Ovrha is enforcement. When a creditor — a bank, a company, a town, the tax office — has a decision on enforcement (rješenje o ovrsi) from a court, a notary or the Tax Administration, it is sent to Fina (Financijska agencija). Fina finds every account and deposit you hold in every Croatian bank by your OIB and has the banks seize the money up to the debt; if there is not enough, the accounts are blocked up to that amount. Your consent is not needed.
The periods
- 8 days from delivery of a court's or the tax office's decision to appeal (žalba). An appeal does not stop the enforcement.
- A notary's decision on an "authentic document" — an invoice or a statement of account: an objection (prigovor) to the notary within 8 days of receiving it. A timely, reasoned objection sends the case to court, which sets the enforcement aside and hears the claim.
- Within the appeal period you can ask the court to postpone the enforcement.
- Fina transfers the seized money to the creditor 60 days after it received the decision, unless a postponement or annulment reaches it first.
Enter the day you received the decision on this page and the site counts the 8 days; a period ending on a Sunday or holiday runs to the next working day. Often people learn of the ovrha only when a card stops working — the 8 days run from the delivery, which may have been weeks before.
What is protected
- From a salary or pension, two thirds of the average net salary in Croatia (for a salary below the average, three quarters of it, up to the same limit), and certain receipts in full, such as social benefits and child allowance.
- To keep them, tell Fina about each protected receipt; it is then paid into a separate protected account, while the other accounts stay blocked.
Seeing what is behind it
Fina's e-Blokada service in e-Građani lists every unpaid decision against you, in the order they will be paid, with a copy of each; with an e-Građani mailbox you get its notices free. For a person, Fina stops after three years if nothing was collected in the last six months.
A lawyer for debt collection can find the decision, file the appeal or objection in Croatian and ask for the postponement; an unpaid property tax or fine behind it: see Croatian property tax and Croatian traffic fines.
Prepared by Legal Help Tool. Last updated . General information, not legal advice.
