Prohibited Steps Order on a Friday night

January 5th, 2008

There I was getting ready for a nice Friday night when the telephone rings at five to five in the afternoon. A barrister, no less on the other end of the phone. Wants to know if it’s possible to serve a court order on the hurry tonight, before 9pm?

“yes” I tell him, “no problem” one of my Process Servers will do it.

So at 8pm I am in the middle of the east end knocking on someone’s door and would you believe it, there’s no one home. I’ll have to go back tomorrow!

But why are these Court Orders always obtained on a Friday afternoon and why do they always have to be served on the hurry? What’s wrong with Tuesday or Wednesday?

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How to have a Statutory Demand (SD) set aside

January 1st, 2008

There are many creditors who are issuing Statutory Demands (SD’s) inappropriately i.e. as a threat only and have no intention of going the whole route of making someone bankrupt. I have therefore set out a step by step guide to defending yourself from these types of threats.

Now in my job as a Process Server, I serve a lot of SD’s and people generally have a misconception that they can avoid or evade being served. This misconception clearly comes from the influence of American movies where you see the process server attempting to serve the person who refuses to receive it in their hands.

In England, it is generally impossible to evade service of a SD and if a person is being evasive then we simply send them a letter of appointment via 1st class post and serve them through alternate service i.e. by putting the SD through the person’s door or even leaving somewhere and informing the person of where it is and what is on it. Alternate service is just that, some other way of serving the document and I have known documents being served by publishing it in the local papers or taking out an advert. Once the SD is served, generally a statement of service is written and signed by the Process Server

So what is an Statutory Demand?

A Statutory Demand is the first step to bankruptcy against an individual and this is prepared and served without any court involvement. A statutory demand can be served as soon as the debt is due and a judgement is not necessary. The link here is a PDF of a Debt for Liquidated Sum Payable Immediately and also Debt for Liquidated Sum Payable Immediately Following a Judgment or Order of the Court and Debt Payable at Future Date

So that’s what they look like. Lets look at the common strategies for dealing with them.

How to reduce the risk of bankruptcy following a statutory demand?

(a) To avoid bankruptcy reduce the debt to less than £750.
(b) Offer to pay the debt by instalments.
(c) Make a reasonable offer to settle the debt.
(d) Apply to have the Statutory Demand set aside on the grounds that the debt is in dispute.

After the period of 21 day from the statutory demand being served the person issuing the statutory demand may begin the process that petitions the person’s bankruptcy.

To successfully get a statutory demand set aside one or more of the following must be satisfied:-

* The amount stated on the statutory demand is disputed.
* The person issuing the statutory demand also owes money. This is called a counterclaim.
* The person issuing the statutory demand is holding security that equals or exceeds the amount owing.
* The demand was issued in error.
* The amount owing is less than £750
* Execution has been stayed on a judgement debt.
* The debtor is complying with an instalment order. This would mean the debt is not actually owed as it is being paid back.
* The creditor failed to comply with the rules and prejudiced the debtor in the process.

Step 1 - So the best way of dealing with an SD is to accept the SD because it has lots of important information that you are going to need.

Step 2 - Read it carefully and decide if the particulars are correct. The debt has to be over £750 and not in dispute.

Step 3 - Write to the person named in part B of the SD informing him/her that the debt is in dispute and say why.

Step 4 - Print out an Application to Set Aside a Statutory Demand and an Affidavit in Support of Application to Set Aside Statutory Demand which you must fill in and present at the court within 18 days of being served.

I would have a read of this thread over at the Consumer Action Group which has some very sensible advice too.

And that’s the process. If you have any doubts about how to do this then I would strongly recommend consulting a Solicitor.

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Process Server or just glorified courier?

December 15th, 2007

I was thinking this week about the role of the Process Server. Are we just professionals or just a glorified courier service. I mean some process servers are out there selling themselves for a pittance. In today’s climate with licensing just around the corner and at the end of the 2007, it’s time we started to really value ourselves and charge the client a real professional fee equivalent to what the job is actually worth. What do yo think?

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Process Servers London deliver legal documents

May 31st, 2007

“You’re served.”

Those are two words many people don’t want to hear, but they are the words from which Jorge Salgado-Reyes and his process servers make their livings.

As London based process servers, Jorge Salgado-Reyes and his firm Salgado Investigations deliver important legal documents to people who are supposed to appear in court — people who sometimes don’t want these important legal documents.

A legal process server delivers legal documents such as writs, summons, subpoenas, complaints and other court documents to a defendant or an individual involved in a court case.

But they don’t just serve people to appear in court.

“We deliver all kinds of legal documents,” Jorge said. “We deliver a number of Solicitor’s documents, letters and personal records in child support and divorce cases.”

Sheriff’s deputies can serve individuals. So can anyone 16 years old or older who is not a party to the case and who has been designated by the court to complete the service of process. Legal documents also can be shipped by registered post.

Solicitors and individuals often seek our process servers because they can perform the duty more quickly than others can, Jorge said.

“An advantage to using the Salgado Investigation’s process servers is we’re paid to make sure that document is served — no matter how difficult it is to locate that person,” he said.

“In my case, I take it very personally. If it takes a little extra time to do it, I will. I take pride in it.”

In the personal process serving businesses, Jorge’s Investigation Agency has seen their fair share of strange occurrences when trying to serve someone. Jorge said women typically take being served personally and sometimes can respond with a vengeance.

“Women are the ones who want to get even,” he said. “When divorce papers are served … then they want to call around and find out who the other woman is.”

Jorge recently encountered a peculiar situation when he had to serve a couple an ASBO – Anti-Social Behaviour Order. Serving the one half of the couple was easy but now the other half spent a lot of energy evading us. Ultimately, he had to leave the house to go to work so we served him on his way to his car.

“A lot of people get real personal with process service,” Jorge said. “They want you to serve them when the person’s at work or in a public place. They’ll ask us to humiliate them. We get that a lot.”

But, that’s not the intent with personal process servers.

“We don’t try to embarrass them,” Jorge said. “A lot of times the defendant or plaintiff in a case will want to use a personal process server,” he said. “If it’s a cordial thing and they’re not sworn enemies, they want to be more discreet about it. “

Then there are the cases in which people simply do not want to be served.

Jorge said the law makes it hard for someone to refuse to be served.

“You can drop it at their feet (and say) ‘You’re served,’” Jorge said. “You don’t have to hand it to them.” Or alternatively if they don’t answer the door, we can post through the door as an alternate service.

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