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Overdue payment – lawyer or Debt Collector?

By Jodie Rodrigues, solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group

So you’ve found an outstanding invoice. Sure, all invoices are valuable to a business but now you’re considering whether there is any commercial benefit to asking a lawyer to chase the debt. There are real advantages in using a lawyer rather than a debt collector to assist with collection of your debts. There are three main questions you should ask when considering which invoices to chase through legal proceedings: [...]  READ MORE →

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The judge, jury and executioner: a Trustee’s capacity to adjudicate proofs of debt for legal fees

By Jodie Rodrigues, Solicitor at Matthews Folbigg in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.

Pursuant to s 102 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth), a trustee is required to “examine each proof of debt and the grounds of the debt sought to be proved”.

Legal costs can often be a problematic consideration, when questions of assessment, and the nature of the costs claim are taken into account. It is therefore important to have regard to the type of costs claims (for instance those of the bankrupt’s own solicitors, or adverse costs orders against the bankrupt). It is also relevant to consider at what stage in any costs assessment process the question of costs is being considered. [...]  READ MORE →

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Recovering costs for debt collection services

Recovering costs for debt collection services

Fees and costs, including legal costs and costs for third party debt collection services can only be collected from a debtor if there is an agreement between the creditor and debtor providing for those costs to be payable to the creditor. Attempting to recover costs in the absence of a clause in the relevant agreement can be misleading deceptive and conduct in contravention of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)), section 154 of the National Credit Code (Schedule 1 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth)) as well as Section 12DA of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (“the ASIC Act”). [...]  READ MORE →