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The defendant defends your claim

After getting your claim form the person you’ve made a claim against - the ‘defendant’ - has 14 days to say if they want to defend it. They can send either:

• an acknowledgment of service (giving them extra time to prepare the defence form)
• a defence

If they send an acknowledgment of service but don’t file a defence in the time allowed, it counts as if they are ignoring the claim. You can then ask for a ‘judgment in default’. To find out how to do this, see ‘If your court claim for money is ignored'.

The defendant might defend the claim by saying they disagree they owe all or some of the money.

When a defence is filed the case will be transferred to the defendant’s local court for hearing.

• If your court claim for money is ignored

The defendant makes a counterclaim

As well as defending your claim, the defendant may believe you owe them money and may use this opportunity to claim it back. This is called ‘making a counterclaim’.

If this happens, the case will be transferred to a court for a hearing.

Taking a defended claim to court

You will be sent a copy of the defence (and counterclaim if there is one) along with more documents you’ll need to fill in.

Both you and the defendant will get:

• an allocation questionnaire (asking for more details to work out how your claim will go through the court system)
• a notice of defence
• a notice of transfer (if the court transfers your claim to another court)

• Allocation questionnaire Opens new window

Allocating a case to a hearing

If your claim is defended the court needs to make sure it gets through the system as quickly as possible. Based on the information you put in the allocation questionnaire, a judge will send your claim to one of the three ‘tracks’:

• small claims track
• fast track
• multi-track

This will depend on:

• how much the claim is worth (the amount of money or damages being claimed)
• how complex the claim is (the amount of evidence needed, the number of people involved and witnesses)
• if there is a need for reports by experts (such as doctors, surveyors or mechanics)

Claims worth less than £5,000 are usually sent to the 'small claims' track. Claims worth more than £5,000 are usually allocated to the 'fast track' or 'multi-track'.

You will have to pay another court fee if the claim is worth more than £1,500:

• claims over £1,500 in the small claims track: £40
• fast track and multi-track claims: £220

You have to pay this when you send the allocation questionnaire back to the court.

• Small claims hearings

• Hearings for claims worth more than £5,000

If the allocation questionnaire is not returned in time

If you miss the deadline for the allocation questionnaire, the judge may:

• allocate the case to a track without the extra information
• penalise you for disobeying the court

Your claim may be cancelled (struck out). If the defendant is late responding their defence could also be struck out.

• Allocation questionnaire Opens new window

If the defendant says the debt has already been paid

The court will ask you to let them know (by a deadline) if you:

• accept that you’ve been paid the money
• don’t think you’ve been paid and want to carry on with the case

You must send a copy of your reply to the defendant. If you miss the deadline your claim will be ‘stayed’ - the court will not take any further action. You or the defendant will have to ask the court to lift the stay, and you’ll need to pay a fee.

If you want to continue with the case, you’ll get the allocation questionnaire.

The defendant partly agrees they owe you money

If your claim is for a fixed amount the defendant will send forms to the County Court Money Claims Centre. The defendant will say in the forms how much of your claim they admit and why they disagree with the rest.

You’ll get copies of these forms and you’ll need to tell the court centre if you:

• don’t agree and you want the claim to go ahead
• accept the part amount

The defendant may have asked to pay in instalments or by a future date. You’ll have to let the court centre know if you:

• agree with the dates and the amount of the instalments
• disagree and why

If you disagree the court will work out how much the defendant should pay and by when. You’ll both get a copy of the court’s decision telling the defendant:

• how much to pay and who to pay it to
• where they need to pay the money to (bank details or address)
• the deadlines for paying