Money claims service (gov)

[adejones]

Hi all.

Wondering if anyone had experience with the gov.uk money claims service (what was the small claims court).

Trying to recover £8000 from someone, have gone through the process, paid the fees, didn't get a response from the initial claim, went on to the CCJ stage and there still hasn't been a response or attempt to pay any money so want to escalate it to the last stage which is requesting a judgement or sending the bailiffs but I am a bit confused on the process and what form I need to do, there are also forms on the website but don't say what to do with them or where to send them.

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

If you already have CCJ I’m not sure money claim is going to help as the plaintiff clearly has no intention of paying.

 

[Mark T Jones]

If they haven't responded the CCJ should be a simple push button in the system (from memory)

Recovery after that point is outside the system- there are members on here who specialise in recovery - their names escape me

 

[Lisa Thomas]

see here on how to escalate to a court enforcement order.https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

 

[Michael Loveridge]

Many people are caught out by the County Court system, as they believe that getting a judgment means getting paid.

As you've now discovered, it doesn't! Getting the judgment is simply the first - and often the easiest - part of getting paid. And as you've also now discovered the County Court will do absolutely nothing to assist you turn the judgment into cash unless you pay them further fees.

The first thing to establish is whether or not the debtor is capable of paying. The reason most CCJ's are unpaid is because the debtor simply doesn't have any money. If it's a limited company they may be hopelessly insolvent, even if they're still trading. And if it's a private individual you may find they're living in a council flat with an old banger as their only asset (old banger as in car, not wife, though it's sometimes both!)

So have you made any enquiries to find out if they're likely to be able to pay? Trying to enforce an unenforceable judgment is a very effective way of throwing good money after bad.

 

[ethical PR]

Hi all.

Wondering if anyone had experience with the gov.uk money claims service (what was the small claims court).

Trying to recover £8000 from someone, have gone through the process, paid the fees, didn't get a response from the initial claim, went on to the CCJ stage and there still hasn't been a response or attempt to pay any money so want to escalate it to the last stage which is requesting a judgement or sending the bailiffs but I am a bit confused on the process and what form I need to do, there are also forms on the website but don't say what to do with them or where to send them.

Thanks

The courts should be able to advise you on how you commission bailiffs.

Have you run a credit check on the company that owes you money to see if they are solvent?

 

[Paulzx]

Just to add to this - when I've used it before, I had the option of executing a warrant for the court bailiff to recover the debt. It was another £100 on top of the court summons fee.

This is the part you have to consider, and I'll give a cautionary tale here a swell. As has been mentioned above - before you take out a CCJ or warrant of execution, you should really consider id the person you're going after, can actually pay it back because if they are racking up CCJ's for fun, yours won't touch the sides, and by that point, nobody is going to get paid anyway.

If it's a company you're pursuing, of any kind of standing or reputation, it will normally work because obviously, they don't want a CCJ because they're planning to be around for the foreseeable.

For years, I had used money claim successfully, and without using a solicitor, as it was intended to be a device by which ordinary folk could pursue non payers. However, the last time I used it, the judge threw out the judgement, due to a detail regarding the company name, which was a very minor detail, so I had to spend out twice for the claim, the second time, he applied the judgement.

The Court bailiff later told me that the company I was pursuing were well known to the court due to defaulting on lot's of stuff, so I asked why the Judge had thrown out my first attempt if this company was so well known (and this was due to a minor omission mistake although it was obviously the same company. The bailiff said, it's because they are teaching you a lesson - you made a minor clerical error but you weren't using professional representation, so you weren't using 'their club'. Even though the Judge knew full well who you were pursuing and why, he chose to punish you because you didn't use one of his colleagues to bring the case.

Before anyone jumps down my throat claiming it was right of him to do it, or they know judges and they're all super people etc.. I'm just saying what was told to me. I had used money claim many times before without having every minor detail nailed down, and never had that problem. It seemed petty to me.

Anyway, moral of the story is that you really have to do a bit of background checking to know if you're wasting your money or not. And consider the story above!

 

[Michael Loveridge]

I'm afraid you've been misinformed, and court bailiffs know nothing at all about how judges think when dealing with the initial stages of litigation. The judges who make these decisions are based in Northampton, whereas the bailiffs are attached to your local County Court. It's not like the old days, where judges who dealt with the initial stages of litigation were based in the local court, and probably did know the bailiffs personally.

And to be fair, the judge was actually doing you a favour, as if a judgment had been entered in the wrong name you would then have wasted further money on bailiffs only for the Defendant to tell the bailiffs to Foxtrot Oscar as the judgment was not against them.

 

[Paulzx]

I'm afraid you've been misinformed, and court bailiffs know nothing at all about how judges think when dealing with the initial stages of litigation. The judges who make these decisions are based in Northampton, whereas the bailiffs are attached to your local County Court. It's not like the old days, where judges who dealt with the initial stages of litigation were based in the local court, and probably did know the bailiffs personally.

And to be fair, the judge was actually doing you a favour, as if a judgment had been entered in the wrong name you would then have wasted further money on bailiffs only for the Defendant to tell the bailiffs to Foxtrot Oscar as the judgment was not against them.

This was a number of years ago, and I believe the Judge was local.