What assets are not liable to seizure?
Family heritage, everyday furniture, clothing, instruments and machinery necessary for work, workers’ wages, crops and life annuity, among others, cannot be seized.
In judicial proceedings when the loosing party does not have sufficient cash to cover the amount to which he was condemned to pay, the Judge may apply certain precautionary measures to guarantee or ensure that the pending obligation is fulfilled. In Mexico, the most effective precautionary measure that ensures compliance with a debtor’s insolvency obligation is the seizure of the debtor’s assets.
How can I stop payments to suppliers and creditors?
An option for individuals with more debts than income is civil and business bankruptcy. The civil bankruptcy is intended to settle debts, but the debtor can keep some assets. The business bankruptcy aims to preserve business and companies, so it does not simply pursue to settle debts
I signed a contract to buy a condo in Mexico. Can I get out of it because of COVID-19?
In addition to important public health considerations, the international pandemic of COVID-19 will affect many people economically. There will be people and companies that will not be able to fulfill their obligations and contracts. So, is the situation created by COVID-19 a circumstance that makes it easier to get out of contracts? Does it have the effect of preventing default from being qualified as an “intentionally wrongful act”?
If your contract has written provisions for extraordinary circumstances, you are one of the lucky few. Most contracts do not contain clauses that could apply to the conditions that we are living in today because of COVID-19. Does Mexican law provide solutions to problems like this?
What is the impact of COVID-19 on Contracts?
Globally we are all experiencing strenuous circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the personal level, the mitigation measures have an impact on your employment, volume of work and finances, and in some instances, they might impede your ability to fulfill your contractual obligations.
What happens in this scenario? What can be done? Is it possible to terminate a contract due to COVID-19?
To answer these questions, it is important to know that according to Mexican law, circumstances like the mitigation measures for COVID-19 can be classified as Force Majeure or Fortuitous Case. Force Majeure is an unpredictable circumstance produced by nature, and Fortuitous Case is an unpredictable circumstance produced by human acts.
What can I do if I can’t pay my creditors in Mexico due to COVID-19?
In addition to important public health considerations, the international pandemic of COVID-19 will affect many people economically. There will be people and companies that will not be able to pay creditors.In Mexico there are judicial procedures that resolve the inability to pay back creditors, thus saving a lot of time and money when compared to individual lawsuits.
The judicial procedure that we are talking about is called, of course, bankruptcy, and bankruptcy can be declared in both commercial and civil matters. Both civil and commercial bankruptcy allow the debtor to settle debts in a non-conflictive way, but they also have major differences. We explain the similarities and differences in the following sections.
How can I protect my assets in times of crisis?
The concern for preserving our assets and assuring our family a future financial stability is common to all people, for that there are various legal figures that ensure the effective protection of people’s assets, preventing certain assets and real estate from being required by creditors or a third party.
The legal figure of “family heritage” (“patrimonio de familia”) is a social guarantee of protection with respect to some assets considered as family property and a mechanism by which the Mexican State protects the exercise of its freedoms and rights, particularly those that ensure its economic protection. This social guarantee for family protection in Mexico is regulated by the Federal Civil Code and in each Civil Code of the federal entities.
- Can I terminate my contract to buy a condo because of Covid-19?-
- What is the impact of Covid-19 on contracts?
- What can I do if I cannot keep paying creditors in Mexico due to Covid?
- How can I protect my assets in times of crisis?
Generally speaking, yes! Civil legislation in Mexico considers this type of circumstance “Force Majeure”. Force Majeure may also prevent defaults from being considered an "intentionally wrongful act".
The mitigation measures for COVID-19 can be classified as Force Majeure. There are precedents and legislation that will help if you need to terminate your contract because of COVID-19, without having to pay penalties and damages.
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