Debt Recovery

Successful claims in the Local Court may allow parties to be entitled to an order for costs in their favour.

Generally, at the end of a hearing, the Court will hear arguments from parties in relation to costs. As is customary, the Court will usually award successful parties their costs – although the proportion of costs to be awarded depends on many factors. However, a successful party can be awarded no costs for various reasons. For civil claims, there are certain quantitative thresholds that are recoverable within the Local Court. [...]  READ MORE →

By Eleanor Campbell-Rogers, Law Clerk at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

Payment of a Judgment Debt

Debt recovery which ends up in an order of a Court or Tribunal requiring payment of a specific amount of money is a ‘judgment debt’. This type of debt recovery usually results from the Court/Tribunal accepting the creditor’s debt recovery attempts and awarding damages, costs, interest, repayment of a loan, restitution, lump sum child support, or a certified money order (amongst others). [...]  READ MORE →

Letters of Demand

A letter of demand may be sent to debtor who owes money to a creditor. It is a formal notice of debt collection that is required to be paid and can often include a caution that if the money is not paid to the creditor by a certain date, legal action will be taken.

What should be included in a Letter of Demand?

1. How much money is owed;
2. Who is liable to pay the debt;
3. Who the debt is to be paid to;
4. How the debt was incurred and what the debt relates to;
5. A date and approximate timeframe in which the debt should be paid/resolved (which should be reasonable in relation to the debt and history of the debt);
6. Contact details of the debtor; and
7. What will occur should the debt not be paid within the stipulated timeframe.

There are additional features of a demand which can make the demand more effective and more reliable as a genuine attempt to resolve the debt should the debt proceed to court.

Should it be important that the relationship between the creditor and the debtor remain intact, there are additional techniques that can be utilised to recover a debt without damaging the relationship. As such, letters of demand should be considered carefully before being issued to a debtor. [...]  READ MORE →

By Hayley Hitch, Principal at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

PPSR…What is it? What does it stand for? How can it benefit you?

PPSR stands for Personal Property Securities Register. It is a register that records security interests granted to certain entities or individuals, and attaches a level of priority to each of the interests of those secured creditors.

A security interest is granted predominantly through a security agreement executed by 2 parties – a grantor and a secured party. A grantor is the party granting the security interest in an asset (whether existing, such as plant and equipment, or anticipated, such as proceeds of sale). The secured party receives the security interest in exchange for providing a service or promise of some form (such as advancing funds, providing goods on credit, etc.). [...]  READ MORE →