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Summons Server Dublin

How to Enforce UK Judgments in Ireland

If you have secured a judgment in the UK in respect of a debt but find that your debtor is now living in Ireland, how do you enforce your debt?

enforce-uk-judgments-in-ireland

Article 33 of the Brussels I regulation stipulates that any judgment obtained in a member state will be recognised in other member states without any special procedure required.

But how do you enforce your UK judgment in Ireland?

Order 42A of the Rules of the Superior Courts in Ireland provides the procedure which involves making an application to the Master of the High Court in the first instance.

(Solicitors Dublin would be happy to answer any of your questions arising from this article or to assist you with enforcing a UK judgment in Ireland)

This is an ex parte application (only one party required, there is no need to serve any papers on the debtor at this stage). Your application needs to be supported by an affidavit which shows

  1. Your UK judgment,
  2. If the judgment in the UK was obtained by default you will need to demonstrate that the debtor was properly served in the UK with the legal proceedings in the first place,
  3. Documents that show that the judgment obtained in the UK is enforceable and has been served,
  4. An Annex V certificate which will be provided by Court officials in the UK.

There are a number of other averments or statements which will need to be in your affidavit including an address in Ireland for the service of documents on the party making the application and the grounds on which the right to enforce the judgment is vested in the party making the application.

enforce-uk-judgments-in-ireland1

Declaration of enforceability

Provided your papers are in order and your application is successful then the Master of the High Court will declare your UK judgement enforceable immediately.

Once this declaration of enforceability is granted it affords the same power to the UK judgment as if it was a judgment made in the High Court in Ireland.

This declaration of enforceability then needs to be served on the debtor along with the Judgment and a Notice of Enforcement.

At this stage the debtor has a period of time within which to appeal the Master’s order which can range from 1 month to 2 months.

Only after this period has expired will the Execution Order in respect of your Judgment issue.

 

UK Judgment not recognised

A UK or EU judgment will not be recognised in Ireland in only a narrow range of circumstances with the most common situation being where the original proceedings were not correctly served on the debtor.

 

Should you need any assistance in Ireland with having your UK judgment recognised and enforced in Ireland we are happy to assist-please use the Contact Us form with your query.

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Summons Server Dublin

Summons Server Dublin | Enforcing UK Judgments in Ireland

You may need the services of a summons server in Dublin if you are seeking to have a UK judgment recognised and enforced in Ireland.

summons-server-dublin

If you have secured a judgment in the UK in respect of a debt but find that your debtor is now living in Ireland, how do you enforce your debt?

Article 33 of the Brussels I regulation stipulates that any judgment obtained in a member state will be recognised in other member states without any special procedure required.

 

But how do you enforce your UK judgment in Ireland?

 

Order 42A of the Rules of the Superior Courts in Ireland provides the procedure which involves making an application to the Master of the High Court in the first instance.

 

 

This is an ex parte application (only one party required, there is no need to serve any papers on the debtor at this stage). Your application needs to be supported by an affidavit which shows

  1. Your UK judgment,
  2. If the judgment in the UK was obtained by default you will need to demonstrate that the debtor was properly served in the UK with the legal proceedings in the first place,
  3. Documents that show that the judgment obtained in the UK is enforceable and has been served,
  4. An Annex V certificate which will be provided by Court officials in the UK.

summons-servers-dublin

There are a number of other averments or statements which will need to be in your affidavit including an address in Ireland for the service of documents on the party making the application and the grounds on which the right to enforce the judgment is vested in the party making the application.

 

Declaration of enforceability

Provided your papers are in order and your application is successful then the Master of the High Court will declare your UK judgement enforceable immediately.

 

Once this declaration of enforceability is granted it affords the same power to the UK judgment as if it was a judgment made in the High Court in Ireland.

 

This declaration of enforceability then needs to be served on the debtor along with the Judgment and a Notice of Enforcement.

 

At this stage the debtor has a period of time within which to appeal the Master’s order which can range from 1 month to 2 months.

 

Only after this period has expired will the Execution Order in respect of your Judgment issue.

Circumstances where UK Judgment not recognised

A UK or EU judgment will not be recognised in Ireland in only a narrow range of circumstances with the most common situation being where the original proceedings were not correctly served on the debtor.

 

The Master of the High Court is generally anxious to ensure that

  1. The original proceedings/writ were served on the creditor
  2. Notice of the judgment was served on the creditor.

 

Should you need any assistance in Ireland with having your UK judgment recognised and enforced or if you need to serve proceedings or other judicial papers on persons in Ireland please use the Contact Us form for a quotation as we carry out quite a lot of this type of work for UK solicitors. (Check out Dublin solicitors also)

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Process Servers in Dublin-Hague Convention Summons Server Dublin

Process Servers in Dublin for Hague Convention Service

Solicitors Dublin assist many US attorneys and litigants who need to have service of legal documents effected on defendants in Ireland.

The best and safest way to be sure of good service is to have an Irish solicitor serve the defendant in person.

process-servers-dublin

Whilst it is the case that the Hague Convention provides for service by a number of internationally agreed methods such as

  • international mail
  • sending the request in the appropriate Hague Convention Request for Service form directly to the Central Authority in Ireland (the Central Office of the High Court)
  • instructing an Irish solicitor to handle service in person

only the last option above offers sufficient protection in our experience.

As there is no bilateral agreement between the US and Ireland in respect of recognition in Ireland of judgments obtained in the US our experience has been that the Courts in both the US and Ireland may reject service if challenged by the defendant.

process-servers-dublin1

The option of sending your judicial papers together with the Hague Convention Request for Service form is, in theory, a better approach the reality of the situation on the ground is that there are only a limited number of people in Central Office and suitable people around the country to deal with your request.

This poses two problems:

  1. service, if effected, may be slow due to the growing workload
  2. if the defendant proves elusive the papers may be returned unserved.

The best and safest approach to take is to instruct a solicitor in Dublin or Ireland to carry out the task for you. The advantages of this method of service are

  • local knowledge
  • speed
  • familiarity with the procedure and the requirements of Central Office.

How to Obtain a Certificate of Service Under the Hague Convention Procedure

Solicitors Dublin can offer a fixed fee service so you know what your costs will be at the outset and you can be sure of a professional service.

You will need to send two copies of

  1. the Hague Convention Request for Service Form with the appropriate request for service wording and
  2. the legal papers to be served.

We then check over the papers and see that they are in order and let you know if anything needs to be amended. We will bring the papers and request form to the Central Office of the High Court who will then check that the papers are in order.

Assuming that they are in order either the Master or Deputy Master of the High Court that service is to be effected by the principal solicitor of Solicitors Dublin or their agent for that purpose.

We will then appoint an agent to serve the defendant in person or effect service ourselves. Once service is effected we prepare an Affidavit of Service and have this sworn and returned to Central Office together with one copy of the legal papers, the Return Copy.

The Master or Deputy Master of the High Court will then assess that service was effected in the terms stipulated and if so will then certify that service has been carried out in conformance with the Hague Convention in respect of service of documents in Civil Matters.

Solicitors Dublin then return the Certificate of Service by Fedex or DHL to the client in the United States and is it this certificate that will be your proof of service when you go back into Federal Court in the U.S.

Should you need any assistance with any of this procedure or if you have any queries or need service carried out in Ireland do not hesitate to use the contact form on this site or call and we will revert within 12 hours guaranteed.