Collecting early costs less than collecting late, and some debts expire while nobody does anything. On the other side of the table, there are situations where insolvency is the orderly way out rather than the end of the line.
How the process runs
- 01
Title and time limits
What exists as proof of the debt and whether it is still in time. A time-barred debt cannot be recovered, and that is the first thing to check.
- 02
Formal demand
A letter to the debtor with the amount, the grounds and a deadline. It is cheap, it resolves part of the cases, and it counts in your favour in whatever follows.
- 03
Proceedings
Payment order, court action or insolvency petition, according to the amount, the nature of the debt and the debtor's assets.
- 04
Actual recovery
Enforcement and attachment. A judgment with no assets to attach pays nothing, which is why the assets are assessed before and not after.
What is covered
Payment order
The fast route for debts arising from contracts. Unopposed, the application acquires enforceable force and goes straight to enforcement.
Court and Justice of the Peace
Where the debt is disputed or the case does not fit the payment order. The Justices of the Peace decide lower-value claims at lower cost.
Enforcement
Attachment of accounts, wages, property and vehicles, on the basis of a judgment, a payment order or another enforceable title.
Defending the debtor
Opposing a payment order or an enforcement, limitation periods, deadlines, and payment arrangements before attachment goes ahead.
Company insolvency
Filing for insolvency, a creditor's petition, and proving claims in proceedings already under way.
Personal insolvency
Filing for insolvency and the discharge of remaining debts, with what it demands and what it leaves out.
Common questions
What to bring to the first conversation
None of this is required to book. The more there is in the first conversation, the more concrete the answer.
- The contract, invoices or whatever document evidences the debt
- Proof of the payments already made and of the amount outstanding
- Letters, messages and emails exchanged with the other side, with dates
- Whatever you know about the debtor's assets: property, vehicles, employer
This page describes the practice in general terms. Every case turns on its own facts and on the stage it has reached, so nothing here replaces looking at the file itself.