Information to Collect a Debt
What can you do if someone owes you money and won’t pay?
You can sue in court. If successful, you can garnish the debtor’s wages; you can file a lien on the debtor’s property at a government registration office (thus preventing the debtor from selling the property without paying you), or you can ask the court to order that the debtor’s personal property or real estate be sold to pay the debt.
The court and procedure depends on the value of your claim:
- claims up to $10,000 are relatively informal and heard in the “Small Claims Court”;
- claims to $50,000 are heard in the “Superior Court” under the so-called “simplified rules”.
Claims over $50,000 are also heard in the Superior Court under the regular rules. Superior Court claims can be complex and protracted, especially if the debtor files a defence.
Before suing, a letter from Allen and Allen demanding payment warns the debtor that you have hired legal counsel and are ready to sue. Often this is enough to force payment.
Send us an email outlining:
- who and where the debtor is,
- who and where you are,
- how much is owed,
- how and when the debt was created,
- whether any particular property was pledged to secure the debt, and
- whether a construction lien may be involved.
On receiving your email, we will send you a free no-obligation quote of the amount to send a legal demand letter and the amount to initiate court proceedings. You may choose to invest in only the legal demand letter at this time.