Most County Court Judgments on unpaid invoices are won without a hearing — the debtor simply does not respond, and the court enters judgment in default. Here is how that works, how you ask for it, and the one thing that can undo it.
A default judgment is a County Court Judgment entered because the debtor did not respond to your claim within the time allowed — usually 14 days from service. There is no hearing: once the deadline passes you ask the court to enter judgment, and it does. It is the normal, low-cost way an undisputed invoice claim ends.
A default judgment is not a special application — it is what the court does when a served debtor stays silent.
Once your County Court claim is served, the debtor has a short window to respond. For a claim served in the usual way that is 14 days: they can admit the debt, file a defence, or acknowledge service to buy more time (which extends the deadline for a defence to 28 days). If they do none of these and the time runs out, they are in default, and you can ask the court to enter judgment against them.
This is how the great majority of undisputed invoice claims end. The debtor who has no real answer to a clear, documented debt often does not respond at all — see the Money Claim Online guide for how the claim gets to this point.
Entering judgment for a specified sum is an administrative step, not a hearing — you request it, the court grants it.
For a specified amount — which an unpaid invoice is — you request judgment once the response deadline has passed. Through Money Claim Online you use the ‘request judgment’ option; on paper you file form N225. You tell the court whether you want the full sum paid at once or by instalments, and judgment is entered for the debt, the interest you claimed and the court fee.
At that point you hold a County Court Judgment. It confirms the debt and is recorded on the public register — but, like any judgment, it does not collect the money on its own.
A default judgment is only as safe as the service behind it — the one thing worth getting exactly right.
A debtor can apply to have a default judgment set aside. The court must set it aside if the claim was not properly served on the right address; it may set it aside if the debtor shows a real prospect of defending the claim or another good reason, and it expects them to apply promptly. A judgment that is set aside puts you back to square one, sometimes with a costs risk.
The lesson is simple: serve the claim correctly, at the right registered or trading address, and keep a clean record of every step. If there is a genuine dispute, a default judgment is the wrong goal — a defended small claim is. New to the terms here? See the glossary, or read the full recovery process.
A default judgment — often called judgment in default — is a County Court Judgment entered because the defendant did not respond to the claim within the time allowed. There is no hearing and no trial: the court enters judgment on your say-so because the debtor did not engage. Most County Court Judgments for undisputed invoices are entered this way.
After a County Court claim is served, the debtor normally has 14 days to respond — by admitting the claim, filing a defence, or acknowledging service. Acknowledging service extends the time to file a defence to 28 days from service. If the debtor files nothing at all within the 14 days, you can ask the court to enter judgment in default.
For a specified sum you request judgment once the response deadline has passed. Through Money Claim Online you use the 'request judgment' option; on paper you file form N225. You state whether you want the whole sum paid immediately or by instalments, and the court enters judgment for the debt, interest and the court fee.
Yes. The debtor can apply to have it set aside. The court must set it aside if the claim was not properly served; it may set it aside if the debtor has a real prospect of defending the claim or there is another good reason, and generally expects them to apply promptly. This is why getting service right, and having a clean paper trail, matters.
No. A default judgment is a County Court Judgment — it confirms the debt and records it, and many debtors pay at that point to protect their credit. But it does not move the money for you. If the debtor still does not pay, getting the judgment paid is a separate step you take through the court.
Silence is often how an undisputed claim is won. Start with a reminder while the debt is fresh, and keep a clean paper trail for the claim. RobinReturn is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.