CLC Enforcement Series
4 February 2025
You have successfully secured a money judgment in your favour. The question now is how you, the successful party (the “judgment creditor”) can enforce that judgment against the party now indebted to you (the “judgment debtor”) should they fail to pay.
Under the Civil Procedure Rules of the courts of England and Wales (the “CPR”) a judgment creditor may enforce a judgment or order for the payment of money by any one or more of the following methods, either simultaneously or one after another.
As preliminary measures:
- Obtaining an order for the judgment debtor to appear at court to provide information on their assets;
- Obtaining a charge over the judgment debtor’s property, or an order limiting or preventing them, from dealing with certain assets such as stocks or property (a “charging order”);
And thereafter:
- Sending in the bailiffs – now known as high court enforcement officers;
- Obtaining an order that a third party indebted to the judgment debtor must instead pay that debt to the judgment creditor (a “third party debt order”);
- Obtaining an order that the debt should be paid direct from the judgment debtor’s earnings (an “attachment of earnings order”);
- Appointing a receiver to manage the judgment debtor’s attest and pay off the judgment debt;
- Winding up a company or bankrupting an individual judgment debtor.
While money judgments are not normally enforceable until 14 days after the judgment, the preliminary steps may be taken immediately.
In instances of non-compliance, the court may also make orders in connection with contempt of court against the judgment debtor.
In this series I will explore the circumstances in which each mechanism may be used and why a judgment creditor may want to use a particular mechanism and set out some of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods and the likely costs and timescales associated with each.
This series provides a general overview of options for judgment creditors. For detailed advice and assistance with enforcing your money judgments contact Seamus Smyth at seamussmyth@cartercamerons.com, Head of Litigation and Arbitration, or Julian Smith at juliansmith@cartercamerons.com.