Collecting civil debt and how the court can help

Ensure the court has your information

Once the court makes its decision it will issue a judgement order. This includes the payment requirements and your contact details. The debtor needs to contact you to arrange payment, so make sure the court has your current contact details while your claim is before the court. 

The debtor may also want to contact you if they can’t pay as set out in the judgement order. They may want to make some other arrangement (for example, pay by instalments). You can decide whether to agree to this.

Help collecting civil debt

If the debtor does not pay in the way the court has decided or you have agreed, you can ask the court for help collecting the debt. You need to manage the process. The court does not enforce a judgment order automatically.   

Other options for getting help to collect the debt include hiring a private debt collection agency or getting a lawyer to act for you. 

How to ask the court for help

The court offers a range of services to help you collect the debt if the debtor does not pay. This is called civil enforcement. 

Find out about the different types of civil enforcement action

If you want the court to take civil enforcement action to get the debt paid, you must:

• check you meet the conditions for applying (see below)

• select the enforcement action you think is best for your situation

• ensure you have up-to-date information about the debtor to support your application (for example, their physical address)

• apply to the court to carry out the enforcement action

• pay the associated fee for each enforcement action you want (most fees can then be added to the debt).

You can apply for several enforcement actions at the same time. You need to have the required information and pay the filing fees for each enforcement action. 

The court cannot carry out some enforcement actions from 25 December to 15 January in any year.  

When you can ask the court for help

In most instances, the creditor can only ask the court to take civil enforcement action when these conditions are met:

1. A court or tribunal has found in your favour and ordered a person or organisation to pay you civil debt.

2. The judgment order has been issued, all conditions have been met (such as stand-down period or set timeframe) and the debtor has not paid you on time.

   • The stand-down period starts the day after the order was made. It lasts for 48-hours (two full working days – see table below).

   • A ‘comply by’ date was set for when the debtor is required to pay by.

3. The order is less than six years old (more information below).

Stand-down period

When the stand-down period does not apply

A district court judge or other judicial officer can waive the 48-hour stand-down period during the hearing or when making the judgment order. If they waive it, the debt should be paid immediately. If it isn’t, you can apply for enforcement action.

The judge or judicial officer can also decide if the debtor should have a longer time to pay the debt. If they do, you cannot apply for enforcement action until that time has passed. 

You can apply for some enforcement actions before the stand-down period finishes:

• wage or benefit deductions (attachment order)

• filing a financial statement

• assessment of financial means

• financial assessment hearing.

Civil enforcement explains each of these actions

Judgment orders more than six years old

If the judgment order was issued more than six years ago, you can only apply for civil enforcement action if: 

• you, or the court, have received a payment from the debtor or someone else on their behalf in the last 12 months (include evidence of a payment with your application for enforcement action)

• or a district court judge approves it and grants ‘leave of the court’, as explained below.

Applying for leave of the court

You need to apply to the district court where the order was made:

1. Fill in the form and file it with the district court: Application to enforce a judgment over six years [PDF, 138 KB]
2. Pay the fee and include the receipt with your application. On the application form, you can ask for the fee to be added to the debt.
3. If your application is accepted you will be sent a confirmation. 

Fees for civil enforcement

While some types of enforcement are free, most require a fee which needs to be paid with the application. You may be able to have the fee added to the debt.

Fees and charges has information about filing applications and paying fees. 

Before applying for civil enforcement

Finding a debtor's address

You need to know a debtor’s correct physical address before the court can take some enforcement action on your behalf.

You should use the most current address you have in any applications.

If the debtor hasn’t provided a correct address, you can try to find the address yourself, or you can request confidential address information from a government agency.

Why debtor payments might stop

If the debtor is paying the civil debt over a period of time, there are several reasons payments might stop. These include:

• The judgment debt has been paid in full (any active enforcement action needs to be cancelled).
• The debtor is no longer employed.
• The debtor has a new employer who is unaware of the requirement.
• The debtors’ Work and Income benefit has been suspended or stopped.
• The debtor has filed for an application to cancel payments.
• The debtor has applied for an insolvency procedure in New Zealand (for example, bankruptcy as explained below).
• The debtor has died.

You may need to reconsider how you can claim the debt. You could seek legal advice. 

Dealing with a bankrupt debtor

If the debt was incurred after the debtor became bankrupt, all civil enforcement will stop.

However, you may want to consider applying for a warrant to seize property. This can be issued against a debtor even when they are bankrupt, as they may still have assets.

You can confirm whether and when a debtor has been declared bankrupt and is still under statutory management by searching the Insolvency register(external link)

To discuss your options in relation to a bankrupt debtor, contact the New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service(external link)