Mary Molloy Solicitors has an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny city centre, open Monday to Friday with same-week appointments generally available — useful for the kind of conversation this work sometimes needs, which is a business owner and a ledger and an hour to go through it properly.
Terms of Trade: the Cheapest Recovery Work There Is
Most debt recovery advice starts after the debt has gone bad. The most valuable work happens well before that, in the terms of trade, and it costs a fraction of a single bad debt. Four clauses repay their drafting many times over. Retention of title, so that goods still identifiable and unpaid for remain yours rather than becoming part of an insolvent customer’s estate. A personal guarantee from a director where credit is extended to a limited company, which turns a worthless corporate debt into a claim against someone who may own a house — and note that a guarantee executed under seal may carry a twelve-year rather than a six-year limitation period. A contractual interest provision, sitting alongside the statutory late payment entitlement. And clear payment terms, since the date payment falls due is where the limitation clock starts. Reviewing terms is unglamorous and is the highest-return work in this area.
Going Through a Ledger Properly
The other genuinely useful exercise, and one that suits sitting down together at the Kilkenny office, is a proper review of outstanding accounts. Most businesses carrying overdue debt have never sorted it by the questions that actually matter: is each debt still within time, and precisely when did it fall due; has the debtor acknowledged it in writing or made a part payment since, which may have restarted the clock; does the debtor still exist, still trade, and appear to have anything; is the sum large enough to justify the cost of recovery; and is there a guarantee, retention of title or unregistered security sitting in the file that nobody has looked at. That exercise typically reduces a long list to a short one — and acting properly on the short list produces more money than pursuing the long one badly. It also identifies the debts that need action this month because they are approaching six years.
Two Free Tools Before You Call
The Debt Limitation Checker walks the time-limit questions and flags where a debt may be statute-barred. The Recovery Route Mapper shows the likely court, procedure and enforcement options — and flags where the honest answer is not to issue at all. Both run entirely on your device; nothing is stored or sent.
Worth Pursuing, or Not?
The amount, when it fell due, whether anything restarted the clock, the debtor's correct legal name and what you know about their means. Those five answers shape everything.
Call 01 5827148