Insolvency and Debt Claims

Our fixed price includes:

• Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation
• Undertaking appropriate searches
• Sending a Letter of Claim
• Recovering payment and sending on to you, or if the debt is not paid, drafting and issuing a Money Claim Online
• Where no Acknowledgement of Service or Defence is received, applying to the Court to request a Judgment in default
• When Judgment in default is received, writing to the debtor to request payment
• If payment is not received, providing you with advice on next steps and likely costs

Time Scales

Matters usually take about 7-10 weeks for claims made through Money Claims online from receipt of instructions to obtaining Judgment in default.

If enforcement action is needed, the matter will take longer to resolve and at additional cost. Should a Defence be filed in response to the claim, this will also result in the matter taking longer to resolve and at additional cost.

In some cases, debtors pay in days, but where a claim is disputed, it can take months and very often over a year to obtain a judgment.

Our fixed price does not include:

• Any work or expenses involved in pursuing the claim should it be or become disputed by the debtor
• Correspondence with you and the debtor to deal with queries or negotiating payment terms
• If the debt is not disputed and is unpaid after the Letter of Claim then we may advise that in the case of a debtor company, a Winding Up Petition is issued instead of issuing a claim. In these circumstances our fee for the Letter of Claim will be between £250 plus VAT and £350 plus VAT (at the current rate of 20%) depending on the number of invoices and we shall provide an estimate of costs for the Winding Up.

Hourly Rates

If any work is undertaken outside the scope of our fixed fee service, our costs will be charged on an hourly rate basis. We shall confirm the hourly rates of our fee earners working on your matter at the beginning of your instruction. Depending on the team member dealing with your matter, our hourly rates will range from £150 to £340 plus VAT (at the current rate of 20%).

Additional fees

Depending on the nature and progression of your matter, in addition to legal fees you may also have to pay some or all of the following:

 Fees for tracing agents or process servers to locate debtors. The costs of these will depend on your case but can be anywhere between £50 plus VAT (at the current rate of 20%) to many thousands in high value and complex cases.

• Fees for process server to serve the claim or statutory demand on the debtor. Fees are typically between £100 – £200 plus VAT (at the current rate of 20%).

• Court fees. These are calculated depending on the value of the debt claimed. Please see above.

• Barrister’s fees for attending court on your behalf. These will depend on the complexity and value of the case and the type of hearing. We shall advise you of these costs separately if the need to engage a barrister arises.

• Other third-party charges, such as Land Registry fees to obtain title documents and fees charged by Companies House to obtain key company documents.

Payment is required in full at the time of receiving your instructions and can be made by debit/credit card or by cheque.

This offer only applies to clients who are operate as a business and are owed a debt up to the value of £100,000 by another business which does not dispute that such debt is owed. Court fees above are correct as stated as at September 2024. If the debt remains unpaid after a Court Judgment is given, any enforcement proceedings to recover such debt are not included in this fixed fee service. You must inform us when you instruct us if you would like to take advantage of this service. Payment in full is required in advance. We reserve the right to decline to accept instructions in our absolute discretion.