South Africa - How to Recover your Money from Debtor

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To recover your money from Debtor legally, you have to visit the nearest Small Claims court in your province.
2. Please click the following link for the contact and address details of the Small claims court in all provinces:Link Find a nearest small claims court with the help of the link.
3. Visit the nearest small claims court and inform the Clerk about the Debt claim issue and that the person owing your money is not ready to pay back. Make the claim in writing or any other format that the clerk prescribes.
4. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in the “Required documents” section of this page. Attach all the documents with the request and submit the package to the clerk of the Small claims court.
5. Submit it to the clerk and pay the fees (if prescribed) at the Small claims court. The clerk will inform about the date and time during which your case will be heard.
6. The clerk will also prepare for a legal summons to make the Debtor appear at the court on the date mentioned in the summons. The summons should be issued to the debtor either by the applicant or the sheriff of the court.
7. Remember that you must be present at the court at the specified time and date for the hearing, with the proof that the summons issued has been properly delivered to the Debtor.
8. At the court, you will have to comply with the instructions and enquiries that the Commissioner of the court makes, regarding the case.
9. If the debtor refuses at the court to pay back, an official notice of demand denoting the facts of the claim and the amount that you claim, will be sent to him/her.
10. If the debtor is in disagreement with any of the possible ways that the court suggests, then the case will be referred to the Magistrate’s court.

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Required Documents

• Copy of letter of demand
• Debt contract or agreement
• Proof of Demand letter delivery to the Debtor
• Debtor’s personal and contact information in writing
• ID and Residential proof of the applicant

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Head Office
Physical Adsress: Momentum Centre, 329
Pretorius Street,
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X81
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Tel: 080 002 0007
Email:[email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• Any person, whose money is in due with another in any matter, can proceed to apply for a claim at the Small claims court.
• Any claim of money or money related matters, not exceeding the limit of R20000 can be appealed to get investigated at the Small claims court.

Fees

• Please contact the Clerk or concerned authorities at the court for fees details.
  

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

• The required application or letter formats can be obtained at any nearest small claims court that you visit to appeal.
  

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The processing time may vary.
  

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Firstly, contact the person with whom you have a dispute in person, in writing or telephonically and ask them to settle your claim. If the person owing your money has not paid the claim in 14 days, go to the small claims court to apply.
• The court procedure is informal and not complicated. You will be expected to tell your story and answer questions from the commissioner of the small claims court.
• The letter of demand must be delivered in person or by registered mail (the Post Office can assist) to the debtor. Once the debtor receives the letter, they are given 14 days within which to settle your claim.
• If judgment is given in your favour, the debtor must pay the money immediately and will be issued a receipt. If they are not able to pay, the court will investigate their financial position and determine a payment plan.

Required Information

• Particulars of the applicant
• Particulars of the Debtor
• Details of the issue
• Agreement details

Need for the Document

• The need of the document is to get the debt issue to the knowledge of the legal authorities and seek legal assistance in obtaining the amount owed.
  

Information which might help

• The above-mentioned merely informs you of the most important steps to be taken with regard to the institution of a case in the small claims court.
• Should you require assistance with any matter at all, the address and telephone number of the clerk of the small claims court can be obtained from your local magistrate’s office.

For more information, refer the following document: Link

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

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Others

More information which might help people.