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As a business that has succeeded in a claim in a dispute, you may need to enforce your court judgment in some instances. Obtaining a judgment or order in your favour is the purpose of bringing your claim to court. However, this does not automatically mean a debtor will pay you what they owe. In many cases, you will have to take it upon yourself to enforce the order against the other party. This article will outline what enforcement law is, how you can enforce a court judgment and some of the options available to you in enforcement proceedings.
What is Enforcement?
Enforcing a court judgment is when you ask a court to collect payment on your behalf from a debtor. Your debtor is the person who you have received a damages award or costs order against. Usually, when you initiate enforcement proceedings to obtain a court order, you will also have to pay a court fee.
To warrant starting an enforcement procedure, you must have given the debtor a chance to pay their judgment debt. The judgment debt is the amount of money the court awards the successful party in a case. You can only enforce a judgment if the debtor has failed to pay at least an instalment by the due date. Often, the court will specify a time period by which the debtor has to pay their debts. However, if no date has been mentioned, the general rule is that the debtor has 14 days from the judgment date to make the payment.
It is also worth keeping in mind that, as a general rule, you cannot begin enforcement proceedings against a debtor if the judgment was handed down over six years ago.
Should I Always Enforce a Judgment?
Before you enforce a judgment, it is important to check if the debtor has any assets. If they do, the debtor may liquidate their assets to pay their debts. There are a number of ways you can check if the debtor has assets, for example through:
- directly asking the judgment debtor;
- asking for a court order to obtain information about the debtor’s assets;
- checking the insolvency register, which will help you figure out if the debtor is insolvent or bankrupt;
- conducting a land registry search, where you can check if the judgment debtor has any land; or
- conducting a Companies House search to see details of any companies that the debtor is affiliated to.
If the judgment debtor does not have any assets, it may not be worth enforcing the judgment at all. If the money spent on enforcement proceedings outweighs the money that you can recover from the debtor, it will not be worth pursuing at all.
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How Can I Enforce A Court Judgment?
There are a number of options available to you when seeking to have a money judgment enforced in your favour.
1. Warrants of Control
One option is a warrant of control. This is where you ask a County Court to send County Court bailiffs to collect money for you. The bailiff will typically ask the debtor to pay within 7 days. If the bailiff fails, they will visit the debtor’s premises to determine any assets that the debtor could sell to satisfy their debt.
2. Attachment of Earnings
Another option is to ask a court to deduct money from the debtor’s wages to pay off their debt to you. This is a popular way of enforcing a court order for money and is fairly easy to do. This involves a court sending an order to the judgment debtor’s employer. Therefore, you do not have to worry about the individual themselves not making a payment, as their employer will deal with it.
3. Third-Party Debt Orders
A third-party debt order is where you ask the court to freeze the debtor’s money or assets. However, this depends on the debtor owing a debt to a third party, which might not always be the case. This method is most useful if you know that your debtor has a bank account to which their employer pays money.
4. Charging Orders
Finally, a charging order is where you ask a court to issue a charge over a debtor’s land or property. A charge on the judgment debtor’s assets will mean that any money raised from the sale of the asset will first go towards paying their debt to you.
If you are taking this option, however, it is important to also understand where you might stand in relation to other creditors that the debtor has. If another creditor has priority over you, then the money will go to them first, and anything left over will then be used to satisfy the debt to you.
Key Takeaways
As a business that has had a judgment made in your favour, you may wish to enforce the court’s orders. . To do so, the debtor must have been given some time to pay off the debt. If you take this route, it is important to check that the debtor has assets – otherwise, you could waste money and time pursuing enforcement.
Some common methods of enforcement include a warrant of control, an attachment of earnings, a third-party debt order, or a charging order. The best way of enforcing the judgment will depend on the assets and income that the debtor has.
If you have any questions regarding enforcing a debt, our experienced disputes lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
A debtor is someone who owes money to another individual. This individual is often referred to as the creditor.
A charging order (in an enforcement context) is where a court issues a charge over an individual’s land or property, which requires proceeds from a sale of that property to go towards satisfying debts.
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