Obtaining Unfortunately, obtaining a Small Claims Court judgment – whether at the end of a trial or settlement conference, or by default – is one thing. But getting it does not guarantee you will get paid is something elseimmediately. What can you do if the person you sued refuses to pay your judgment? Let’s call that person This script discusses your options by explaining how you, known as the “creditor” following a judgment in your favour, can pursue the defendant, after judgment known as the debtor“debtor”, and call to obtain the money you the creditorhave been awarded.

=="File" “File” your court judgment==If the debtor has defended your claim, then after After the judge has made a Payment Order at the end of your trial or settlement conference, you must go to the Small Claims Court registry and fill in a Payment Order form (Form 10). It This form will be signed by the appropriate person and “filed” or entered in the court records.

If the debtor hasn’t responded defendant did not respond to your claimwithin the necessary timeframe, then you must instead complete an Application for a Default Order (Form 5) instead.

A Small Claims Court judgment is valid for 10 years, so meaning any action you take to get your judgment paid must be completed within that time period. A Small Claims Court judgment cannot be renewed beyond the 10-year period, but it can be extended for another 10 yearsif: *If the debtor confirms the cause of action, ; or*If you start a new court action based on the previous judgment before the original 10 years are up.

After filing your Payment Order payment order or Default Orderdefault order, you might want to send should consider sending a copy to the debtor with a letter asking the debtor to pay you. The letter should be brief and informative, warning that further action will be taken if payment isn’t received by a certain date. Set a reasonable deadline (for example, within 14 days from the date of your letterthe letter’s sending), and be sure to include the address where the payment can be made. It’s a good idea to send the letter by registered mail.

A Payment Order might include a Payment Schedule, which tells how often and how much the debtor must pay you to pay off satisfy the amount awarded in the orderjudgment. As long as the debtor makes the payments according to the schedule, you can’t take any steps to collect the full amount right awayall at once. But However, if there’s no payment schedule included in the Order, or if the debtor doesn’t pay according to the schedule, the debtor will owe you the whole full amount immediately and you can may take the steps needed to collect it.

==What is the procedure for a Default Order?==If the A Default Order can be sought from the court if the defendant in a case fails to respond to your notice of claim within the allotted time. Where this occurs and where the amount claimed is for a debt in a specific, easily -calculable amountdebt, a judge can make an order in your favour allowing you can go ahead and take steps to collect begin the process of collecting it immediately. The Default Order will order require that the debtor to pay the amount claimed plus interest and expenses.  If your claim is not for a debt in a specific amount, a hearing before a judge will first be set to determine how much your judgment should be. Be aware that a Default Order isn’t automatic, and you must be prepared to give evidence and show supporting documents to prove the amount owing.

If the debtor doesn’t pay your Payment Order or Default Order, you have five options, discussed in detail below:#a Payment Hearing#seizure and sale of goods by the court bailiff#garnishing the debtor’s wages or bank accounts#a Default Hearing (if the debtor doesn’t obey a Payment Schedule)#registration against land

==One option is Option 1: a payment hearingPayment Hearing==Go to the Small Claims Court registry or write and tell them you want a payment hearing. The purpose of the hearing a Payment Hearing is to find out information about the debtor’s financial situation. For At the hearing, the debtor can be required to bring produce income tax returns, recent pay stubs and other documents that show the debtor’s their assets, income , and debts. At the payment hearingPayment Hearing, the judge considers the debtor’s ability to pay the Payment Order (payment order, and whether a Payment Schedule payment schedule should be included), so go prepared to question the debtor about his or her employment, bank accounts and so on. You can use the information gained at the payment hearing to help you try to collect on your judgment (i.e., by garnishing bank accounts or employment income). The costs of your application for the payment hearing will be added onto the amount the debtor has to pay you.

If When attending a Payment Hearing, be prepared to question the debtor doesn’t attend about his or her employment, bank accounts, and other assets and sources of income. You can use the payment hearinginformation gained at the Payment Hearing to help collect on your judgment, you can ask and the costs of your application for the Payment Hearing will be added onto the amount the judge debtor has to issue an arrest warrantpay you.

==A second option is seizure and sale of goods==You If the debtor doesn’t attend the Payment Hearing, you can apply for an Order for Seizure and Sale. This allows a court bailiff to take and sell ask the debtor’s goods or property. You may decide judge to go this route if issue an arrest warrant, compelling the debtor doesn’t appear to have any cash income, but has valuable assets, like a good car or boat or worthwhile company sharesattend.

Before proceeding, however, note that the ''Court Order Enforcement Act'' ==Option 2: seizure and sale of goods==An order for seizure and sale of BC goods allows a court bailiff to take and sell the debtor’s property. This option can be especially helpful where the debtor doesn’t appear to keep:have any cash income but has valuable assets, such as an expensive car, a boat, or shares in a profitable company.

*A vehicle worth up to $5,000, ; and*$10,000 worth of tools and other personal property that the debtor uses to earn income for work.

Also, the bailiff gets will be paid first from the sale of the goods. So you’ll want to make sure , meaning you must be certain that the debtor has goods worth taking and selling at a court-ordered auction.

To help with this, you might be able A helpful tip for when executing on an order for the seizure and sale of goods is to give a copy of the Payment Order or the Default Order to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) to see if the debtor has any motor vehicles registered to his or do a her name. Likewise, you can also search at the debtor’s name in the BC Manufactured Home Registry or the Personal Property Registry to see if the debtor is the registered owner of any personal property that could be seized and sold , if their value is more than the above exclusions.

If you decide to go ahead, ask the Small Claims Court registry for the forms to complete for seek an Order for Seizure and Sale. You’ll have , be mindful that you will need to pay a deposit to cover the bailiff’s estimated time and costs.

An Also, be aware that an Order for Seizure and Sale is valid for one year.

A related option is to ask a bailiff to do perform a search of their the court’s records to see if any other creditors are trying to recover against the same debtor. If there are active collection efforts underway by other creditors, you may be able to share in some of the recovery from the debtor. Also be aware that some creditors, including Revenue Canada, may have priority over assets.

==A third option is Option 3: garnishment==Assume you have a Payment A Garnishing Order for $1,000once obtained from the court, and you know where the debtor works or has a bank account. You can go to the Small Claims Court registry and apply for a Garnishing Order. You then present the Garnishing Order be presented to the debtor’s employer or the branch of the bank where the debtor has an account, whichever you are going after, and the wages owed or bank money belonging to the debtor will be paid to the court instead. Once the court receives the money, you can apply to have it paid out to you. This process is called garnishing the debtor’s wages or bank accounts.

Note that generally only 30% of a debtor’s wages can be garnished. There are also some fairly technical rules and the steps have to be followed properly, so discuss the procedure with the registry staff right at before beginning with the beginninggarnishment process.

For more information on garnishment, refer to Dial-A-Law script [[Garnishment (Script 251)|251]]on “Garnishment”.

==A fourth option is Option 4: a default hearingDefault Hearing==If The purpose of a Default Hearing is for the court to determine why a Payment Schedule was debtor has not made after the payments previously ordered by that court, including at trial or , in a settlement conference , or following a payment hearing, and the debtor hasn’t paid you as required, you can ask for a default hearing. You are responsible for setting out what items the debtor must bring to the default hearing, such as banking records, tax returns, utility bills and credit card statements. If you don’t include any of these items when you apply for a default hearing, the debtor isn’t obligated to bring anything to the hearingPayment Hearing.

At the hearing, the debtor must explain to a judge why he or she hasn’t obeyed the Payment Schedule. After listening to the debtor, the The judge can either confirm the original Payment Schedule or change the terms. If the judge decides that the debtor’s explanation for not paying shows contempt of court, the judge can send the debtor to jail for up to 20 days, and the debtor must still pay the money.

At a Default Hearing you are responsible for setting out what items the debtor must bring before the court, including banking records, tax returns, utility bills and credit card statements. If the debtor doesn’t fails to attend the default hearingDefault Hearing, you can ask the judge to issue an arrest warrant.

==A fifth option is Option 5: registration against land==You can register your Payment Order against any land owned by the debtor in British Columbia. This will make it very difficult for severely restrict the debtor debtor’s ability to sell or mortgage the land unless he or she pays your until the judgment first. What this means is that you might not get paid immediately, but the Payment Order can stay registered against the land for some time, then when the debtor sells or mortgages the land, your judgment will have to be paid. To find out if the debtor owns land in the province, you can conduct a name search at the Land Title Office through BC OnLine at [http://www.bconline.gov.bc.ca www.bconline.gov.bc.ca].

To register your Payment Orderpayment order, you must get a Certificate certificate of Judgment judgment from the Small Claims Court registry. Then you take and file it to with the Land Titles Office where that holds the debtor owns the land, and register your judgment against the title to records of the debtor’s landreal property holdings. The registration is good for two years, and can be renewed every two years up to a maximum of ten years.

You can also ask the Supreme Court to force a sale of the property, but allowing you to recover the amount you are owed from the proceeds of the sale. However, this process is an expensive and complicated procedure and not often used to enforce a judgments from Small Claims Court judgment.

Once you have a filed Payment Order or Default Order, you have five options for getting your judgment paid. Depending on what the debtor owns and his or her income, you can take some or all of these steps: *A payment hearing a Payment Hearing is useful to find out more about the debtor’s financial situation and to get the information you’ll need for pursuing other options.; *Obtaining an Order for Seizure and Sale is useful if the debtor owns valuable goods such as an expensive car.; *Garnishing Orders against the debtor’s wages or bank accounts can be useful if the debtor works or you know of money the debtor has money in an account.saved;*A default hearing can be used a Default Hearing if there’s already a Payment Schedule and an order for payment has remained outstanding, despite the debtor isn’t paying as scheduled.having access to funds; and *And if the debtor owns land, registering registration of your order against the land is likely to get you money eventuallyprevent it from being mortgaged or sold.

*Most of the instructions you need needed for getting your judgment paid can be found on the forms available at the Small Claims Court registry. If you have any questions, talk to the Small Claims Court staff registry or read over one of the Small Claims Court booklets available at the registry, at your local public library , and on the Attorney General’s website at [http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/courts/small_claims www.ag.gov.bc.ca/courts/small_claims].

[updated December 2013May 2015]