HOW ARE MONEY JUDGEMENTS ENFORCED?
The typical methods employed in enforcing
money Judgements include:
(i) Compliance – Very often a Judgement debtor
will pay the money owed to a Judgement creditor
and thus satisfy the money Judgement. If the
Judgement debtor does not pay, the Judgement
creditor should contact him/her and ask for
payment. Sometimes a simple telephone call
or a short letter yields results, sometimes
a lien or execution is required. (ii) Charging
Order – This is a charge on a piece of property.
A Judgement creditor can place a charge on
both the real and personal property of the
Judgement debtor. When property subject to
a charge is sold, either a portion of the
proceeds are used to satisfy the outstanding
charge or the property is sold subject to
the charge. Execution of a money Judgement
is obtained through a legal process of enforcing
the Judgement by seizure and subsequent sale
of the property owned by a Judgement debtor.
(iii) Attachment of Earnings – An Order of
the Court whereby the Court orders the Judgement
debtor’s employer to set aside a percentage
of the debtor’s earnings and pay those directly
to the Judgement creditor. (iv) Garnishee
Order – If the Judgement creditor is aware
of a debt owed to the Judgement debtor (this
can be for example a Bank Account which is
in credit and is in the name of the Judgement
debtor), then the Judgement creditor can obtain
an Order of the Court which is known as a
Garnishee Order. The Judgement debtor’s creditor
(in this example the Bank) is then responsible
to account to the Garnishor (i.e. the Judgement
creditor) to pay the debt (e.g. in this case
the contents of the Bank Account) to the Garnishor
who is the Judgement creditor. |
