|
|
| |
The
court will want to see that every effort has been
made to come to an agreement before an inevitable
court appearance is found necessary. With this in
mind we contact your debtor or defendant by letter
as soon as a claim is forwarded to us and request
payment within 10 days. If there is no response then
we advise you to issue proceedings depending on the
case in the small claims court uk.
If the other side dispute the claim then we look at
the case, carefully scrutinising the correspondence
to advise a solution. |
| |
|
 |
Issuing Proceedings |
| |
When
every effort has been made to come to a settlement
then our advice would be to issue proceedings at the
small claims court. We then require your cheques for
the Court Fee and the admin' costs in order to proceed
- please see Fees & Costs.
As soon as the cheques are cleared we forward the
claim details to the solicitor so that the pleadings
can be prepared. The claim is then filed at the court.
Provided that there are no queries regarding the claim,
this is achieved within two days.
The court process claims on the same day that the
N1 is filed and deemed to be issued on that day. The
claim is posted by first class post to the Defendant
within three days and is deemed to be served within
two days of posting. |
| |
|
|
When the proceedings
have been served |
| |
The
Court allows the defendant fourteen days from service
in which to respond. If the Defendant forwards an
Acknowledgement of Service and states that he will
defend the claim then twenty eight days from the date
of service is given to the Defendant to file that
defence.
If no reply to the Acknowledgment of Service is received
at the court Judgment in Default can be applied for.
This will take three days. |
| |
|
|
If the claim is
defended |
|
When
the court receives a defence they will forward to
both the defendant and th claimant an Allocation Questionnaire.
The court will allow only fourteen days for the return
of the Allocation Questionnaire. This document is
of utmost importantance since it provides the court
with all the relevant information for the processing
of the claim and allocation to the correct track.
After considering the Allocation Questionnaires the
court will arrange a date for the hearing. The timescale
depends on the workload and number of listings at
the court and can be anything from three weeks to
two months from the filing of the Allocation Questionnaires. |
| |
|
|
After judgment |
|
If
Judgment in Default is obtained the court will tell
the Defendant to make an immediate payment. If there
is a hearing the Defendant will be allowed between
seven and twenty eight days to pay - depending on
the circumstances and the opinion of the judge on
the day of the hearing.
If the Defendant fails to pay within the time allowed
you should consider one of the enforcement options.
Beyond this point time scales vary between a couple
of weeks and several months before payment can be
obtained. |
