If a party has successfully obtained a judgment (whether monetary or non-monetary) from a court in civil   proceedings, the judgment may be enforced under the Civil Judgments Enforcement Act 2004 (WA) (CJEA). Under section 3 of the CJEA, ‘judgment’ is defined as:

• a monetary judgment; or

• a judgment or an order of a court that requires or has the effect of requiring a person to give possession of any property to another person, or to do an act, to not do an act, or to cease doing an act (also known as a non-monetary order).

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​Enforcing A Monetary Judgment

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• A monetary judgment is defined as a judgment or an order of a court that requires or has the effect of requiring a person to pay money (CJEA section 3). 

• Interest accrues on an unpaid judgment debt from the date of the judgment until  payment.  Interest is calculated at the rate set by the judgment (the judgment includes an order for interest), by the court that awarded the judgment, or pursuant to the Civil Judgments Enforcement Regulations 2005.

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Means Inquiry 

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• Upon formal application to the Court issuing the judgment, a ‘means inquiry’ may be held to determine a judgment debtor’s financial position and capacity to pay a judgment.

• The court will list a date for the means inquiry and issue a summons to the judgment debtor. If the means inquiry establishes that the judgment debtor has the means to pay the judgment, the judgment creditor may request the court make the following orders:

  • a time for payment order (an order for the judgment debt to be paid immediately or by a certain date);

  • an instalment order (an order for the judgment debt to be paid by instalments, including the amount the instalment should be, and when each instalment is to be paid); or

  • an earnings appropriation order (an order that requires the person who pays the judgment debtor’s earnings to at the time of their payment, portion some of those earnings to the judgment creditor (also known as a ‘garnishee order’)).

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​Debt Appropriation Orders

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• A debt appropriation order is essentially an order binding a third party who owes the judgment debtor a debt to pay the judgment creditor that debt instead of the judgment debtor.​

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Property Seizure and Sale Orders

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• A property seizure and sale order (PSSO) is an order (operating for 12 months from date of issue) authorising the sheriff to seize and sell the judgment debtor’s property to wholly or partly satisfy the judgment debt (Section 59 CJEA).

• Under a PSSO, the judgment debtor’s personal and real property can be seized and sold.  Before the Sheriff moves to seize and sell the judgment debtor’s real property (i.e. the judgement debtor’s house), the Sheriff must be satisfied that the judgment debtor’s personal property will not be enough to satisfy the debt (section 64 CJEA). 

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Orders for Enforcing Non-Monetary Judgments

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• A property seizure and delivery order (PSDO) can be applied for where the effect of a judgment is that the judgment debtor must give the judgment creditor possession of any personal or real property. The judgment creditor may apply for a PSDO and if the court grants the order, the sheriff has the power to seize the property and deliver possession of the property to the judgment creditor.

• A PSDO operates for 12 months and is typically sought in residential tenancies matters where the tenant refuses to vacate the leased property.

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