- Serve a memorandum of appearance form
To defend a debt claim, you (the respondent) must complete, submit and serve a memorandum of appearance form.
- Case proceeds to court
After you submit and serve a memorandum of appearance, the claimant can apply to have the case listed for court.
High Court
Step 1 - Serve a Memorandum of Appearance Form
In order to defend a High Court debt claim, you, the respondent, must complete, submit and serve a Memorandum of Appearance form (Form Part 2 No.1). By completing these actions, you are beginning to defend the claim being made against you.
Complete your Memorandum of Appearance form
You must first complete your Memorandum of Appearance form. This form must contain the following information (some of which you will find on the Claim Notice (known as a Summary Summons in the High Court) you received):
- The High Court record number.
- The person on whose behalf the Memorandum of Appearance is being submitted.
- Details of the parties involved, such as names, address for service, and legal representatives' details (if known).
- Date and signature of you (the respondent) or your solicitor.
Submit your Memorandum of Appearance form
Once you have completed this form, you should make two copies of it and submit the original form to the Central Office of the High Court. The Central Office of the High Court is on the ground floor (east wing) of the Four Courts building on Inns Quay, Dublin 7. This is called submitting your form.
The documents can be submitted by post or in-person in the Central Office. The Central Office runs an online appointment booking system for in-person submissions. For more information on booking an appointment, please see the Appointment Booking Service page.
On the day of your appointment, you must first pay the appropriate court fee of €60 before submitting your original Memorandum of Appearance form. This court fee can be paid at the Stamping Office in the Áras Uí Dhálaigh building in the Four Courts complex in Dublin. You can pay this fee by card or cash.
Serve your Memorandum of Appearance form
You must also serve a copy of the Memorandum of Appearance form on the claimant or their solicitor within 8 days of receiving the Claim Notice. If you do not serve this form within the 8 days, you must get written permission for late service from the other party before serving them.
For more information on serving and proof of service, please see our Serving and Proof of Service page.
After you have submitted your Memorandum of Appearance, the claimant may apply to the Master/Deputy Master of the High Court for final judgment. Please see step 2 for more information.
High Court
Step 2 - Case Proceeds to Court
In most cases, the claimant lists the case for court. Please see the sections below for more information on how the case may proceed.
Claimant applies to have the case listed for court
If you, as the respondent, serve and submit a Memorandum of Appearance form, the claimant can apply to have the case listed for court. In this situation, you will receive a document with a date for court, known as a Notice of Motion. This means that the case is ready to be heard in court. You will be required to attend court on this date.
Note: If 12 months has passed since the claimant has submitted any legal documents to the court office, or taken any step in progressing the claim, they must give you a month's notice of their intention to proceed with the claim. To do this, they must serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed on you.
On the day the case is being heard, you must bring all documents including correspondence, contracts, affidavits, forms, and any other documents relevant to your case. Please ensure you bring a copy for the judge and for each claimant. For more information, please see our What to Expect in Court page.
On the day of the court hearing, the Master/Deputy Master of the High Court will give an Order, and/or Directions, to the parties. One direction you may receive from the Master/Deputy Master is to complete and serve a Defence form. Please see below for more information on this process.
Complete and serve your Defence form
You must complete and serve your Defence form (Order 19, r.4) if you are asked to do so by the Master/Deputy Master of the High Court.
The Defence form should contain the following information (some of which you will find on the Claim Notice, known as a Summary Summons in the High Court, that you received):
- The High Court record number.
- The person on whose behalf the Defence is served.
- Details of the parties involved, such as names, and legal representatives' details (if known).
- Grounds of defence – this is where you provide clear information about how you intend to defend the claim. In your grounds of defence you should:
- Counterclaim (optional): this means you are not only defending the claim made against you, but you are also making a claim against the other party.
- Date and written signature of you (the respondent) or your solicitor.
Once you have completed your Defence form, you should serve it on the claimant(s). For more information on serving and proof of service, please see our Serving and Proof of Service page.
Once the steps above – and any other court directions – have been completed, there will be a final outcome to the case. If the final outcome of the case is that judgment has been granted to the claimant, you can find more information on what this means on our Summary Judgments page.
For more information on the relevant Rules of Court, please see Order 37 and Order 63 of the Superior Court Rules. High Court processes are complicated. As such, it is advisable that you contact the Central Office of the High Court for more information on court procedures.
Other options available to both you and the claimant include legal advice, mediation or alternative dispute resolution processes. For more information on these options, please see our Legal Advice and Mediation page.
