Our client had served a statutory demand on a debtor against whom our client had obtained a judgment in default (that is to say a judgment obtained in default of the claim being defended). The debtor applied for the statutory demand to be set aside.
The debtor had failed to respond to the initial proceedings and at the set aside hearing said that he had moved from the address where the proceedings had been served some considerable time ago.
We were able to guide the Judge to the relevant procedural rules, which say that at the hearing of an application to set aside a statutory demand, the court can not question the legitimacy of a debt, if the debt is based on a judgment. The statutory demand was upheld and payment of the debt subsequently obtained by our client.
