When a dispute that you’re involved in gets out of hand, it’s a good idea to take initial legal advice about how to respond to it.
If you are in a position where someone is threatening you with court action, there might be no easy answers that will avoid or prevent it. If you’re at fault, you might be able to involve your insurers if the goods or services provided to you were broken. You might possibly be able to offer a reasonable response that requires the opponent to justify the need for an early court action against you or they risk being told by the court to reimburse your legal costs or part of them.
If the other party is entitled to payment of the contract but you have a counter claim, your claim will be investigated and quantified at the beginning if it should be synchronized as a defence to the claim and not left to be actioned later. Do not ignore the problem and leave it too late. It can be difficult to reverse it, especially if you let a court order be placed against you without it being resisted. For legal advice, visit a site like https://bridgelawsolicitors.co.uk/services-for-individuals/family-law/holmfirth-huddersfield-family/ for Huddersfield Solicitors
How can people get money from you?
They are restricted to certain specified procedures and should have a court order, normally obtained after you have the chance to contest the case. There are exceptions to this, especially with regard to taxes and electricity bills, which must be dealt with before because warrants can be given by the court without you knowing about them.
The procedure typically involves having the court place charges or alert you to require payment to be made within two weeks, after which earnings can be arrested or bankruptcy can be applied for. Currently, the Attachment of goods orders are being reformed by Parliament but at the moment, Income arrestments involves your employers taking deductions from your salary on a sliding scale. Other arrestments (such as banks) to attach anything held on your credit up to the amount of debt, but creditors are not entitled to the information first. The procedure does not include prison.
Can you appeal?
Some decisions during the case can only be appealed on the final say of the judge with a final decision able to be appealed within three weeks at the Court of Session and two weeks in the Sheriff Court. The Court of Appeal will not re-hear the case normally but must be convinced that the initial judge made a mistake in terms of:
law
facts, or
the balance of discretionary judgment.
Is there a time limit?
There are many such limits for cases imposed by the courts and their rules will be relaxed only where there is good reason. There is also a time limit of three years for negligence / personal injury claims and damages or five years for a breach of contract. There are other time limits depending on the type of case, so it’s essential to seek legal advice before running out of time.
