Debt Recovery Lawyers Brisbane

How can a good Brisbane debt recovery lawyer help?

There are several approaches that we can take when a person or a business has refused to pay an invoice. Our first step is typically to issue the person owing you money with a letter of demand. This letter of demand will be drafted by the team in our Brisbane office and addressed to the person with outstanding debt.

This will typically indicate how much money they owe, what they owe the money for and when they need to send payment. We will generally also include a warning that legal action will be pursued at QCAT or in court if the unpaid invoice is not paid by a particular date. Please note there is likely to be some recovery or legal costs associated with debt recovery–however, each law firm or debt collection agency will offer a different payment structure.

What happens if they still refuse to pay the debt?

If the debt remains unpaid by the specified date in the letter of demand, one avenue of resolution may be to go to mediation or administrative tribunal.

Where mediation is not appropriate or unsuccessful, Victor Legal will move forward with an application to the court and, if needed, progress your matter to a tribunal hearing at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal or trial in front of a judge. 

After we’ve made an application to QCAT on your behalf, the person or company who owes you money will have 28 days to respond. 

If they fail to take action or acknowledge the application within this time, QCAT may proceed with the application and make a decision in their absence.  If the debt owed is in the sum of $25,000 or less, it will be considered a minor debt dispute by QCAT.  

Enforcement proceedings

Occasionally, even after a debt dispute has gone to court and a judgment has been delivered, the debtor may still refuse to take action to cause payment to be made to the creditor. This can have further detrimental consequences to your business or personal cash flow and may require further court proceedings or commercial litigation to secure your unpaid debt.

Where the circumstances allow, we can pursue what is referred to as ‘judgment enforcement’. Before a judgment can be enforced in Queensland, it needs to be registered with the court. The matter will then progress to an enforcement hearing where the debtor will be required to show evidence of their finances and answer questions about their financial position. 

Once this process has been completed, an application for an enforcement warrant can be made. A warrant has the legal authority to direct any money that is owed to them to be redirected to you in order to repay you for the debt. The warrant can also authorise the seizure and sale of assets belonging to the debtor for the same purpose.