You should know
The respondent can appeal the Summary Judgment to the District Court judge. This may happen if they have not received the original claim.
There is no response to your claim
Once the respondent has received your claim they have fifteen calendar days to respond. If they do not respond to your claim, you can get judgment without their reply. This is called Summary Judgment.
If you have not received a response from the court office, you should contact the small claims registrar for more information.
Complete your Affidavit of Debt
If the small claims office can confirm that the respondent has signed for your claim and they have not responded, Summary Judgment can be granted without their reply. The small claims registrar will send you a document called an Affidavit of Debt.
Once you have received your Affidavit of Debt, you must sign it and swear that the information provided is correct before filing it with the court office.
To sign and swear your Affidavit of Debt you can:
- Attend the relevant court office and sign and swear the Affidavit of Debt in front of the Small Claims Registrar.
- Attend another court office more convenient for you, you can sign and swear your Affidavit of Debt in front of the Small Claims Registrar. Then you can post it to the relevant office.
- Sign and swear the Affidavit of Debt before a practising solicitor or a Commissioner for Oaths, you can post it to the relevant court office. There may be a fee associated with this.
By doing this you are stating that you have not received a response or payment from the respondent. You have thirty calendar days to return your signed document to the court office.
If you swear your Affidavit of Debt in front of a Small Claims Registrar, there is no fee.
Notice to pay is issued
After your have sworn the Affidavit of Debt, the small claims office will issue a formal document called a Notice to Pay to the respondent. This tells the respondent that you have been granted judgement because they have not replied to your claim. The respondent has fourteen calendar days to pay the amount of the claim, once they have received the Notice to Pay.
If you do not receive a response after twenty one calendar days you should contact the relevant court office.
What happens if there is still no response
If the respondent has not paid or lodged an appeal after fourteen calendar days, the office will issue a document called a Decree to you. This is an official order stating what you are owed by the respondent. You must bring the Decree to the local Sheriff's office to be enforced, there is a fee associated with this. For more information please see our how small claims are enforced page.