Debt Matter Service
Complaints, Claim & Statement of Claim, Minor Civil Dispute – Minor Debt and Statements of Claim. These are all some of the many ways that debt disputes are started in the various Courts.
Depending on where you’re lodging your claim, you’ll need to check with the Court or a legal professional for which format you’ll need to draft your documents under. Depending on the value of your claim, you’ll also need to check which jurisdiction such as Magistrates Court/Local Court, District Court or Supreme Court. A very low cost option for lodging a claim in most states are Tribunals, such as QCAT, NCAT, VCAT etc. You should weigh up the pros and cons of starting in a Court or a Tribunal.
When lodging a claim, you’ll usually be able to claim a number of costs as a component of the claim, such as filing and service. You are also able to claim interest under whichever legislation is applicable for your state. Interest is usually payable from the date the debt was incurred and enduringly while the debt remains outstanding. Interest sometimes may be substantial if the debt has been outstanding for a number of years and is usually a component of all claims.
Once your claim is lodged, the Court will provide you with ‘Sealed’ copies of the claim. This means the Court has stamped their Seal on the claim to demonstrate the matter has been lodged with the Court. You should always serve Sealed copies of your documents.
Many Courts have now made available options to lodge your claim online. With online lodgement, the sealed claim document is made available as a PDF document. There is usually a portal available on the Court website, where you’ll first need to create an account. Once you have your account up and running, login and start to create your claim. Most portals will give options to save your claim part way through lodgement, then resume lodgement at a later time.
Once you’ve completed lodgement, you’ll need to move onto service of the documents. The Court requires any claim made against another person, to be brought to their attention before they’ll allow the matter to proceed. The reason for this is, you’re seeking a judgment, decision or orders against the other person. The Court won’t progress the matter unless they believe the other person is aware of the matter and has opportunity to argue the matter if they wish.
For service of the claim documents, you’re permitted to serve your own documents, however this is problematic. Quite often debt matters are contentious and people being served may react to the arrival of the claimant with documents for them. A better option, is to use a professional process server. A process server is disconnected from the matter and has no emotional, nor financial stake in the matter. While the process server may also strike resistance from the service party (defendant, respondent, debtor), they have seen avoidant circumstances on a daily basis and are well equipped to deal with such situations.
There is also the circumstance that where a service party is being particularly avoidant, a good process server knows the steps to take, to lead the matter in the direction of substituted service. A good process server will in the first instance get your documents served, else get other information which can be deposed to, which will allow your matter to go forward.
If you’re ready to proceed with service try our Step-by-Step guide, which gives a great example of how to draft your instructions and forward your sealed documents. There’s plenty of additional information in our Frequently Asked Questions section, or better yet call us and we’ll help out with all your process serving questions.