Guide to Doing Business
in St. Maarten

Judicial sale: enforceable document & title

In order to be able to arrange for a judicial sale, a claimant must have an enforceable document, allowing such sale. The various documents, which allow a claimant to sell a vessel by judicial sale, are:

1. a judgment by which an order for payment of a certain amount has been rendered by (a) one of the Courts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (b) a foreign Court which can directly be enforced in St. Maarten pursuant to a treaty;
2. an official excerpt of a notarial (mortgage) deed issued by a civil law notary officiating in the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
3. a (mortgage) deed issued by a foreign notary, which can be enforced in St. Maarten, based on a treaty or exequatur;
4. an arbitral award or a foreign arbitral award which can be enforced in St. Maarten.

In case none of the above apply, the creditor can obtain a title, enabling a judicial sale, from the local Court through (summary or exequatur) proceedings after the vessel has been arrested.