judgment creditor

A judgment creditor is a legal person which has obtained or is entitled to enforce a judgment or court order.

Once the court has given judgment, the claimant and defendant should no longer be referred to as “the claimant” and “the defendant”. The party which is able to enforce a judgment or order is referred to as the “judgment creditor”. This is due to the operation of the doctrine of merger.

Collecting a Judgment

It comes as a surprise to many that UK Courts do not usually enforce its own judgments, or make any recommendations as to how to enforce a judgment.

The course for recovery of a judgment to be taken will depend on what assets the judgment debtor owns. Where the creditor does not know, it is able to apply for an order requiring the judgment debtor or a director of the judgment debtor where it is a company to attend court to answer questions as to the location and form of its assets.

Methods of Enforcement of Judgments

The methods available to judgment creditors to enforce money judgments and orders include:

1. third party debt order;
2. writ of control;
3. writ of execution (ie writ of possession, writ of delivery, writ of sequestration, a writ of fieri facias de bonis ecclesiasticis, and other writs issued in aid of these writs, but not writs of control);
4. an order to obtain information from judgment debtors, that is attend Court to answer questions about the assets which it owns;
5. appointment of a receiver for equitable execution;
6. recognition of a foreign judgment or order in England for enforcement of a money  judgment in England;
7. an application for recognition of an English judgment or order in a foreign jurisdiction for enforcement in another country, where assets are located abroad. The UK is party a party to series of conventions and treaties which permits expedited processes for recognition of judgments in foreign jurisdictions.

In rarer cases, a judgment summons, committal proceedings are available to coerce payment of judgment debts.

Options for Judgment Creditors

Judgment creditors are not limited to using one method of enforcement, and are able to use multiple methods of enforcement. This includes more than one (say) third party debt order or writ of control, and more than one at the same time.

Enforcement against Non-parties

Orders and judgments against a legal person which is not party to proceeding may be enforced as if they were a party to the proceedings. Situations such as this will be rare, because courts usually insist that all persons who may have effected by an order are joined to the proceedings (ie joinder) or the relevant application.