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Make and serve a statutory demand, or
challenge one
1. When you can make a statutory demand
2. Statutory demand forms
3. How to serve a statutory demand
4. Challenge a statutory demand
5. Contact the Insolvency Service
1. When you can make a statutory demand
You can make a statutory demand to ask for payment of a debt from an individual or company.
Anyone who’s owed money (the ‘creditor’) can make a statutory demand. You don’t need a
lawyer.
If the debt’s over 6 years old, you can’t usually make a statutory demand. You can get legal
advice instead.
There may be faster ways of getting smaller debts paid than making a statutory demand.
When the individual or company that owes you money (the ‘debtor’) receives a statutory
demand, they have 21 days to either:


pay the debt
reach an agreement to pay
You can apply to bankrupt your debtor or close (‘wind up’) their company if they don’t respond
to the statutory demand within 21 days.

Next Statutory demand forms
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Court claims, debt and bankruptcy
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