Winning is not the same as being paid
Plenty of businesses win in the District Court, the High Court or the Disputes Tribunal and then wait. The order confirms the money is owed. It does not move it. Debtors who ignored your invoices will often ignore a judgment too, unless someone acts on it.
Why judgments go unpaid
- The debtor is betting you will stop. Most creditors do, once the hearing is over.
- The right next step depends on the debtor. A company, an individual, a debtor with property, one with wages, one who has moved: each calls for a different approach, in a different order.
- Each step has its own rules, forms and deadlines. A wrong choice costs time and fees and can let the debtor slip away.
What to have ready
- The judgment or Tribunal order.
- Anything paid since, and when.
- What you know about the debtor: where they live or trade, and anything they own or earn.
That is enough for us to tell you whether it is worth pursuing and what it is likely to take.
Old judgments
A judgment does not stop being worth something because it is a few years old. If you have one in a drawer, it is worth a second look.
How we can help
We take an unpaid judgment and work it through to payment: finding out what the debtor has, choosing the right course, and seeing it through. Costs are discussed with you before they are incurred. See judgment enforcement, or send us the judgment and we will tell you where it stands.
General information, not legal advice. This page describes New Zealand law and practice as at October 2026; the right step for a particular debt depends on its facts. Where a matter needs legal advice, we will say so.