You may find that somebody whom you do business with has not paid their bills and you need to take legal action to be able to recover what you are owed. There are different processes involved, depending on whether or not the creditor who owes you money is a person or a company.

If you are owed a debt by an individual

With individuals who become indebted to you, we are able to take legal proceedings against them to enforce that debt. We can enforce it in a variety of ways, including obtaining an order from the court to force the creditor’s bank to hand over to you funds in their bank account to clear the debt. It is very useful if you have the individual’s bank details and for this reason, we recommend that when you are paid by individuals, you retain some evidence of their account details. For example, if they have paid you in the past by cheque, we recommend that you keep a copy of the cheque in the event that you need to take action against them in the future, for failing to make payment to you. Other alternatives that are open to you include obtaining an order which forces the debtor’s employer to pay the debtor’s wages directly to you to satisfy the debt. We can also apply to make them bankrupt and so an option once the debt owed to you is in excess of $2,000.00, we generally advise debtors to contact us as soon as a debt has accrued to allow you to maximise your potential of obtaining a return as sometimes a delay can result in it being difficult to locate the creditor’s whereabouts and/or their employer.

If you are owed a debt by a company

If you are owed a debt by a company, and there is no dispute as to the debt, then we can issue a statutory demand on the company, which renders them liable to pay the amount within 21 days. Failure to do so is presumed to mean that the company is insolvent and cannot pay its debts as and when they fall due. This is one ground for applying to the Supreme Court to wind up the company, which could result in a liquidator being appointed to sell the assets of the company in order to satisfy your debt. In the event that your company has been served with a statutory demand, it is also possible to challenge that statutory demand and to attempt to defend any proceedings to wind up your company. As a statutory demand must be complied with within 21 days, we recommend that if you have been served with one, you contact us immediately to allow for time to prepare the necessary application before the time elapses.

Creditors’ meetings

We can also attend creditors’ meetings on your behalf in the event that you are a creditor of a company who is wound up. Creditors have important voting rights and we can act on your behalf to protect your interest to ensure the maximum return to you.

De-registering and reinstating companies

In the event that you have a company which you wish to bring to an end, we can also advise you in relation to the best possible way to do so.

In the event that you have a company which has been deregistered, or are dealing with a company that has been deregistered, we can also apply to the Supreme Court to obtain an order for that company to be reinstated to the Register of Companies, if required.