Businesses and individuals can decide to engage a debt collection agency to help them recover debts. The other option is engaging a debt collection lawyer. Engaging a lawyer is an effective way of collecting unpaid debts and improving the cash flow of a business. At Chand &Co., we help businesses and individuals collect debts and enforce court judgments in Ontario. Without reliable advice, debt recovery can be a stressful and costly process. As debt collection lawyers, we are more effective in collecting debts than debt collection agencies. We are willing to litigate your case through the court if necessary.

Efficient debt collection is essential for running a successful business. Unrecovered debts can hurt your organization’s finances. Slow payment erodes business profits due to the costs associated with collection and funding the nonpayment period. The biggest benefit of involving a debt collection lawyer is the simplification and acceleration of the debt recovery process. With the help of a lawyer, you can navigate the many restrictions on your ability to collect debts in Ontario. Our experienced lawyers at Chand &Co. have decades of experience recovering debts. We will put this experience to work for you to ensure that you recover what is owed to you. Our lawyers will help you commence legal action against the debtor within the Limitations Act. In Ontario, you have two years from when you received the last payment from a debtor to initiate legal action against them. If this period expires, you could lose your right to sue for the unpaid debt. It is best to involve a debt collection lawyer as soon as possible to give them ample time to work on your case.

A creditor should only commence a lawsuit against a debtor if the debtor can repay them. It would be of no benefit to spend time and money suing the debtor, who cannot pay the amount owed to you. You should consider factors like whether the debtor has a job, money in the bank, or assets like a vehicle or real estate that can be disposed of to repay the outstanding debt. Consider whether the debtor is judgment-proof. Judgment proof is a protection for a financially insolvent debtor against a creditor claiming their protected property. If a debtor only has income and belongings protected from seizure, a creditor cannot take this money or belongings even after obtaining a court judgment against the debtor. However, even if you cannot enforce a court judgment against a judgment-proof debtor, you can still explore other debt collection methods.

Being awarded judgment in an Ontario court is a huge milestone. However, it is only the beginning of the long journey ahead. Enforcing the judgment against the debtor is often an involving and time-consuming process. After obtaining judgment, the creditor can examine the aid of execution to gather information regarding the debtor’s financial situation. The execution hearing involves the debtor, creditor, counsel, and a court reporter to record the proceedings. During the examination, a creditor can pose a wide range of questions. However, there are some restrictions on the type of questions you can ask, which explains why you need the guidance of a lawyer. A creditor can question the debtor about their income and property, the reason for nonpayment, the debts owed to and by the debtor, and the means of satisfying the judgment. Usually, the debtor presents documents to explain their financial situation. The documents include a rough accounting of income and expenses, a list of assets and liabilities, bank statements, and previous tax returns. The debtor might be hesitant to provide some details. However, a debt collection lawyer will probe the debtor on your behalf.

You can file a writ of seizure & sale of land against a debtor in any district or county where the debtor has land or house. A writ will encumber any land the debtor currently owns and which he/she may obtain in the future in the counties or districts where the writ is filed. This court order allows the bank or creditor to take ownership of property from the borrower. After seizing the property, the property can be sold at an auction to enable the creditor to recover some losses from the defaulted loan.

Creditors can enforce a judgment against the debtor by having a notice of wage garnishment issued and filed with the court. Wage garnishment instructs a third party to deduct payments from the debtor’s wage or bank account. The third party, usually the debtor’s employer, is known as garnishee. Wage garnishments are used for debts like monetary fines, unpaid taxes, defaulted student loans, and child support payments. If the garnishee fails to enforce a wage garnishment order, our Kitchener/Waterloo experienced lawyers can initiate legal action against the garnishee.