On what finding may a court order a defendant to prepay an equal amount, at what moment, and who may set that order in motion?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file we read the judgment that imposes the fine, surcharge or confiscation and the note that the prepayment order was pronounced with it. We also look for a prosecutor's application, any note that the court acted on its own motion, and papers bearing on the defendant's assets or whereabouts.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the provision's own timing: when the court sentences a defendant to a fine, surcharge or confiscation and recognises a fear that after the judgment becomes final the sentence could not be executed or would be difficult to execute, it may, on its own motion or on the prosecutor's application, order the defendant to prepay an amount equal to that sentence, and that judgment must be pronounced at the same time as the sentence.
Another reading turns on the ground: the power opens only where the court recognises a fear that after the judgment becomes final the sentence could not be executed or would be difficult to execute, so the feared impossibility looks ahead to after finality, and the provision does not say what facts establish that fear or whether the defendant is heard.
Your judgment
Since the order is pronounced before finality, what in the record could show that after finality the sentence may be impossible or hard to execute?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the moment the order is pronounced or the grounds for it, or if a court decision sets out what facts establish the fear that execution will be difficult.