A judgment is a court’s declaration that you are owed money. It is not the money. Creditors arrive here regularly having obtained judgment, spent the costs, and received nothing — and the reason is nearly always the same.
Two Separate Exercises
Obtaining judgment is a legal exercise: demand, proceedings, and either default or summary judgment. It is procedural, reasonably predictable, and largely within your control. Enforcement is a practical exercise, and it is entirely dependent on something you do not control — what the debtor actually has. Judgment mortgage against property, instalment order after examination of means, execution through the Sheriff against goods, garnishee of money owed to the debtor by a third party, attachment of earnings. Each of those matches a different debtor profile, each costs money to pursue, and none of them creates assets where none exist. So a creditor who obtained judgment against a person with no property, no employment, no guarantor and no realisable goods has bought a document. It has some residual value — it lasts, it can be registered, and circumstances change — but that is a long position, not a recovery.
The Question to Ask Before Issuing
Not “can we win?” but “if we win, what will we enforce against?” And it is answerable, cheaply, before any real money is spent. For a company: filed accounts and when they were last filed, registered charges showing who ranks ahead of you, judgments already registered indicating other creditors in the queue, whether it appears to be trading. For an individual: property ownership, employment, whether they trade, whether there is a guarantor. None of this is conclusive and accounts are always historic — but a creditor who has looked makes a materially better decision than one who has not, and the cost of looking is trivial against the cost of proceedings. This is also why the answer is sometimes not to issue at all, and why a solicitor whose fee is not a percentage of recovery is the person more likely to tell you so. Where enforcement has already been attempted and returned nothing, repeating it is a repeat of a failed experiment, and the arithmetic then usually favours a discount or a write-off.
A nil return has value. Where execution is attempted and nothing is found, that outcome is sometimes obtained deliberately — it evidences the position, which can matter for other purposes including how a debt is treated internally. Ask before assuming an unsuccessful step was wasted.
Holding a judgment that has not been paid? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981, with offices at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay — a short walk from the Four Courts. The firm advises creditors on recovery and enforcement, and, in separate matters, advises debtors who have received demands or proceedings. It is a law firm and not a debt collection agency: fees are agreed in writing at the outset and are never calculated as a percentage or proportion of what is recovered. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. This website contains general information about Irish law on debt recovery and enforcement. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every debt turns on its own facts — the documents, the dates, the parties and the debtor’s circumstances — and advice on yours requires a consultation. Statutory thresholds and figures referred to on this site are subject to change and should be confirmed before any step is taken.
A law firm, not a debt collection agency. Mary Molloy Solicitors provides legal advice and representation. It does not operate as a debt collection agency and does not conduct collection campaigns. Fees are agreed in writing with the client at the outset and are never calculated as a percentage or proportion of any sum recovered. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
No outcome is promised. Nothing on this site states or implies that any debt will be recovered, that any asset will be found, that any enforcement step will succeed, or that any claim will succeed. Recovery depends substantially on the debtor’s means, which are frequently unknown at the outset.
How payment may be demanded is regulated. Section 11 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 makes it an offence to make a demand for payment by means calculated to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or falsely to represent that legal proceedings have been or will be issued. Nothing on this site should be read as encouraging any such conduct. Mortgage arrears on a principal private residence are dealt with under a separate regulatory framework and are outside the scope of this site.
If you are the person being pursued. Free, confidential and independent money advice is available in Ireland from MABS, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, and through the Abhaile scheme for people in mortgage arrears. You do not have to engage a solicitor to get help, and taking advice early generally improves the options available. This firm advises debtors in matters separate from those in which it acts for a creditor, and never both sides of the same debt — conflicts are checked before any substantive discussion.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Questions about VAT on recovered sums, bad debt relief or the treatment of write-offs belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance.