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The Court Process timelines... as a Defendant
As a Defendant it can be a bit tricky to find out the information you need about the court process - the debt advice services tend to be aimed at people who want to sort out installments or settlements and the courts seem to presume everyone is a claimant. Probably the main reason for the insanely high Default Judgment figures ( 84% at last count ).
But you're here... so you likely are wanting to defend the claim, either in full or in part, and hold the claimant to account.
This will just be a very simple timeline / ramble of general cases in the small claims court ( so under £10k ) just so you know a little of what to expect, when and things don't come as a complete shock.
First thing to remember is that a claim, particularly one entered via MoneyClaim online ( it'll say Northampton County Court Business Centre at the top), isn't read by anyone at the court until much further along the line.... so the claim being issued doesn't mean that anyone, except maybe the Claimant, thinks it is a valid claim.
It will arrive at your house, hopefully, within a few days of the claimant logging into a website and paying a fairly small fee. That date is called the ISSUE DATE. That is the date everything else runs from.
When you receive it, it is completely normal to have a bit of a panic ... or stuff it down the back of the sofa .... DON'T. Also don't jump on the phone and ring the claimant and offer them your left kidney.
COURT SHOULD NOT BE SCARY ! MOST people don't get to a hearing. Many do, but MOST don't. The whole way through dealing with a claim assume you will be in a court room in a few months time arguing against the claim.
So. The claim is probably a bit vague. Hopefully it isn't completely out of the blue as there are pre-action procedures creditors are meant to follow, but they might have ended up down the back of the sofa too. But regardless you need to ACKNOWLEDGE the claim within 14 days of receiving it ( 19 days from the Issue date we mentioned earlier due to postage etc ( but just do it as soon as you receive the claim is best, there's no benefit to leaving it ). This just says to the court and to the claimant "Hey, I'm not being a push over, I've got the claim and I'm going to be dealing with it" (in actuality you tick a box saying you intend to defend in full and that's that - no other information or details at this stage !) ( see sidebar for more info --> )
Post in the forum and there's various guides and help available to deal with different types of claim. There might be letters you want to send to the claimant to get more information and so on.
The next step is the DEFENCE which you must put in to court within 28 days from service ( when you received it ) - 33 days from the issue date is simplest to work out ( see sidebar again for link to calculator ). You can send that in online or on paper, either way, just ensure it gets in on time or you risk a DEFAULT JUDGMENT (where the claimant gets judgment simply because you didn't reply, still no one has read the claim ). It's a pain to sort out from there and costs you an application fee of up to £255, so try not to be late !
After the Defence is in the court asks the claimant if they want to continue - then you'll receive a letter from the court saying 'this is now a defended claim'. They will ask you to complete a form, a DIRECTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE, which basically helps them work out where is the best court to send the claim to ( your local one normally) and whether you're willing to mediate, or are on holiday at any time in the future ( in case of a hearing). If you don't receive the Directions Questionnaire within 8 weeks of submitting your defence then it may be worth calling the court and checking on progress as the Claimant may have failed to reply to the court and the case may be 'stayed' ( on hold ). ( if this happens post on the forum - generally its a good thing !)
The Claimant also receives one of these from the court, and they must complete it by a certain date as well. If they don't ( or if you don't, but you will
) they risk having their case struck out.
Once both parties have sent back their Directions Questionnaires the court will allocate the claim to a track ( small claims or fast track - here we're only really talking about small claims) and send you a letter to tell you that the claim is being sent to a local court - either county court or hearing centre.
A couple weeks after the files have been sent over, the Judge or Court Manager will look at the documents and decide whether any directions ( instructions ) are needed, whether a hearing is needed, how long it should bem and if they can sort out a date for it... they'll then send you a NOTICE OF HEARING with a court date on it.
This letter will contain some important information too.
It will tell you when the hearing date and time will be, and where the hearing will be held.
It will tell the claimant when they must pay their hearing fee by. ( If they fail to do so their claim risks being struck out )
It will tell YOU as defendant when to file and serve witness statements, exhibits and give any othr directions the court decides are needed. This is often on the second page - so ALWAYS read the whole thing, and underline the important bits.
So hearing fee is usually required 3 weeks before the hearing. Then Witness Statements 14 days before the hearing.
Most people wait and see if the claimant pays the fee before doing their Witness Statements, but like homework, it's really best not to leave it to the last minute. So once you have the hearing date order you should start putting your Witness Statement together.
You send that to the court and copy to the Claimant before the date given in the order, and you should receive a copy of the Claimants witness statement and exhibits they intend to use in court.
This is normally a decent time to reassess your position, check whether they have quashed your defence by providing all the documents required, and if so, consider negotiating a settlement out side of court. If they fail to send the Witness Statement then after a couple days check with the Court ( your local court where the hearing is listed ). It may be that the claimant has decided not to go ahead and discontinues at this point, or they may simply turn up at the hearing with a bundle of documents ( in which case ask the court to adjourn the hearing ).
Hopefully by the time you're anywhere near this point you'll be posting on the forum and getting some support - every case is different so it's tricky to detail all the ins outs whys and wherefores, but hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of the general process.
But you're here... so you likely are wanting to defend the claim, either in full or in part, and hold the claimant to account.
This will just be a very simple timeline / ramble of general cases in the small claims court ( so under £10k ) just so you know a little of what to expect, when and things don't come as a complete shock.
First thing to remember is that a claim, particularly one entered via MoneyClaim online ( it'll say Northampton County Court Business Centre at the top), isn't read by anyone at the court until much further along the line.... so the claim being issued doesn't mean that anyone, except maybe the Claimant, thinks it is a valid claim.
It will arrive at your house, hopefully, within a few days of the claimant logging into a website and paying a fairly small fee. That date is called the ISSUE DATE. That is the date everything else runs from.
When you receive it, it is completely normal to have a bit of a panic ... or stuff it down the back of the sofa .... DON'T. Also don't jump on the phone and ring the claimant and offer them your left kidney.
COURT SHOULD NOT BE SCARY ! MOST people don't get to a hearing. Many do, but MOST don't. The whole way through dealing with a claim assume you will be in a court room in a few months time arguing against the claim.
So. The claim is probably a bit vague. Hopefully it isn't completely out of the blue as there are pre-action procedures creditors are meant to follow, but they might have ended up down the back of the sofa too. But regardless you need to ACKNOWLEDGE the claim within 14 days of receiving it ( 19 days from the Issue date we mentioned earlier due to postage etc ( but just do it as soon as you receive the claim is best, there's no benefit to leaving it ). This just says to the court and to the claimant "Hey, I'm not being a push over, I've got the claim and I'm going to be dealing with it" (in actuality you tick a box saying you intend to defend in full and that's that - no other information or details at this stage !) ( see sidebar for more info --> )
Post in the forum and there's various guides and help available to deal with different types of claim. There might be letters you want to send to the claimant to get more information and so on.
The next step is the DEFENCE which you must put in to court within 28 days from service ( when you received it ) - 33 days from the issue date is simplest to work out ( see sidebar again for link to calculator ). You can send that in online or on paper, either way, just ensure it gets in on time or you risk a DEFAULT JUDGMENT (where the claimant gets judgment simply because you didn't reply, still no one has read the claim ). It's a pain to sort out from there and costs you an application fee of up to £255, so try not to be late !
After the Defence is in the court asks the claimant if they want to continue - then you'll receive a letter from the court saying 'this is now a defended claim'. They will ask you to complete a form, a DIRECTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE, which basically helps them work out where is the best court to send the claim to ( your local one normally) and whether you're willing to mediate, or are on holiday at any time in the future ( in case of a hearing). If you don't receive the Directions Questionnaire within 8 weeks of submitting your defence then it may be worth calling the court and checking on progress as the Claimant may have failed to reply to the court and the case may be 'stayed' ( on hold ). ( if this happens post on the forum - generally its a good thing !)
The Claimant also receives one of these from the court, and they must complete it by a certain date as well. If they don't ( or if you don't, but you will
) they risk having their case struck out.Once both parties have sent back their Directions Questionnaires the court will allocate the claim to a track ( small claims or fast track - here we're only really talking about small claims) and send you a letter to tell you that the claim is being sent to a local court - either county court or hearing centre.
A couple weeks after the files have been sent over, the Judge or Court Manager will look at the documents and decide whether any directions ( instructions ) are needed, whether a hearing is needed, how long it should bem and if they can sort out a date for it... they'll then send you a NOTICE OF HEARING with a court date on it.
This letter will contain some important information too.
It will tell you when the hearing date and time will be, and where the hearing will be held.
It will tell the claimant when they must pay their hearing fee by. ( If they fail to do so their claim risks being struck out )
It will tell YOU as defendant when to file and serve witness statements, exhibits and give any othr directions the court decides are needed. This is often on the second page - so ALWAYS read the whole thing, and underline the important bits.
So hearing fee is usually required 3 weeks before the hearing. Then Witness Statements 14 days before the hearing.
Most people wait and see if the claimant pays the fee before doing their Witness Statements, but like homework, it's really best not to leave it to the last minute. So once you have the hearing date order you should start putting your Witness Statement together.
You send that to the court and copy to the Claimant before the date given in the order, and you should receive a copy of the Claimants witness statement and exhibits they intend to use in court.
This is normally a decent time to reassess your position, check whether they have quashed your defence by providing all the documents required, and if so, consider negotiating a settlement out side of court. If they fail to send the Witness Statement then after a couple days check with the Court ( your local court where the hearing is listed ). It may be that the claimant has decided not to go ahead and discontinues at this point, or they may simply turn up at the hearing with a bundle of documents ( in which case ask the court to adjourn the hearing ).
Hopefully by the time you're anywhere near this point you'll be posting on the forum and getting some support - every case is different so it's tricky to detail all the ins outs whys and wherefores, but hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of the general process.
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