the executory instrument, the date of its service, a description of the property being vacated, the movables not required to be delivered to the applicant and the action taken in respect of them.
Article 291
A person requesting compulsory enforcement of an obligation to do or to refrain from doing an act shall submit an application to the Director of the Enforcement Department so that he may determine the manner in which such enforcement is to be carried out, and shall attach to the application the executory instrument and its service.
The Director of the Enforcement Department shall, after serving the other party in order to hear his statements, issue his order determining the manner in which enforcement is to be carried out and appointing the enforcement officer who is to carry it out and the persons charged with completing the work or the removal.
Part Four – Imprisonment of the Debtor and Travel Ban
Article 292
The Director of the Enforcement Department, or the judges assisting him, shall, upon a petition submitted by the creditor holding a final judgment, a final payment order or a final order on petition, issue an order for the arrest and bringing of the debtor and for his imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months if he refuses to comply with a final judgment, a final payment order or a final order on petition notwithstanding proof of his ability to pay.
The person issuing the order shall fix the period of imprisonment and shall also state whether it is to be served at once or in instalments.
A claim of inability to pay shall not be accepted from a debtor under one of the instruments referred to in the first paragraph if he has disposed of or concealed his property with intent to harm the creditor and it has become impossible for the creditor to levy enforcement on that property.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 293
The application for imprisonment shall be submitted to the Director of the Enforcement Department or the judges assisting him, accompanied by a copy of the executory instrument and its service. Before issuing the order, the person issuing it may conduct a summary investigation if the documents supporting the application are insufficient, and may for that purpose obtain the necessary documents from government and non-government entities in order to decide the application.
The person issuing the order may grant the debtor a period for payment not exceeding one month, and may also, with the creditor’s consent, order the debt to be paid in instalments where it is established to him that the debtor is unable to pay it in full but able to pay it in parts. The order for payment by instalments shall be deemed never to have existed if the debtor fails to pay any instalment on its due date.
A grievance against the order shall be lodged in the manner set out in the Chapter on orders on petitions, and shall be treated as a grievance against the non-contentious orders issued by the President of the Court of First Instance.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 293 bis
Imprisonment shall be served separately from prisoners in criminal cases, and the prison administration, in cooperation with the Enforcement Department, shall provide the means enabling the debtor to pay or settle his debts. Enforcement of the order of imprisonment shall not extinguish the right, nor shall it prevent compulsory enforcement for its recovery by the means prescribed by law.
* Added by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 294
An order for the imprisonment of the debtor may not be issued in the following cases:
(a) If he has not exceeded twenty-one years of age or has exceeded sixty-five.
(b) If he has children who have not reached eighteen years of age and his spouse is deceased or imprisoned for any reason. If the application is submitted and the order of imprisonment is barred in enforcement of a judgment or order, the bar shall not thereafter operate to prevent the issue of an order of imprisonment in enforcement of another judgment or order.
(c) If he is the spouse of the creditor or one of the creditor’s ascendants or descendants, unless the debt is established maintenance.
(d) If he has already served the maximum period of imprisonment fixed by a previous order in respect of the same debt.
(e) If he provides sufficient bank security, or a real surety who provides property equivalent to the debt, or a solvent surety accepted by the person competent to issue the order. The record containing the surety’s undertaking shall be an executory instrument against the surety in respect of the obligations arising from his suretyship. The Enforcement Department shall have the power to seek the assistance of experts of the General Department of Experts or of specialist assessors to value the assets provided and assess their sufficiency, and the Enforcement Department shall determine such fees for the appointed expert body as it deems appropriate, which shall be paid from the funds of the Ministry of Justice and recorded as a debt owed by the debtor, and the Ministry shall have the privilege established for the State in collecting them.
(f) If it is established by a medical report that he suffers from an illness that makes him unable to endure imprisonment, or if she is a pregnant woman. For that purpose, the Enforcement Department may seek the assistance of any competent medical body to give its opinion on the debtor’s condition, and the Department may also refer the debtor to any medical body for examination.
(j) If his solvency rests entirely on property that may not be attached.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 295
If the debtor is a private legal person, the order of imprisonment shall be issued against the person to whom the refusal to comply is personally attributable.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 296
An order for the imprisonment of the debtor shall lapse in the following cases:
1- If the creditor consents in writing to the order being cancelled.
2- If the debtor’s obligation for the recovery of which the order was issued is extinguished for any reason.
3- If any of the conditions required for the order of imprisonment ceases to be met, or one of the bars to its issue arises.
* Amended by Decree-Law No. 59 of 2025.
Article 297
A creditor holding a right that is certain to exist and due for payment may, even before filing the substantive action, request the Director of the Enforcement Department, or such deputy presidents of the court as are delegated by the General Assembly of the Court of First Instance, to issue an order imposing a travel ban on the debtor and provisionally assessing the debt if its amount is not specified. The order shall be issued upon a petition submitted by the person concerned to the Enforcement Department if there are serious grounds to believe that the debtor will abscond to evade payment of the debt notwithstanding proof of his ability to pay, and the person issuing the order may, before issuing it, conduct a summary investigation if the documents supporting the application are insufficient.
The issue of a travel ban order shall not prejudice the authority of the administration to terminate the residence of a foreign debtor or to order him to leave the country if the public interest so requires.
The travel ban order shall be served on the person against whom it was issued within two weeks from the date of its issue, and a grievance against it shall be subject to the provisions set out in the third paragraph of Article (293).
The Director of the Enforcement Department may approve the debtor’s travel on account of his own illness or that of one of his first-degree ascendants or descendants or of his wife, provided that the application is accompanied by a medical certificate from an official body stating the need for treatment abroad and that treatment within the country is not possible, the travel ban order nonetheless remaining in force.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002, and one of its paragraphs was subsequently amended by Decree-Law No. 68 of 2026.
Article 298
The travel ban order shall remain in force until the debtor’s obligation towards the creditor who obtained the order is extinguished for any reason. Nevertheless, the aforesaid order shall lapse in the following cases:
(a) If any of the conditions required for the travel ban order ceases to be met.
(b) If the creditor consents in writing to the order being cancelled.
If, however, the debtor’s debt towards the creditor at whose request the order was issued is extinguished outside the Enforcement Department, the creditor shall notify the said Department thereof within one week from the date of extinguishment so that it may cancel the order, and the debtor may give such notification on his part at any time.
(c) If the debtor provides sufficient bank security or a solvent surety accepted by the person competent to issue the order.
The security record containing the surety’s undertaking, accompanied by the judgment against the debtor, shall be an executory instrument against the surety for the amount awarded by that judgment.
(d) If a sum of money equal to the debt and its accessories is deposited in the treasury of the Enforcement Department and allocated to satisfy the right of the creditor at whose request the order was issued. That sum shall be deemed attached by operation of law in favour of that creditor, and any new attachments subsequently levied on it shall have no effect against the person for whom the sum was allocated.
(e) If the creditor does not submit to the Enforcement Department, within seven days of the issue of the travel ban order, evidence that a judicial claim for the debt has been filed.
(f) If three years have elapsed since the final judgment was issued in the action claiming the debt for the recovery of which the travel ban order was issued, without the judgment creditor applying to the Enforcement Department for enforcement of that judgment.
(h) If three years have elapsed since the last valid procedure for the enforcement of the final judgment on the debt for the recovery of which the travel ban order was issued, without the judgment creditor applying to the Enforcement Department to continue the procedures for enforcing that judgment.
* Amended by Law No. 36 of 2002.
Part Five – Tender and Deposit
Article 299
An actual tender shall be made by serving the creditor through a process server, and the tender shall include a statement of its conditions, of the thing tendered and of its acceptance or refusal. If the thing tendered cannot be delivered to the creditor at his domicile or place of work, or cannot be transported except with difficulty, it shall be sufficient, for an actual tender thereof, merely to require the creditor, through a process server, to take delivery of it.
Article 300
If the tender is refused and the thing tendered is money or other things that can be transported and deposited in the treasury of the Enforcement Department, the process server shall deposit it in that treasury on the following day at the latest, and the process server shall serve the creditor with a copy of the deposit record within three days from its date.
If the thing tendered is other than as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the process server shall apply by petition to the judge of interim matters for authorisation to deposit it at the place designated by the judge, if the thing can be transported without difficulty. If, however, it is intended to remain where it is or cannot be transported except with difficulty, he shall request the said judge to place it under custody.
If the thing tendered is perishable or would incur excessive expense to deposit or keep in custody, the debtor or the process server may request the said judge to order its sale by public auction and the deposit of the price in the treasury of the Enforcement Department. If it has a known market price or is traded on exchanges, it may not be sold by auction unless sale by negotiation at the known price is not possible.
Article 301
An actual tender may be made at the hearing before the court without formalities if the person to whom the tender is addressed is present.
If the thing tendered is money or other things that can be transported and deposited in the treasury of the Enforcement Department and the person to whom the tender is addressed refuses it, it shall be handed to the clerk of the hearing for deposit in that treasury, and the deposit record shall reproduce what was recorded in the minutes of the hearing concerning the tender and its refusal.
If the thing tendered at the hearing is other than as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the tenderer shall request the court to appoint a custodian over it, and the judgment appointing the custodian shall not be open to challenge.
The tenderer may forthwith request a judgment on the validity of the tender.
Article 302
A tender not followed by deposit shall not be held valid unless the thing tendered and the accessories accrued up to the day of deposit have been deposited, and the court shall, together with holding the tender valid, rule that the debtor is discharged from the day of the tender.
Article 303
The debtor may withdraw a tender not accepted by his creditor and recover what he deposited, once he proves that he informed his creditor, through a process server, of his withdrawal of the tender and three days have elapsed since he so informed him.
Tenders may not be withdrawn, nor may the deposit be recovered, after the creditor has accepted the tender or after the judgment on the validity of the tender has been issued and become final.
Article 304
The creditor may accept a tender he previously refused and take delivery of what was deposited in his name, provided that the debtor has not withdrawn his tender and the creditor proves to the depositary that he informed the debtor, through a process server, of his intention to take delivery at least three days before doing so. The creditor shall hand to the depositary the copy of the deposit record delivered to him, together with a quittance for what he has received.
Issued on 4 June 1980 and published in the Official Gazette Kuwait Al-Youm on 25 June 1980.