Instalment orders and the examination of means in the District Court

A civil judgment is a piece of paper until it is enforced. For most consumer debts, the enforcement route in the District Court is the instalment order: the creditor summons the debtor to an examination of means, the court sets a weekly or monthly figure the debtor can afford, and the debt is paid down over time. The Enforcement of Court Orders Acts 1926 to 2009 govern the process, and the 2009 Act rewrote the committal stage after the High Court's decision in McCann v Judge of Monaghan District Court (2009), which found the previous procedure unconstitutional because a debtor could be imprisoned without a proper hearing, without legal aid, and without the court deciding whether they could pay at all. This guide explains the examination, the order, variation, what happens in default, and the safeguards that now apply. It is written for the debtor, but a creditor reading it will see the same steps from the other side.

In 2025 the District Court made 1,144 instalment orders and committed nobody to prison. The fine and payment planner builds a payment schedule and shows what happens in default, for a civil instalment order as much as for a fine.

Where it starts: a judgment

An instalment order needs a judgment first. The debt claim notice guide explains how a claim notice becomes a judgment, often marked in the court office without a hearing after the 28 days; the claim guide covers it from the creditor's side. A judgment lasts twelve years. The creditor chooses between execution by the sheriff or county registrar, a judgment mortgage, a garnishee order and the instalment route; for a debtor with a wage and no property, the instalment route is the usual one.

A judgment from the Circuit Court or High Court can also be enforced by an instalment order in the District Court for the district where the debtor lives.

The summons to the examination of means

The creditor applies at the District Court office for a summons requiring you to attend an examination of your means on a named date. The summons is served on you with a blank statement of means to complete and return before the hearing. The form is on the Courts Service forms page; use find a court for the office.

The statement of means asks for:

• income: wages, self-employment, social welfare, pension, rent, maintenance received, anything else;
• outgoings: rent or mortgage, utilities, food, travel, childcare, insurance, maintenance paid;
• dependants;
• other debts and what you pay on each;
• assets: property, vehicles, savings, anything of value.

Complete it fully and truthfully. It is sworn, and a false statement is an offence. Bring the evidence to the hearing: payslips, a social welfare statement, bank statements, rent receipts, loan statements. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS, 0818 07 2000) helps people complete statements of means every day and is free.

If you do not attend, the court can proceed on the creditor's evidence and make an order on the information available, or issue a warrant to have you brought before it. Attend.

The examination

The hearing is in the District Court on a civil day. The judge has your statement of means and asks you about it on oath: what you earn, what you pay out, what is left, whether anything has been left out. The creditor, or its solicitor or agent, can ask questions, and can produce evidence of its own about your means, such as a vehicle registered to you or a property in your name. You can be represented, and civil legal aid from the Legal Aid Board is available at the committal stage described below; at the examination stage most debtors appear in person.

The judge then decides what you can afford. The court may:

• make an instalment order for a weekly or monthly sum, starting on a named date;
• order payment of the whole sum by a named date, where your means allow it;
• adjourn for more information;
• decline to make an order where there is no capacity to pay anything.

A realistic figure that is paid is worth more to a creditor than an optimistic figure that is not, and judges say so. If you can offer a figure you know you can keep, say it.

The order and paying it

The order states the amount, the frequency, the start date and how payment is made, usually direct to the creditor or its solicitor. Keep proof of every payment. The debt is the judgment sum plus the costs of the judgment and of the enforcement, and interest where the judgment carries it; ask for a statement of the balance from time to time.

Payment under an instalment order stops the creditor using the other enforcement routes while it is complied with. Default reopens them.

Varying the order

Either side can apply to the District Court to vary an instalment order on a change of circumstances: a job lost or gained, hours cut, a new dependant, an illness, a windfall. The application is made at the office that made the order, served on the other side, and heard on a civil day with an updated statement of means. The order stays at the existing figure until the court varies it, so apply when the change happens, not after the arrears have built.

The court can also discharge the order, for example where the debtor's circumstances mean nothing can be paid, and the creditor is then left with the judgment and the other routes.

Default: the 2009 Act's safeguards

If the instalments are not paid, the creditor can apply for a summons requiring you to attend court to show why you should not be committed to prison for the default. Before the 2009 Act this stage was a formality that led to imprisonment on the creditor's say-so; the High Court in McCann held that unconstitutional, and the 2009 Act now requires:

1. Personal service of the committal summons on the debtor.
2. The right to legal aid. At the hearing the judge must tell the debtor of the right to apply for legal aid, and the court can grant it; the hearing can be adjourned for a solicitor to be assigned.
3. A finding on the reason for default. The court can only commit where it is satisfied that the failure to pay was due to the debtor's wilful refusal or culpable neglect, not to inability. A debtor who cannot pay is not committed.
4. Consideration of the alternatives. Before committing, the court must consider varying the instalment order, directing the debtor and creditor to mediation, and any other means of securing payment, and must be satisfied none of them would do.
5. A limited sentence. Committal is for up to three months, can be suspended on terms, and does not extinguish the debt.

The creditor must prove the default and the means; the debtor can give evidence, call witnesses and be represented. In practice the 2009 safeguards ended committal for consumer debt: the District Court committed nobody for an instalment default in 2025. The committal summons remains the creditor's lever to bring a debtor back to court, and the usual outcome is a varied order or a payment plan.

If you are the creditor

The instalment route is slow but it works for a debtor with regular income and no seizable assets. Apply for the examination summons with the judgment and a note of the balance; come to the examination with whatever you know of the debtor's means; accept a realistic figure; and if payments stop, apply to vary or for the committal summons, expecting the court to look for a solution that produces payment rather than a prison sentence. Where the debtor owns property, a judgment mortgage may serve better; where the debtor has goods, the sheriff.

Where this leaves you

If a summons to an examination of means has arrived, complete the statement of means honestly, gather the payslips and statements, get MABS to check it if you can, and attend on the date with a figure you can keep. Use the fine and payment planner to lay out a schedule and see what default does. If your circumstances change after the order, apply to vary it before the arrears build.

If a committal summons has arrived, attend, ask the judge for legal aid, and explain why the instalments were not paid: the court must decide whether you could not pay or would not, and the difference decides the outcome. The debt claim notice guide covers the stage before judgment, and the fines and instalments guide the parallel rules for a criminal fine.