15 July 2016

But who’s counting?

Litigation
Victoria

Asked

Dear Mentor

We act for the plaintiff in a matter in the Magistrates' Court. Our client obtained default judgment against the defendant and the defendant made an application to pay by instalments - a very minimal payment which will take years to satisfy the debt. The court has now made the instalment order and our client has instructed our office to object to the order being made.

I cannot find any precedents regarding the grounds for an objection to an instalment order.

What are the grounds for an objection to an instalment order?

Thank you in advance!

Answered

Thank you for your question.

Once the instalment order application is filed with the court, the Registrar considers the application and advises the parties of the outcome in writing.

If either party has an objection to the Registrar’s decision, they may file a form 61D Notice of Objection within 14 days. You will find this precedent in the Enforcement – Magistrates' Court publication under the heading C. Payment of debt by instalments. The matter will be referred to a magistrate in open court for review. Grounds for objection include substantial improvement in the debtor's ability to pay and proof that the debtor gave inaccurate information to the court.

The instalment order process is set out in detail in the Enforcement commentary.

Regards

Mentor