Key Takeaways
- An order to obtain information under CPR Part 71 requires a judgment debtor to disclose their finances after a money judgment.
- It gathers intelligence rather than payment, so without a further enforcement step your judgment may remain unpaid.
- Use form N316 for an individual, or N316A to question a suitable company officer about corporate assets.
- Prepare targeted questions and document requests covering income, bank accounts, property, liabilities and business interests, then compare the answers with public records.
- Non-attendance, refusals or missing documents can lead to a warrant for arrest and potential contempt-of-court consequences.
- Use the answers to select an attachment of earnings order, charging order, third-party debt order or writ of control.
- Our solicitors can prepare the application, attend the hearing and advise on enforcement or contempt action after disclosure.
- Go Legal is rated Excellent with over 300 five-star reviews and 5/5 on Trustpilot and Google, placing our solicitors among the best-reviewed litigation lawyers in England and Wales.
How Does an Order to Obtain Information Help Enforce a Money Judgment?
A court judgment does not guarantee payment. If you do not know where the debtor works, banks, owns property or holds business assets, an order to obtain information under CPR Part 71 can reveal their financial position.
The procedure, which applies in England and Wales, gathers information rather than recovering the debt itself. What it reveals helps you decide whether to seek a charging order, attachment of earnings, a third-party debt order or a writ of control.
Our London-based solicitors can prepare the application, attend the information hearing and respond if the debtor fails to attend or answer. If you need advice on enforcing a money judgment, book a free consultation or call 0207 459 4037.
What Is an Order to Obtain Information From a Judgment Debtor?
An order to obtain information is a post-judgment court order under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 71. It requires an individual judgment debtor, or a named officer of a company debtor, to attend court, produce specified documents and answer questions on oath about their means or any other matter relevant to enforcing the judgment.
The order gathers information. It does not make the debtor pay. Its value lies in showing you which enforcement route, if any, is likely to recover the money.
Questions and document requests may cover:
- Income, employment and regular earnings
- Bank accounts and payment arrangements
- Property interests and liabilities
- Vehicles and finance agreements
- Business assets, accounts and debts owed to a company
- Share certificates and other business interests
- Outstanding bills, unpaid court orders and other liabilities
A court officer normally conducts the questioning. The creditor or their legal representative may attend and ask supplementary questions with permission. Answers are given on oath or affirmation.
Where the debtor is a company, the order is made against an identified company officer, not the company in the abstract. That officer should have meaningful knowledge of the company’s finances, records and assets.
When Should You Apply for an Order to Obtain Information?
You can apply at any time after obtaining a County Court or High Court money judgment. The debtor does not need to have fallen behind with payments.
The order is most useful when you hold a judgment but do not know enough about the debtor’s finances to choose a proportionate enforcement route. Typical gaps include:
- An individual’s employer or income source
- Bank accounts or payment providers
- Property ownership or business assets
- Customers who owe money to a company
- Valuable equipment, vehicles or shares
- The debtor’s realistic ability to meet the judgment
It is less useful where reliable information already points to a practical enforcement route. It also has limited value where the debtor is insolvent, has no identifiable assets or has entered a formal insolvency process.
An information hearing is not normally the right first step where there is evidence of:
- Imminent transfer or sale of assets
- Fraud or deliberate concealment
- Insolvency or a company winding down its trade
In those circumstances, the time needed to issue, serve and hear an application may allow assets to be moved. Urgent advice about freezing injunctions, insolvency petitions or other asset-preservation measures may be more appropriate.
If enforcement terminology is unfamiliar, you may find our guide on Debt Recovery Glossary Terms useful.
How Do You Apply for an Order to Obtain Information?
You apply by filing the correct form with accurate judgment details and a current debt figure. The usual procedure is:
- Obtain a County Court or High Court money judgment.
- Use form N316 for an individual debtor or form N316A for a company officer.
- Provide the judgment details, current balance and any specific document requests.
- Pay the applicable court fee. Check the current HMCTS fee before filing.
- The court sets the attendance date and the order is served.
- The debtor attends, confirms their identity, answers questions and produces the required documents.
- The creditor assesses which enforcement method is most suitable.
The application may be made without notice to the debtor. It should generally be issued in the court that made the judgment, and the hearing normally takes place at the County Court hearing centre serving the area where the debtor lives or carries on business.
If you have not yet obtained judgment, our guide on CCJ and Court Claims explains the earlier stage.
What Must a Creditor Include?
Under Practice Direction 71, the application must identify:
- The judgment debtor’s name and address
- The judgment or order being enforced
- The amount currently owed
- For a company, the proposed officer’s name, address and position
- Any specific documents required
- Any request for questioning before a judge and the reasons for it
Calculate the judgment balance, interest and enforcement costs before filing. A figure that does not reflect the live debt can create avoidable problems at the hearing.
Which Form Applies to an Individual or Company?
| Debtor type | Application form | Key practical point |
|---|---|---|
| Individual judgment debtor | N316 | Focus on income, assets, liabilities and regular financial arrangements. |
| Company or other corporation | N316A | Name an officer able to give meaningful information about company finances, records and assets. |
For a company, choosing the right officer matters. A director, company secretary or other officer may be suitable, but the person should understand the company’s bank arrangements, accounting records, customer debts and trading assets. An officer with little involvement in the company’s finances may give incomplete answers and waste the hearing.
How Does Service Work?
Unless the court orders otherwise, the order must be personally served at least 14 days before the hearing. Service may be carried out by:
- The judgment creditor or someone acting for the creditor
- A High Court enforcement officer
- A County Court bailiff
If the creditor is responsible for service and cannot serve the order, the creditor must notify the court at least seven days before the hearing.
The person ordered to attend may request a sum reasonably sufficient for travelling expenses within seven days of service. If requested, the creditor must pay it.
The creditor must file the affidavit or affidavits covering service and travelling expenses at least two days before the hearing, or produce them at the hearing.
What Questions and Documents Should You Prepare?
Prepare questions and document requests aimed at the specific information your next enforcement decision depends on. Broad requests that do not help identify income, assets, liabilities or business value add little.
For an individual, useful documents may include:
- Bank statements
- Wage slips
- Property details
- Vehicle-finance agreements
- Evidence of liabilities
For a company, form N316A identifies documents such as:
- Bank statements
- Share certificates
- Hire-purchase or similar agreements
- Unpaid court orders
- Outstanding bills
- Amounts owed to the company
- Two years’ accounts
- Current management accounts
The court officer asks standard questions, but you can attach additional questions to the application. Focus them on:
- Current employment, salary and expected income
- Bank accounts and regular payment arrangements
- Property ownership, mortgages and rental income
- Vehicles, business equipment and finance agreements
- Customers who owe money to the company
- Recent changes in ownership, directors or company activity
Comparing public records with the debtor’s answers may reveal an undisclosed asset or a credibility problem. Use the information obtained for the enforcement purpose for which it was provided, and do not assume every answer can be freely republished or used for unrelated purposes.
Our solicitors have also written about Commercial Disputes, which may help if the judgment arose from a wider business dispute.
What Happens at an Order to Obtain Information Hearing?
The person ordered to attend confirms their identity, answers questions on oath or affirmation and produces the documents specified in the order.
At an ordinary hearing, the court officer asks the standard questions set out in Practice Direction 71, together with any additional questions attached to the application. The creditor or their representative may also attend and ask questions.
The court officer records the evidence, reads the record back to the person questioned and asks them to sign it. Any refusal to sign is recorded.
Questioning before a judge is not routine. The application must explain why it is needed, and a judge will order it only where there are compelling reasons. At a judge-led hearing, the creditor or their representative conducts the questioning and the proceedings are tape recorded.
How Should You Use the Hearing Record?
Review the signed record against the information you already hold. Look for details that identify:
- Income and employment
- Bank accounts
- Property interests
- Customer debts
- Business assets
- Relevant financial records
If the debtor is evasive, ask the court officer to press for specific answers and make sure refusals and gaps appear in the record. A debtor who admits holding a bank account but refuses to disclose the balance has still provided a lead that may support a third-party debt order.
What Happens If the Debtor Does Not Attend or Lies?
Failure to attend, refusal to take the oath, refusal to answer questions or failure to produce required documents leads to referral to a High Court judge or Circuit Judge under CPR Part 71. The order itself must warn that non-compliance may result in the person being “held to be in contempt of court and punished by a fine, imprisonment, confiscation of assets or other punishment under the law.”
The consequences may include:
- A warrant for arrest
- A finding of contempt of court
- A fine
- Imprisonment
- Confiscation of assets
- Other punishment permitted by law
The court must be satisfied that the creditor complied with the procedural requirements, which is why personal service, proof of service and travelling-expense evidence matter so much.
A knowingly false answer may also amount to contempt of court and can undermine later enforcement. Preserve evidence of any false statement and seek advice promptly. Keep records of:
- The sealed order and service arrangements
- The service and travel-expense affidavit
- Correspondence about attendance or documents
- The signed hearing record
- Evidence contradicting the answers given
How Do You Choose an Enforcement Method After Disclosure?
The order does not replace a charging order, attachment of earnings, third-party debt order, warrant of control or writ of control. A separate enforcement step is normally needed to recover the money.
The disclosed information may point towards:
- Employment income: an attachment of earnings order
- Bank accounts or money owed by others: a third-party debt order
- Property ownership: a charging order
- Goods or business assets: a warrant or writ of control
The right route depends on the available assets, the judgment value, the evidence obtained and the likely costs. If the debtor has no assets or income, it may be more sensible to keep the judgment on record and monitor for a change in circumstances.
What Red Flags Suggest Insolvency or Asset Dissipation?
Warning signs include:
- Unexplained transfers to connected parties
- Preferential payments to some creditors
- Continued trading despite apparent insolvency
- Deteriorating accounts or stopped trading activity
- Missing financial records
- A pattern of unpaid creditors
- Valuable assets held through changing ownership arrangements
These signs may justify a change of strategy. Instead of pursuing fruitless enforcement against an empty shell, the creditor may need to consider an insolvency petition or a claim challenging the transactions. Our guide on Insolvency explains the options in more detail.
What Are the Costs and Practical Considerations?
The court fee can change, so check current HMCTS fees before filing. Legal costs depend on the preparation required, attendance at the hearing and any later enforcement work.
You should also weigh:
- The value of the judgment
- How much you already know about the debtor
- The cost of personal service
- The time needed to prepare questions
- Whether the debtor is likely to provide useful information
- The likely cost of the next enforcement step
An order is most cost-effective when you have a clear enforcement strategy and use the hearing to fill a specific intelligence gap. It should not be used as a fishing expedition.
For a smaller judgment, a simpler method may be more proportionate, such as a warrant of control, or attachment of earnings where the debtor’s employer is already known. For a larger judgment, information about property, bank accounts or business debts can be critical when choosing between high-value routes such as charging orders, third-party debt orders or insolvency proceedings.
Online claim and enforcement services continue to develop separately from the underlying CPR Part 71 procedure. If your claim ran through Civil Money Claims or Money Claims Online, confirm how that service handles enforcement applications before relying on an online process.
When Should You Seek Legal Advice?
Seek advice if the debtor:
- Fails to attend
- Gives evasive or false answers
- Does not produce required documents
- Appears insolvent
- Has transferred assets to connected parties
- Is winding down or changing its business structure
Where there is evidence of imminent asset dissipation, fraud or insolvency, interim relief, insolvency action or other asset-preservation measures may be more urgent than an information hearing.
Our commercial litigation and debt recovery team can advise on the full range of enforcement options, prepare and attend the hearing, and take follow-up action, including contempt applications, insolvency petitions and asset tracing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Speak to an Order to Obtain Information Solicitor Today
An order to obtain information can reveal the debtor’s income, bank accounts, property, business interests and other assets, helping you choose the most effective enforcement method. It does not secure payment by itself, and delay can allow assets to be transferred or a business to enter insolvency. Careful preparation, correct service and targeted questions are essential.
Our solicitors advise creditors across England and Wales on whether an information order is proportionate, prepare applications against individuals and company officers, attend hearings and respond to incomplete answers, non-attendance or suspected asset dissipation. We can then turn the information obtained into practical enforcement action, including a charging order, third-party debt order or insolvency proceedings.
