Application to Lift Attachment Colombia (Solicitud de Levantamiento de Embargo)

The Application to Lift Attachment Colombia (Solicitud de Levantamiento de Embargo) is the judicial or extrajudicial document by which the owner of an embargoed asset — or their attorney — requests the judge handling the proceedings or the competent authority to order the lifting of the embargo registered on a specific asset, so that it is freed from the judicial precautionary measure and can be transferred, encumbered, or used without judicial restriction. The lifting of the embargo restores the owner's full powers of disposition over the asset and enables its cancellation in the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos or in the RUNT (for vehicles), as applicable.

The regime governing the lifting of precautionary measures in Colombian civil proceedings is regulated primarily under Articles 597 and 600 of the Código General del Proceso (CGP — Ley 1564 de 2012). Article 597 establishes the general grounds for lifting: full payment of the obligation giving rise to the precautionary measure; the defendant's provision of sufficient surety (caución) to guarantee payment — substitution of the measure; termination of the proceedings for any reason; and an acquittal ruling that becomes final. Article 600 of the CGP regulates the procedure for canceling registered precautionary measures, establishing that the judge must communicate the lifting to the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos by official notice for cancellation of the annotation.

Ley 1579 de 2012 (Estatuto de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos) — administered by the Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro — regulates the procedure the Oficina de Registro must follow upon receiving the lifting notice: the registrar must cancel the embargo annotation in the folio de matrícula inmobiliaria within the deadline established by Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro regulations. Until the annotation is canceled in the folio, the asset continues to appear as embargoed in registry searches by potential third-party acquirers and creditors.

Beyond judicial lifting by the case judge's order, extrajudicial lifting by agreement between the parties also exists: when the plaintiff and defendant reach a payment or settlement agreement, the plaintiff files the lifting application with the court as part of the approved conciliation or settlement. The Consejo de Estado has clarified that embargos in contentious-administrative proceedings are also governed by the CGP in a supplementary capacity under Article 306 of the CPACA (Ley 1437 de 2011), making the CGP lifting procedure applicable across multiple jurisdictions in Colombia.

The Application to Lift Attachment Colombia is necessary in the following contexts under Colombian procedural law.

Full payment of debt in executive proceedings: The most frequent ground for lifting is the total payment of the obligation that caused the embargo. Once the defendant demonstrates payment to the case judge, they have the right to request a decree of lifting and communication to the relevant registries. This lifting is automatic upon payment but requires judicial action to take effect in the registries of the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos or the RUNT.

Negotiation of a payment agreement with the plaintiff: When the parties reach a settlement on the debt — initial payment plus monthly installments, interest waiver, partial payment in kind — the plaintiff may agree to lift the embargo as part of the agreement, filing the joint or individual request with the judge. The Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá's Centro de Conciliación frequently facilitates these agreements in commercial disputes.

Substitution by surety: Article 597 of the CGP expressly allows the defendant to request lifting of the embargo by offering a caución (insurance policy, bank guarantee, cash deposit) that guarantees payment of the obligation. If the judge considers the offered surety sufficient, they order the lifting and registry cancellation.

Termination of proceedings for desistimiento or perención: If the plaintiff withdraws the claim or the proceedings lapse for inactivity under Article 317 of the CGP, the embargo must be lifted as a consequence of proceedings termination.

Acquittal ruling: If the judge rules in favor of the defendant and the ruling becomes final and unappealable, the embargos decreed within the proceedings are automatically lifted and must be communicated to registries for cancellation — including the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos for real property and the RUNT for vehicles.

Lifting of embargo in succession proceedings: In notarial or judicial succession proceedings, assets of the deceased may be embargoed by personal debts. The lifting of these embargos is necessary for the hereditary adjudication to be full and free of encumbrances, allowing beneficiaries to receive clean title through the Notaría or the Juzgado de Familia.

The Application to Lift Attachment Colombia must contain the following elements for admission by the judicial office and proper processing under Articles 597 and 600 of the CGP.

Judicial header: Identification of the proceedings — case number, plaintiff and defendant names, judicial office before which the application is filed, and the judge's name. If the lifting is extrajudicial (by agreement), it is addressed directly to the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos with the judicial notice attached.

Applicant identification: Full name, cedula de ciudadanía, procedural standing (defendant / owner of the embargoed asset / attorney), and data of the professional attorney with their tarjeta profesional number under Article 74 of the CGP.

Identification of the embargoed asset: For real property: exact address, matrícula inmobiliaria from the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos, municipality, folio de matrícula number, and data of the embargo annotation (annotation number, date, and filing number of the order that caused it). For vehicles: license plate, VIN, and RUNT transaction number. For bank accounts: financial institution and blocked account number.

Ground for lifting: Precise description of the reason for the lifting request, with corresponding supporting evidence: (i) full payment with deposit receipt or paz y salvo from the plaintiff; (ii) surety offered with insurance policy or bank guarantee attached; (iii) proceedings termination with a copy of the termination ruling; (iv) final and unappealable acquittal ruling with certificate of finality.

Request to the judge: Explicit request for the judge to decree the lifting of the embargo and issue the cancellation notices to the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos (Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro), the RUNT, or the relevant financial institutions under Article 600 of the CGP and Ley 1579 de 2012.

Urgency (if applicable): If the owner of the embargoed asset is in the process of an urgent sale or refinancing, the urgency may be highlighted so the judge prioritizes issuing the lifting notices within the judicial office.

forms-legal.com provides this model updated to the current CGP and the Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro formats for embargo cancellation in Colombia 2025.