I've got a judgement against someone, now what?

In Court litigation the first step to obtaining monies owed to you is to obtain a judgement. This is essentially the Court acknowledging your right to those monies and ordering the other side to pay. However, situations can occur when the person you have the judgment against is unable to, or still refuses to pay. In these situations there are several mechanisms for enforcing your judgment.

1. Examination order – this is an order allowing you to examine the judgment debtor’s assets and income to determine whether or not they can actually pay the judgment if you are unsure of their financial position.

2. Obtaining a Writ – a Writ is a secondary order made by the Court authorising the Sheriff to seize goods and either return those goods to you or to sell them and provide the sale money to the person with the judgment.

3. Obtaining a Garnishee order – this is an order allowing you to obtain money from the judgment debtor’s wages or bank account.

4. Bankruptcy – if the judgment is for more than $5,000 you can apply to the Federal Circuit Court to have the judgment debtor declared bankrupt.

5. Winding up a company – similar to bankruptcy, if your judgment debtor is a company you can issue a statutory demand to wind the company up and obtain your debt out of the assets of the company.

If you have further questions, please contact us at frank@franklaw.com.au.

This is not legal advice.