Enforcement and Insolvency

When a judgement isn’t enough, send the boys in.

Well, not quite. However, it is often the case that simply securing a judgement against a debtor is not enough to ensure that the cash then arrives. In those cases, you need experts in debt recovery to guide you through the various options open to you to try to force recovery of the debt.

These options include:

• Freezing bank accounts – this process is called Arrestment, and leads to an account being frozen as at the date the Arrestment is lodged, meaning that the debtor cannot withdraw any money from the account except to pay you.
• Freezing funds in the hands of a third party – if your debtor is owed money by a third party, an Arrestment can be lodged in the hands of the third party, meaning that the money is then diverted to pay you instead of the debtor.
• Attachment of moveable property – this is a process where the debtor’s moveable possessions can be frozen in place, in security for the debt. If the debt is then still not paid, the court can order that the possessions are sold at auction and the funds diverted to you to clear the debt.
• Exceptional Attachment Order – this is a form of Attachment where the goods which are frozen are located in the debtor’s home.
• Money Attachment – like a bank Arrestment, a Money Attachment freezes actual cash in the debtor’s hands (eg. money in a shop till), with the aim of diverting that money to you to clear the debt.

In all cases, we will advise you about the best option, or combination of options, to secure recovery of the debt. We’ll also advise you about the costs of each option so that you can make a commercial decision on what course to take.

Sometimes, though, these actions will not be enough. In those cases, we can make the debtor bankrupt. For limited company debtors, this process is called Liquidation, and for individual / personal debtors, the process is called Sequestration. In both types of action, the debtor’s whole financial estate is placed into the control of an independent third party (known as an Insolvency Practitioner) who is appointed by the court with the job of gathering in all of the debtor’s assets and then distributing those assets to his or her creditors.

Our aim in any recovery action is to ensure that you are not throwing good money after bad – if we think the debt is not worth pursuing (normally, because it becomes clear that the debtor does not have any money), we will tell you at the earliest stage. We will also ensure that you know in advance the costs of any action we take, so that you can make an informed decision on what option is right for you.

Instruct us directly

To make the process of instructing us even easier, you can now do so through this website.  We will need to establish you as a client of the firm on our system first time around, so please e-mail Steven Docherty or call him on 0141 248 3434 to start the process.

Once registration is complete, you will be able to access our Instruction Form to send your request directly to us.