Default Judgment

Home  >  Help  >  Lodging  >  Default Judgment

 

Default Judgment


A default judgment is when you apply to the Court for an order for judgment in default to be entered and costs because the respondent has not filed a defence within 28 days of your claim or cross claim if served within Australia or 30 business days if served outside Australia.

If the respondent has filed a defence, you cannot apply for a default judgment.

What you need

You can manually enter the contractual or non-contractual interest and costs into this form, or you can upload the following documents:

  • Memorandum of Interest
  • Memorandum of Costs

The cost

There are no fees for applying for an default judgment.

How to lodge a request for default judgment

The option to Request Default Judgment will only become available if:

  • At least one respondent has not filed a defence (or equivalent parties on cross claim)
  • A Form 42 Affidavit of Service or Form 43 Affidavit of Proof of Personal Service on an Individual by Sheriff's Officer has been lodged deposing that the claim has been successfully served on at least one respondent
  • It has been 28 days from at least one of the successful service attempts.
  • There is no existing judgment unless that judgment has been dismissed or set aside

Steps:

  1. Log in to CourtSA
  2. Go to My Cases
  3. Find the case you wish to request a default judgment against and click "View Case"
  4. Click "Actions", select "Request or Add a ..." and select "Default Judgment"
  5. Complete the CourtSA Request for Default Judgment form
  6. Lodge the CourtSA Request for Default Judgment form

You will receive an email from CourtSA letting you know that your request for default judgment has been received for review by the Court.


If it is accepted for filing:

CourtSA will generate a sealed Form 76B Application to Registrar - Request Default Judgment using the information you provided.

You will receive a notification to let you know that your request has been approved and that the sealed Form 76B Application to the Registrar to Sign Judgment is available on CourtSA.


If it is rejected

You will receive a notification to let you know why your request for default judgment was rejected.