Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Australia - Part 3

Enforcement of the foreign judgment

In our previous posts we examined the two ways to have a foreign judgment recognised in Australia: under the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) and under the common law.  Once the foreign judgment is recognised, the next step is to get the money owing under the judgment.

In this post we will explore the steps the judgment creditor may take to enforce the judgment.

Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Australia - Part 2

Recognition under the common law

In our previous post, we examined the process for recognising foreign judgments in Australia under the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) (Act).  While this is the easiest way to get a foreign judgment registered in Australia, it is only available for certain judgments. 

For judgments that are not registrable under the Act, a judgment creditor must have the judgment recognised under the common law.  In this post, we examine that process and the positions of the judgment creditor (the person enforcing the judgment) and the judgment debtor (the person against whom the judgment is being enforced).

Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Australia

Registration of foreign judgments

For a plaintiff seeking to enforce a judgment, it is not uncommon for a defendant’s assets to be spread across the globe, creating both opportunities and problems.  The opportunity lies in accessing potential sources of assets to satisfy the judgment.  The problem is that a company or person might have no assets in the plaintiff’s home jurisdiction, requiring the judgment to be enforced overseas.

The steps involved in accessing a defendant’s Australian assets to satisfy the judgment are recognition and enforcement.  We will explore these steps further in a series of upcoming posts.

In this first post we look at one method of recognition: registration of the foreign judgment under the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) (Act).