Debt Recovery

When it comes to debt recovery you can rely on Tony Laumberg’s over 30 years’ legal experience to provide you with a smooth, reasonably priced outcome backed up by high quality legal advice.

If you are owed money the steps involved in recovering it are as follows:

• A letter of demand is sent to the debtor requiring the repayment of the amount owing within 7 days failing which legal proceedings will be commenced. In many cases this leads to the debt being paid;
• If the debtor fails to pay the debt then legal proceedings are initiated by way of a Statement of Claim filed in either the Local Court for amounts up to $100,000.00, the District Court for greater amounts up to $750,00.00 and the Supreme Court of NSW for those amounts over $750,000.00;
• The debtor has 28 days to file a Defence after service of the Statement of Claim. If no defence is filed you can apply for a default judgment and then enforce the judgment. If a Defence is filed then there are certain Court procedures which must be followed leading up to a hearing; and
• Once either a default judgment is obtained or a judgment after a defended hearing you can enforce the judgment by a number of means including:
  

1. a Writ for Levy of Property which allows the Sheriff to seize and sell the personal property of the debtor;

2. a Garnishee Order which requires a debtor’s employer, bank or other creditor to pay money direct to you;

3. a Writ on Land can be registered on the title to the debtor’s real estate allowing it to be sold;

4. a Bankruptcy Notice can be served on the debtor (who is an individual) as a prelude to bankruptcy proceedings; and

5. a Statutory Demand can be served on a debtor company as a prelude to proceedings to wind up the company on

    the basis that it is insolvent.