The Statutory Demand
Brennans solicitors
Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
Brennans solicitors
Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
Brennans solicitors Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
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Paul Brennan is the principal of Brennans Solicitors, a law firm located on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, where he practices with his wife, Diane in the areas of business law, litigation, property and wills/estates.
Over the years, by working in various countries, he noticed how similar the law can be. He set out to explain the law in a simple and often humorous way.
He has written several books about law and lawyers.
Further details of his profile can be found on Linkedin.
You get the run around from a customer’s Account’s Department one time too many. As in the Western films, you decide to strap on your Colt .45 and collect the sawn-off shotgun from the rack on the wall. No longer are your kinfolk gonna starve while them there debtors are down at that there saloon drinking chardonnay.
Your old peaceable lawyer has a weapon that will have your debtor customers ‘a hollering and a begging’ for mercy within the month. It is called, disappointingly, the “statutory demand”. But do not let the name fool you. It is deadly, and cheap too.
No proceedings need to be issued or court fees paid. Your lawyer prepares the statutory demand and sends it to the registered office of the debtor by post. They have 21 days to pay up or you can issue a winding up petition, the company’s bank account will be immediately frozen and all their creditors will form a posse and hunt them down. To avoid this, debtors will pay up on receiving a statutory demand even if the payment that they make is from their own credit card.
There must be no possibility that the debt will be contested, otherwise you could end up in court embroiled in costly emergency proceedings. You also could be sued for the customer’s loss if you get it wrong. So this is not for the lily-livered.
It is used frequently in a sure fire case where, for some reason, the debtor is not paying their debts.
Does a statutory demand work with an individual who owes you money rather than a company? I am afraid not, but a Colt .45 does.
© Paul Brennan 2018. All rights Reserved.
Extract from "The Art of War, Peace & Palaver: The Contentious Guide to Legal Disputes"
