You Won Your Case. Now What? Enforcing a Judgment in BC

Winning at the Civil Resolution Tribunal, in Small Claims Court or in the Supreme Court is a milestone, but it is not the same as being paid. If the other side does not pay voluntarily, it is up to you to enforce the order. The court does not collect the money for you.

This guide explains the main enforcement tools available in BC, which ones fit which forum, and the time limits that apply.

Start with an order you can enforce

How you begin depends on where you won. The CRT, the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court each have their own route, and the tools differ (we explain the three forums in CRT, Small Claims or Supreme Court? Where your dispute belongs in BC).

A Civil Resolution Tribunal order is not enforced by the CRT itself. The CRT cannot enforce an order for you or help you file it in court. Instead, it sends a validated copy of the order with the decision, and you file that copy in court. Any CRT order can be filed, including default orders, final decisions and consent resolution orders. An order for money or the return of personal property can be filed in Provincial Court if the amount is under the Small Claims limit of $35,000. Once filed, the order has the same force and effect as a judgment of that court, and the court's enforcement tools become available.

Small Claims: payment hearings and default hearings

For a Provincial Court Small Claims order, including a filed CRT order, the Small Claims Rules set out the main enforcement options. Two of them are specific to Small Claims:

• Payment hearing. You file a Summons to a Payment Hearing (Form 12). The debtor must bring financial documents, and a judge or judicial justice looks at their income, assets and debts and can set a payment schedule. One trap: once you file the summons, you generally cannot use other collection methods until the hearing is concluded or withdrawn.
• Default hearing. If the debtor misses payments under a schedule, you can file a Summons to a Default Hearing (Form 14). The judge can confirm or change the schedule and, if the debtor is found in contempt, can order up to 20 days in jail, which does not cancel the debt.

Small Claims creditors can also use garnishment, seizure and sale, and registration against land, discussed below.

Garnishing wages and bank accounts

Garnishment directs someone who owes money to the debtor, usually an employer or a bank, to pay it into court instead. Under the Court Order Enforcement Act, you file an affidavit and a garnishing order in the court registry, serve the order on the employer or bank, and then serve the debtor. Money paid into court is released to you only after the required notice to the debtor.

There are important limits:

• Wages are partly protected. Under section 3 of the Act, 70% of wages is generally exempt, subject to minimum monthly amounts, so usually no more than 30% can be taken. The exemption is lower when the garnishment enforces family support.
• One pay period at a time. A wage garnishing order generally reaches only wages coming due shortly after it is issued, so creditors often need a new order for each pay period.
• Some income is off limits. Employment insurance and social assistance payments generally cannot be garnished.
• Bank orders are specific. A bank garnishing order applies only to the branch it is served on, and joint accounts generally cannot be garnished.

Registering your judgment against land

If the debtor owns land in BC, you can get a certificate of judgment from the court registry and register it at the land title office. Under section 86 of the Court Order Enforcement Act, the registered judgment becomes a lien and charge on the debtor's land. In practice, that makes it difficult for the owner to sell or refinance without dealing with your judgment.

Two points are easy to miss. First, the registration lasts two years and must be renewed before it expires, or it stops being a charge on the land. Second, if the debtor owns the property as a joint tenant and dies, the registration has no effect, because the property passes to the surviving joint owner. Forcing a sale of the land is possible, but it is a complicated and expensive process.

Finding the money: examinations and seizure

If your judgment is from the Supreme Court and you do not know what the debtor owns, the Supreme Court Civil Rules give you two ways to ask:

• Examination in aid of execution (Rule 13-4). The debtor answers questions under oath before a court reporter about their work, bank accounts and property, and whether they have sold or given away property since the judgment. If the debtor is a company, you can examine a director, officer or employee. This is generally available only once a year.
• Subpoena to debtor (Rule 13-3). A hearing before a registrar or associate judge, who can order the debtor to pay the judgment on terms, such as monthly payments.

Once you know what is there, court bailiffs can seize and sell a debtor's possessions, often a vehicle. You pay a deposit toward the bailiff's costs first, and some property is exempt from seizure, including necessary clothing, medical aids and limited amounts of household goods, tools of the trade, vehicle equity and home equity. Seizure makes sense only if the asset is likely to sell for more than the costs.

How long your judgment lasts

Under section 7 of the Limitation Act, a proceeding to enforce a BC judgment for money generally must be started within 10 years after the day the judgment becomes enforceable. That sounds like plenty of time, but a debtor's circumstances change, and steps such as land registrations need renewing along the way. Our guide to limitation periods in BC covers the time limits that apply before you sue.

New enforcement legislation

In 2023 the Legislature passed the Money Judgment Enforcement Act, which is to replace much of the Court Order Enforcement Act system described here once it is brought into force on a date set by regulation. The government has said the new Act will allow a single enforcement process instead of separate court applications for each tool, and create a searchable money judgment registry. Before you start, confirm which rules apply to your judgment.

Judgment not paid? Plan your next enforcement step

Our litigation lawyers can file your CRT order in court, find out what the debtor earns and owns, choose the enforcement steps that suit the debtor's situation, and keep registrations and deadlines current.

Call 604-259-2844 or send us a message to arrange a consultation at our Vancouver office.