Legal Project Management Plan & Checklist
Purpose of this Guide: Use this fork when an adjudication determination has been made in favour of the claimant and the respondent has failed to pay the adjudicated amount within 5 business days. This fork covers two parallel enforcement mechanisms: (1) registering the Adjudication Certificate as a judgment debt in the correct court under s 28R, and (2) bypassing the respondent to recover the debt directly from the respondent's principal under Division 4 of the Act.
Jurisdiction: Victoria, Australia. Court enforcement is conducted in the Magistrates Court (up to $100,000), County Court (any amount), or Supreme Court (above $200,000). IMPORTANT: s 28R applications are excluded from the standard CITEC Confirm eFiling system. Documents must be emailed directly to the Commercial Registry. The principal redirection mechanism is available where there is a principal above the respondent in the contractual chain.
The Process at a Glance: After the adjudicator determines the amount, the respondent has 5 business days to pay. If unpaid, the claimant applies to the ANA for an Adjudication Certificate under s 28Q (no earlier than 5 business days after the determination was served on the respondent). The certificate, together with an Originating Motion, Affidavit of Debt, and Form 3 Debt Certificate, is emailed directly to the Commercial Registry of the appropriate court. Once processed, the registry returns a sealed Judgment Order and Court-certified Form 3. The claimant then serves Form 1 Notice of Claim and Form 3 on the respondent's Principal to redirect principal payments to the claimant. Upon full payment, Form 4 Discharge Notice is served within 5 business days.
Key Legislation and Case Law: Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) - s 28Q (adjudication certificate - applicable from 5 BD after determination served on respondent), s 28R (court registration as judgment debt - ex parte, fee-exempt), s 32(2) (Form 2 Notice of Claim - served on Principal to redirect payments), s 33(2) (Form 3 Debt Certificate - issued by court officer), s 40(2) (Form 4 Discharge Notice - served within 5 BD of full payment). Key practical note: all court filings are exempt from standard filing fees. Documents must be searchable, un-locked, macro-free PDFs.
* Disclaimer: We're nobody's lawyer, because we aren't lawyers. You are, so you know better than to take legal advice from an app. We also aren't accountants or dog trainers - just digital spirit guides taking zero liability for any of this. This site exists to gather the collective knowledge of practitioners like you. Verify everything and submit your feedback on the Security of Payment Act Claim (Claimant) - Court Enforcement and Principal Redirection (s 28R and Division 4) matter plan to improve the playbook. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, it's a request for input.
This legal matter plan provides a structured workflow for COMMERCIAL_LAW cases, outlining the standard DISPUTE_LITIGATION process. Utilize these tracking templates to manage your legal cases efficiently.
Obtain the Adjudication Certificate from the ANA under s 28Q with interest correctly calculated.
Register the Adjudication Certificate as a judgment debt in the correct court under s 28R via Commercial Registry email submission.
Serve Form 1 Notice of Claim on the Principal to activate the Division 4 payment redirection mechanism.
Serve Form 4 Discharge Notice and formally close the matter once full recovery is confirmed.
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