Judgment enforcement · Statutory demands · Bankruptcy notices
Advice and representation for creditors on proportionate enforcement of unpaid judgments and debts — statutory demands, bankruptcy notices, winding-up applications and creditor's petitions.
A judgment or an unpaid invoice does not enforce itself. Each enforcement mechanism has its own legal requirements, costs and risks, and the wrong step can expose a creditor to a costs order or a set-aside application. We assess the debt, the debtor's position and the available mechanisms before recommending any escalation.
Insolvency processes are serious. Serving a statutory demand that is liable to be set aside, or issuing a bankruptcy notice without a proper basis, can set recovery back rather than forward. Our advice starts with proportionality: what the debt is worth, what the debtor can pay and which mechanism the law actually permits on your facts.
This service sits within our Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice and picks up where our fixed-fee Commercial Debt Recovery letters of demand end. Those fixed fees exclude negotiation, court proceedings and enforcement; this service is scoped and quoted individually.
We assess the legal prerequisites, the evidence and the commercial reality before any enforcement step is taken.
Commercial law and documentation
Advice brings together the governing documents, legal rights and commercial purpose, rather than considering each instrument in isolation.
Connected practice areas
Our commercial, estate-planning and litigation services support matters that cross between ownership, succession and disputes.
A defined client and scope
We check conflicts, identify who is instructing us and confirm the work and costs before it begins.
Melbourne CBD & Ringwood
Consultations are available through our Melbourne CBD and Ringwood offices, with phone or video appointments by arrangement.
Focused advice for judgment creditors and businesses owed money, with each step assessed against its legal requirements and likely return.
Advice on proportionate enforcement once you hold a judgment, matched to the debtor's circumstances and the size of the debt.
Preparation and service of statutory demands for eligible company debts, with attention to the strict formal requirements.
Bankruptcy notices against individual judgment debtors, including application to the appropriate official receiver and service.
Applications to wind up debtor companies in insolvency, including those founded on non-compliance with a statutory demand, with strict attention to the procedural requirements.
Creditor's petitions in the Federal Court or Federal Circuit and Family Court seeking a sequestration order against an individual debtor, typically following a bankruptcy notice.
Where appropriate, urgent applications to preserve assets at risk of dissipation before enforcement can complete.
Review of guarantees, security interests and registration position before enforcement, so the chosen pathway reflects your actual rights.
Under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), a creditor may serve a statutory demand on a company for an eligible debt. Non-compliance can give rise to a presumption of insolvency — it does not wind the company up automatically. The form, service and supporting evidence must be right, and a genuine dispute or offsetting claim can support an application to set the demand aside.
For individual judgment debtors, a bankruptcy notice requires compliance within the stated period. Non-compliance can constitute an act of bankruptcy, but bankruptcy is not automatic; a further court process follows. We advise on whether these steps are available and appropriate, the evidence required and the costs and risks involved.
Where escalation is justified, we prepare and conduct the proceeding: a winding-up application against a company debtor in the Supreme Court of Victoria or the Federal Court, or a creditor's petition against an individual debtor in the Federal Court or Federal Circuit and Family Court. These proceedings carry strict procedural requirements, evidence standards and timeframes, and the court retains a discretion at every stage. We confirm the prerequisites, likely costs and commercial sense of the step before any application is filed — escalation is never treated as the default.
Preserve the judgment, contract and correspondence, and identify any risk that assets will be dealt with before enforcement completes.
You hold a judgment the debtor has not paid
We review the judgment, the debtor's position and the available enforcement mechanisms, and advise on a proportionate next step.
A company debtor has ignored a letter of demand
We assess whether the debt is eligible for a statutory demand, the set-aside risks and what non-compliance would actually achieve.
An individual judgment debtor is not engaging
We advise on bankruptcy notices and ordinary enforcement options, including the evidence and service requirements.
Assets may be dealt with before you can enforce
Contact us promptly. We assess whether urgent preservation orders are justified and what evidence and undertakings would be required.
Read the existing guides for more detail on enforcement pathways, demands and guarantees.
The practical guide to proportionate enforcement, including bankruptcy notices, statutory demands and freezing orders.
Read moreHow commercial debt recovery escalates, and what statutory demands and bankruptcy notices do and do not achieve.
Read moreDirector and personal guarantees can change the enforcement pathway available to a creditor.
Read moreBefore enforcing, we review the contract or terms of trade, any director or personal guarantees and any security interests. A PPSR registration can change priority and the practical recovery options; an unregistered or defective security can change the advice entirely.
Where assets may be dissipated before enforcement completes, urgent preservation orders may be available. Such applications require evidence, satisfy a legal test and ordinarily involve an undertaking as to damages. We assess whether urgency is real and justified before any application is made.
This service concerns creditors enforcing debts. It does not cover debtor bankruptcy applications, voluntary administration, deeds of company arrangement, small-business restructuring, safe-harbour advice, tax-debt negotiation or acting for insolvency practitioners. If your matter raises those issues, we will tell you at the outset and discuss appropriate referral.
Bring the judgment or invoices, the contract, any guarantees, debtor details and the correspondence. We will check conflicts, assess the available legal options and confirm scope and costs before work begins.
Plain-English answers to the questions we are asked most often by Melbourne clients.
In-depth, plain-English reading from our Information Centre.
A practical Victorian guide to enforcing a judgment debt — oral examinations, warrants of seizure and sale, attachment of earnings and debts, instalment orders, charging orders, bankruptcy and winding-up applications, and how to choose an enforcement pathway proportionate to cost and prospects of recovery.
How a Victorian business creditor works an unpaid B2B debt: verifying the debt and the debtor, issuing a proportionate demand, weighing dispute and solvency risk, choosing the right court, obtaining default or summary judgment, and moving to an enforcement gateway.
How the PPSR works — security interests in substance, attachment and perfection, PPS leases, PMSI timing, insolvency vesting and the registration errors that matter.
A practical Australian guide to personal guarantees given by directors, shareholders and family members in commercial transactions — enforceability, unconscionability, independent legal advice, joint and several liability, negotiation points, spouse and family exposure, release and enforcement risk.
Creditor Insolvency & Enforcement
Tell us what you are owed, whether you hold a judgment and what the debtor has said. We will check conflicts, assess the enforcement options and confirm scope and costs before work begins.
