Most creditors approach a debt in the wrong order. They start with the demand, then the proceedings, and discover the two questions that actually decided the outcome — is it still in time, and does the debtor have anything — somewhere around the point at which the costs become irrecoverable.
The Six Steps, and Why the First Three Matter Most
1. Check the clock. Under the Statute of Limitations 1957, generally six years for a simple contract debt from when the cause of action accrued, twelve where the obligation is under seal — and a written acknowledgment or part payment can restart it. Establish the accrual date precisely; do not assume it is the invoice date. 2. Check the debtor. Property, trading status, employment, guarantors, solvency. This determines whether proceedings are worth issuing, and it is the step most often skipped entirely. 3. Check the dispute. A genuinely disputed debt is not a debt claim; it is litigation, priced and paced differently, and pretending otherwise is the most expensive mistake in this area. 4. Demand properly — sum, basis, consequence, within the limits the law places on how payment may be demanded. 5. Proceedings — usually a summary summons for a liquidated sum, in the court matching the amount. 6. Enforce. Nearly all the value a solicitor adds sits in the first three steps, before any real cost has been incurred on the rest.
When Not to Sue — the Honest List
A recovery practice that never advises against proceedings is not advising. The situations where the answer is usually no: the debtor has no assets, no income and no guarantor, so a judgment is a document you have bought at your own expense; the debt appears statute-barred; the sum is small enough that the cost of recovery exceeds it, which is common and is a real answer rather than a failure; the debt is genuinely disputed, so this is commercial litigation and should be assessed as such — and where the trading relationship is worth preserving, mediation frequently produces a better commercial result than a summons; a company debtor is already insolvent and the realistic route is a claim in a liquidation; or the real problem is a contract dispute wearing an invoice as a disguise. Two things that do justify moving quickly, and should be said at the first call: an approaching limitation deadline, because issuing is what stops the clock and there is no discretion to extend it; and evidence that assets are being dissipated or a company is failing, which points toward urgent relief rather than an ordinary debt claim.
Worth Issuing, or Not?
Send the amount, when it fell due, whether anything restarted the clock, the debtor's correct legal name and what you know about their means. You get the arithmetic - including where it says to stop.
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