Not every unpaid invoice needs a courtroom. The skill is knowing which ones do - and acting early on the ones that do not.
- ✓ Resolves in 4–12 weeks
- ✓ Low cost
- ✓ The trading relationship can survive
- ✓ Workable even where the file has gaps
The first choice where the debt is undisputed, or where the debtor can pay but has not.
- → Months, sometimes years
- → High cost, varying sharply by country
- → Produces an enforceable title
- → Unavoidable once the debtor genuinely disputes
Necessary where pre-legal recovery has run its course, or where the claim is genuinely contested.
The right route turns on four things: the value of the claim, the debtor's solvency and posture, what the jurisdiction actually offers, and how close the limitation deadline is. That last one overrides the others - a claim about to expire needs a step that stops the clock, whatever the commercial merits of continuing to negotiate. We set out the recommendation in writing after the assessment.
Common Questions
If pre-legal recovery fails, have I wasted time?+
Usually not. The record built at the pre-legal stage - the formal demand, proof of service, and whatever the debtor said in reply - is used directly as evidence if proceedings follow. In many jurisdictions a properly served demand is a precondition for the formal route in any case.
What happens if the debtor disputes the claim?+
Whether the dispute is genuine decides everything. An objection raised for the first time months after delivery, unsupported by any written complaint at the time, is usually a delaying tactic. Where the dispute does have a documentary trail, the fast-track documentary procedures close and the claim moves to ordinary proceedings.
I want to keep trading with this customer. Does that change the route?+
Materially. Where the relationship is to survive, negotiation and a structured payment schedule come first, and offset against future supply can be on the table. We need to know this at the outset, because instruments such as insolvency pressure produce results but end the relationship.