When a decision is made in your favour
Hearing process - When a decision is made in your favour
If a Disputes Tribunal matter is settled in your favour you need to know what your responsibilities are, as the court won't automatically enforce the decision if the other party doesn't voluntarily obey the order.
The enforcement of tribunal orders doesn't happen in the same way as enforcing court fines. The process can take time and we can't guarantee success.
With Disputes Tribunals decisions the court:
- won't automatically check to see if the decision is obeyed
- won't automatically start enforcement action
- will only carry out enforcement action on your behalf - you must instruct the court to take the action you want.
What to do after a decision in your favour
If you choose to enforce the tribunal decision through the court you'll be responsible for:
- applying or giving instructions for each step of the enforcement process
- providing information the court needs about the other party (sometimes known as the Judgment Debtor) and their property
- monitoring your case's progress, for example seeing that court orders have been successfully served on the other party.
Enforcing decisions
Enforcement of Disputes Tribunal decisions is done through the Ministry of Justice at District Courts. In larger District Courts contact the Collections Unit, in smaller courts contact Civil Enforcement staff. Find out more
If at any stage the person pays you the debt in full, all enforcement action against them will stop.
