ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: James Herring, Nathalie Allen and David Wigg, Addleshaw Goddard
• final injunctions: the defendant is ordered to take a specific action or to not take or stop taking specific action; and • declaratory relief: the court makes a declaration as to the parties’ respective rights. Money judgments and final injunctions are judgments in which the court determines the respective rights of the parties and orders one or both to act in a particular way. These can be directly enforced in England and Wales. Judgments for declaratory relief do not order any party to act in a particular way that is enforceable. However, if a party subsequently acts in a way that is inconsist - ent with the court’s declaration, the other party can start proceedings to enforce their rights based on the declaration. Judgments in England and Wales usually follow a full trial on the merits of the dispute, with the following exceptions: • early determination might be obtained without full trial in a very clear case (through an application for summary judgment or strike out); • interim remedies may be granted pending full trial – eg, an interim injunction freezing a person’s assets; and • judgment in default where a defendant is properly served with a claim but fails to respond within the timeframe set out in the rules – in certain circum - stances, the defendant may be able to have the judgment set aside and proceed with defending the litigation. 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments There are a number of ways to enforce a domestic judgment. Charging Order This is a court order for a charge over specific property owned by the judgment debtor (land, securities or cer - tain other assets). The charge attempts to prevent the judgment debtor from selling the property without first satisfying the charge (ie, paying the judgment debt). Obtaining the charge allows the judgment creditor to then apply to court seeking an order for the sale of the
asset and, if successful, to use the proceeds to pay the judgment debt. The process of applying for an interim charging order is relatively straightforward, with a prescribed form for the application. The application is usually first made without notice to the judgment debtor and dealt with by a judge without a hearing. Following this, the appli - cant can apply for a final charging order. At that point, the judgment debtor (who may dispute the charging order) and any other third party who claims an interest in the asset will be given notice of, and may attend, the hearing of the judgment creditor’s application. Attachment of Earnings Where the judgment debtor is an individual, the party seeking enforcement can apply to court for a direction that the judgment debtor’s employer pays an amount of the judgment debtor’s salary to the judgment credi - tor (to be paid first to a collecting officer, who will then pass this on to the judgment creditor). Such an order cannot be obtained against a judg - ment debtor who is unemployed, self-employed, in the armed forces or a merchant seaman. A Third-Party Debt Order A third-party debt order provides for monies owed to a judgment debtor from a third party to instead be passed to the judgment creditor. This is often obtained in respect of a credit balance in a judgment debtor’s bank account. Similar to an application for a charging order, this involves a two-stage process as part of which the judgment creditor first seeks an interim third-party debt order (without notice to the judgment debtor); following this, a hearing will take place, at which the court decides whether to make a final order. The third party can object to the order and intervene to attempt to prevent the order being made. It is not usually pos - sible to obtain a third-party debt order in respect of debts to which the debtor does not have full entitle - ment (such as a joint debt or future debt) or over which the court does not have jurisdiction (eg, a debt owed in another country).
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