The court can assess your finances in three different ways – on paper, over the phone and at a hearing. The court will use the assessment to decide how much you can afford to pay, and how you will pay.
After the court has determined how you can pay, the court can give you instructions about how to pay or take enforcement action against you.
A financial statement outlines your finances for the court, which makes a decision about how you can pay. You or the creditor can file a financial statement. This can be useful if:
you don't have a phone or English is not your first language
you cannot attend a hearing
the creditor served you with a Notice to Complete a Financial Statement
you want to be pro-active in paying your debt but an attachment order isn’t suitable for you.
The creditor can apply for an assessment of financial means over the phone. A registrar will contact you by telephone to assess your financial situation. They can:
set out new payment instructions or
set a court enforcement action, for example:
payments made from your income (attachment order) or
your property taken and sold (warrant to seize property).
If the creditor does this, the filing fee may be added to the amount you owe.
The creditor can apply for a hearing to find out more about how you can pay the debt. The court will order you to appear at a specific date, time and location. You must attend this hearing unless you pay the full debt before the hearing.
Your financial situation will be assessed by a deputy registrar. The creditor may also be at the hearing. You should bring information about your finances with you to the hearing. This could include:
bank statements
payslips
evidence of expenses
anything else you think might be helpful.
After assessing your finances the registrar can:
set out new payment instructions or
set a court enforcement action, for example:
payments made from your income (attachment order) or
your property taken and sold (warrant to seize property).
Contempt of enforcement: if you don’t follow the court order
If a registrar makes an order after the financial assessment telling you how to pay, and you have the money to pay but you don’t, you are in breach of a court order. The creditor can then apply for an order saying that you are in contempt of enforcement.
A judge will look into the matter and:
the judge can order you to do up to 200 hours of community work