A debt claim notice against you: the 28 days and what happens next

A claim notice is how a civil claim for money starts in the District Court. It is served on you, usually by registered post, and it starts a clock: 28 days to respond, after which a debt claim can turn into a judgment in the court office without anyone telling you a date. This guide explains what the notice is, how to read it, the three things you can do inside the 28 days, what a judgment in default is and how to set one aside, what a judgment allows the creditor to do, the instalment order and the examination of means, and where to get free money advice. It is written for the person the notice is addressed to.

Use the court date tool to count the 28 days from the date of service and find the office named on the notice.

What has arrived

Under the District Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2014, a civil claim in the District Court starts with a claim notice. The document has:

• the court office and the record number;
• the claimant (the creditor, or a debt collector or solicitor acting for it) and you as the respondent;
• a statement of claim: what the money is for, the dates, the amount, and any interest;
• a notice telling you that you have 28 days from service to enter an appearance and defence, and what happens if you do not;
• the claimant's address for service.

A claim notice for a debt is a claim for a liquidated sum: a fixed amount under a contract, such as a loan, a credit card, an unpaid invoice, rent arrears under a commercial lease, or a utility bill. The fee the creditor paid to issue it was €25 for a claim up to €5,000, €70 to €10,000 and €80 above that; the District Court's limit is €15,000. In 2025, 18,644 debt claims were issued in the District Court.

Check three things first. Is the claimant someone you had a contract with, or a company that bought the debt? Is the amount right, and does it include charges you never agreed? And when was the last time you paid anything or acknowledged the debt in writing: a debt more than six years old from that date may be statute-barred under the Statute of Limitations, which is a defence you must raise (the figure is one the Courts Service asks you to verify for your case).

The 28 days: three choices

Pay, or agree a plan

If the debt is owed and you can pay it, pay the claimant and get written confirmation that the claim is withdrawn. If you cannot pay it all, write to the claimant with an offer of instalments and ask them to hold the proceedings while you pay. Most creditors prefer a paid arrangement to a judgment they then have to enforce. Get any agreement in writing and keep to it; a creditor whose plan is broken can go straight back and mark judgment.

Enter an appearance and defence

If you dispute the debt, or any part of it, you file an appearance and defence at the court office named on the notice, within the 28 days, and send a copy to the claimant. The form is on the Courts Service forms page and can be filed online through CSOL for civil claims. The defence sets out, in plain terms, why you say the money is not owed: the goods were never delivered, the account was settled, the amount is wrong, the debt is statute-barred, the contract was with someone else. You can also counterclaim.

Once a defence is filed, the claim cannot be marked in default. The office lists it for a hearing before a judge on a civil day, both sides give evidence, and the judge decides. The guide to a claim up to €15,000 explains the hearing from the claimant's side, which tells you what to expect from the other.

Do nothing

If no appearance and defence is filed within the 28 days, the claimant can apply to the court office to have judgment marked in default. For a debt claim there is no hearing and no date you are told to attend: the clerk checks the proof of service and the sum, and enters judgment. In 2025, 8,315 judgments were marked in default in the District Court. This is the path most claim notices take, and it is the one to avoid if you have any defence at all.

Setting aside a judgment in default

A default judgment is not the end if you move. You apply to the District Court, on notice to the claimant, to set it aside, with a sworn statement that explains why you did not respond (you never received the notice, you were ill, you were abroad, you misunderstood it) and sets out the defence you want to run. The court can set the judgment aside, usually on terms: a defence to be filed within a fixed time, sometimes a sum lodged in court. The sooner the application is made, the more likely the court is to grant it. If you had no defence and simply did not reply, the court is unlikely to set the judgment aside, and the route is then an instalment arrangement.

What a judgment does

A District Court judgment for a debt lasts twelve years. The creditor can enforce it by:

• Execution against goods: a warrant to the sheriff (in Dublin and Cork) or the county registrar, who can seize and sell goods you own to the value of the debt, though not the tools of your trade or ordinary household necessities.
• An instalment order: the creditor summons you to an examination of your means, and the court orders payment by instalments it is satisfied you can afford. The instalment orders guide explains the safeguards.
• A judgment mortgage registered against a property you own, so that the debt is paid when the property is sold.
• Attachment of a debt owed to you by someone else, such as a bank account, by a garnishee order.
• Publication: judgments can be registered and published, and appear in credit reference records, which affects borrowing for years.

A judgment also carries interest, and the creditor can add the costs of enforcement.

The examination of means and the instalment order

The instalment route is the common one for consumer debts. The creditor applies for a summons requiring you to attend court for an examination of your means. You complete a statement of means: income from every source, outgoings, dependants, other debts, assets. The judge asks about it under oath and makes an instalment order for a weekly or monthly figure the court is satisfied you can pay, which may be small. The court can vary the order later if your circumstances change, on either side's application.

Imprisonment for not paying an instalment order is possible only where the court finds, after a hearing with the right to legal aid, that the failure was a wilful refusal or culpable neglect rather than inability to pay, and that no other method would work. In 2025 the District Court made 1,144 instalment orders and committed nobody.

Where to get free help

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, is free, confidential and independent, on 0818 07 2000, and its advisers deal with claim notices every week: they can help you draft an offer to the creditor, complete a statement of means and, where debts are beyond repayment, look at the Insolvency Service of Ireland's Debt Relief Notice for debts up to €35,000. Civil legal aid from the Legal Aid Board does not cover debt claims. The Free Legal Advice Centres run free information clinics.

If the claim is for a sum you say is not owed, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's helpline covers consumer contracts, and the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman covers disputes with lenders and insurers.

Where this leaves you

Count the 28 days from the day the notice was served with the court date tool and do one of the three things above inside them: pay or agree a plan in writing, or file an appearance and defence at the office named on the notice. Doing nothing hands the creditor a judgment that lasts twelve years. If judgment has already been marked, apply to set it aside if you have a defence, or prepare a statement of means with MABS for the examination. The instalment orders guide explains the hearing that follows a judgment, and the small claims guide the different procedure a consumer claim against you would use.