Debt Recovery

First establish whether that is actually true. A debtor who pleads poverty can be summoned to court for a financial enquiry into what they earn, own and spend, and the court can order payment in instalments or have part of their salary paid over by their employer directly. "No money" often turns out to mean "no money conveniently visible".

Where it is true, patience becomes a strategy. A judgment lasts thirty years. Circumstances change - people inherit, find work, sell property - and the judgment sits there waiting. And where a debtor has assets but hides behind their debts, sequestration can be considered, provided it would actually benefit creditors. What makes no commercial sense is spending good money chasing genuinely bad debt - we will tell you honestly which kind you have.

It depends how old, and what has happened in between. Ordinary debts prescribe - are extinguished - after three years. A debt under a bill of exchange or notarial contract gets six. A judgment debt, a debt secured by mortgage bond and most taxes get thirty. The clock generally starts when the debt is due and you know who owes you and why.

Two things stop the clock. If the debtor acknowledges liability - even tacitly - prescription starts running afresh. And serving summons interrupts it. Which is the whole point: a creditor who acts inside the three years keeps the debt alive; one who writes reminder letters for four years has written the debt off without noticing. Letters of demand do not interrupt prescription. Summons does.

More than most debtors expect, but less than most creditors hope. The sheriff attaches movable property first - vehicles, equipment, furniture of value - and immovable property can follow where the movables do not cover the debt. A salary can be reached through an emoluments attachment order served on the employer, and money owed to the debtor by a third party can be attached too. Pensions and annuities are not automatically beyond reach for maintenance debts, as our child maintenance page explains.

The law also draws a floor beneath the debtor. Protected from seizure are the necessary beds, bedding and clothing of the debtor and their family, necessary furniture and household utensils up to a set value, a month's food and drink, and tools and professional books of the debtor's trade up to a set value. Execution is meant to satisfy the debt, not to strip a household bare.

Discussed openly at the consultation, and shaped by what the matter needs - a letter of demand is one thing, a defended trial another. Recovered costs are pursued from the debtor where the law allows, but be realistic: costs orders are on the party-and-party scale and never cover everything.

No. We do not work on a percentage of what is recovered. Fees are discussed at the consultation and agreed before work begins, so you know where you stand from the first letter.

Two clocks run that we do not control: the court's and the sheriff's. A demand goes out the same week; summons follows if it is ignored; judgment and execution depend on the roll and on service. What we control is that nothing waits in our office - we do things as quickly as they can be done.

We would prefer it. A great deal is lost over email, and these are matters where sitting across a desk from one another makes a real difference. Where the distance genuinely makes that impractical, we consult by video call instead.

No. We advise in consultation. A message is the right way to arrange an appointment, but not the right way to receive advice on something this consequential.

Invoices, statements, the agreement if there is one, and any correspondence with the debtor. If you have nothing, come anyway - it is better to start the conversation than to wait until the file is tidy.

Telephone 087 133 3595, or send the short form on this site. We will contact you to arrange a date and time.