How would you like an early warning system to let you know someone is trying to get an interim order against you without you knowing it?
There is a facility in Scotland to get advance notice of someone trying to get an interim order against you or your business.
An action could be raised against you or your business without you knowing it – maybe by a creditor, a business competitor, a neighbour, or even the taxman. They might seek urgent or interim orders against you. They might be seeking a liquidation order, or the winding-up of your business, or an interim interdict.
Without a “Caveat” lodged, the first thing you know about the action may be when it is served on you advising you that the interim order has already been granted in your absence. In certain situations, that can be disastrous.
However, we have acted in a number of matters in the recent past where we have previously lodged a Caveat for a client – and the client has had advance notice that an urgent action has been raised against them.
Therefore, we recommend that wherever you operate in Scotland, a Caveat is lodged at the local sheriff court, and also in the Court of Session. With Caveats lodged, there is an early warning system in place to ensure that no interim orders are granted against you, without you having a chance to be heard in court and put forward your side of the argument.
We have caught actions in the past which have been raised against clients and we have been successful in preventing certain interim orders being granted, effectively blocking the other side.
Caveats lasts a full year, and then after that they can be renewed for another year.
We have a range of clients who ask us to renew Caveats each year to ensure nothing can be granted against them without a hearing taking place. The Sheriff Clerks have our mobile telephone numbers to contact us day or night to react quickly to anyone trying to get an order against our clients without a hearing.
We can lodge each Caveat for a restricted fee of £50, plus the relevant court fee.
To discuss a Caveat being lodged on your behalf and to take advantage of this useful early warning system which can be put into place, please contact our
Gus Macaulay at any time.