Enforcing the Order in Singapore

[jonnawong]

Any one has experience on how to do “enforcing the order”

[JR8]

[quote="jonnawong"]Any one has experience on how to do “enforcing the order”

[sundaymorningstaple]

I've used the SCT numerous times but have never had to initiate bailiffs procedueres for seizure & auction. I would expect it might be difficult to do if not located in Singapore but at the same time, with the efficiency of the courts here, it's probably doable. I'd like to know as well.

[Mad Scientist]

After you were awarded the Order of Tribunal from SCT. You need to appoint power of attorney to another person to act on your behalf . This is the only way as you are no longer residing in SG to enforce the order
The appointee must be a resident of SG and will then on enforce the order . It will be in legal context recognized and the power to enforce will be upheld in court if there is any dispute arising during the enforcement.
Cost to do the PA range from $100 to $500 (approx)

[JR8]

After you were awarded the Order of Tribunal from SCT. You need to appoint power of attorney to another person to act on your behalf . This is the only way as you are no longer residing in SG to enforce the order
The appointee must be a resident of SG and will then on enforce the order . It will be in legal context recognized and the power to enforce will be upheld in court if there is any dispute arising during the enforcement.
Cost to do the PA range from $100 to $500 (approx)

Ah, interesting.

MS, could one not arrange one's own POA? I mean for example drawing up a document [very roughly]...

'I ABC do hereby grant POA to XYZ to act on my behalf in the matter of the enforcement of the SCT Order #123 etc '

Then have both parties sign and if needs be the sigs witnessed?

p.s. I ask this as I give POA now and again to both my lawyer and property agent to act/sign on my behalf, and do it either via a simple e-mail (my agent) or signed and faxed (my lawyer).

edit: for HTML

[jonnawong]

[quote="Mad Scientist"]After you were awarded the Order of Tribunal from SCT. You need to appoint power of attorney to another person to act on your behalf . This is the only way as you are no longer residing in SG to enforce the order
The appointee must be a resident of SG and will then on enforce the order . It will be in legal context recognized and the power to enforce will be upheld in court if there is any dispute arising during the enforcement.
Cost to do the PA range from $100 to $500 (approx)[/quote]

Thank you for the reply. The Moving Company has not paid ocean freight (shipping fee) which we had to pay twice in USA to get our shipment. Now I believe the company played the Singapore law system very well to know our difficulty to get money from him.

Do you know any other way to get back the money from the moving company? I heard that there are companies which offer to get money from someone charging 10% to 20% of the money what they get back? If it is legal, why not try?

[Mad Scientist]

.

MS, could one not arrange one's own POA? I mean for example drawing up a document [very roughly]...

'I ABC do hereby grant POA to XYZ to act on my behalf in the matter of the enforcement of the SCT Order #123 etc '

Then have both parties sign and if needs be the sigs witnessed?

p.s. I ask this as I give POA now and again to both my lawyer and property agent to act/sign on my behalf, and do it either via a simple e-mail (my agent) or signed and faxed (my lawyer).

edit: for HTML

That is not POA per se in fact not at all. That will be an agreement in contract binded by two parties. A POA is witnesseth by a lawyer and entered into the legal fraternity once it is recorded and stamp by the court. It is a powerful tool. When we left SG for Sweden, we had not much time to sell our HDB house, I release my powers to instruct to a third person and acting on my behalf. It was signed by my wife and I and the third person in front of a lawyer. The signed copy was forwarded to the court to authenticate hence once it was sold and this person was acting on behalf of me, it was binded and I have no recourse for any wrong doing by the third person as I was supposed to give the powers to him to act on behalf of me

[Mad Scientist]

Thank you for the reply. The Moving Company has not paid ocean freight (shipping fee) which we had to pay twice in USA to get our shipment. Now I believe the company played the Singapore law system very well to know our difficulty to get money from him.

Do you know any other way to get back the money from the moving company? I heard that there are companies which offer to get money from someone charging 10% to 20% of the money what they get back? If it is legal, why not try?

That will be thru illegal means and you could be liable for any implication in result of your instruction. I would not recommend you to go thru this route unless you have absolute control of the situation which I think it would have disastrous consequences. Don't do this unless you know what you are getting into.
Now, I believe the cost of shipment to US via container would be in the region of S$ 6K at min on a 20 foot container. CIF FCL
I would recommend you to seek a lawyer and act on your behalf to obtain a letter of demand. You have SCT order on your side. This is easy for the lawyer to act. If this fails the next step will be to get an injunction from the court and obtain Writ of Seizure or Summon of Writ of Seizure
If he is operating a business here, he will accede to pay you as the legal implication for Chapter 11 will be on his doorstep
You do not need a POA then . You can use a lawyer in SG and go straight away and shaft this up in their NOSTRIL.
How's that for a shorter route ?

[x9200]

Maybe it is different in Singapore but what JR8 described is a typical POA and not a contract. There are many different POAs. They typically differ by level/severity of the enforcement. For example you may have POA where you authorize your friend to pick up registered mails on your behalf - and actually verbal POA is here formally often good enough or you may have POA where you need a notarization. The role of notary public is for less "heavy" cases just to be a witness and in some other (i.e. change in the property ownership) to do also some background check.
Again, I don't know how much of it applies to Singapore.

[jonnawong]

"You can use a lawyer in SG and go straight away and shaft this up in their NOSTRIL." Do you mean to hire a lawyer to go to the company directly? If they have no money in company account, what could the lawyer get?

[jonnawong]

Actually the company prepared and gave us 5 checks in SCT for 5 months to credit. So far two checks has been bounced back. If I was there, I must ask judge to ask the "smart" guy to give us bankdraft or money order. Now it is hard for us to request any one to do the complicated process of enforcing order.
SCT has no online service to let me contact.

[ksl]

Actually this will fall under commercial international law. You have the right to force payment, probably through a proxy legal department in Singapore with a power of attorney, with all costs passed on to the offender. I would have a letter sent from a legal department solicitor in your own country to inform them of International legal terms that you are prepared to enforce, they will only occur more costs in the long term.

Inform the offender that all legal cost to ensure payment is made on time will naturally be passed on to the offending party. Hopefully that will pressure them to pay up. If the company have any assets, send in the debt collectors, may take time so you and your nominated solicitor will have to look at the pro's and cons of taking it further.

Better to ask someone you know to do some background checks with the companies banks if its a ltd, for a small fee and find out their credit worthiness status.

Plus you can charge the interest on payments not made on time do not forget to do that with your solicitor.

They don't have a leg to stand on, if you already won the case. the debt is easier to sell to Factors businesses registered to collect bad debts, it's a way for business to get their hands on cash receivables quickly.

It will cost you around 10 to 25% it is not illegal though each country have their own laws, if the debt collector is registered. It's a way to capitalise on bad debt, though the legal term is on the tip of my tongue, The word is (Factoring) for companies with bad debt, that need to raise cash quickly. http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/f ... 977-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collection_agency. International law was briefly part of my export consultancy diploma covering non payments of imported goods. As their are a few terms and conditions of letters of credit, with different degrees of reimbursement.

I have also used power of attorney for my clients to authorize me to purchase cars abroad and import them on their behalf, fulfilling customs duties and still saving 35 to 40% on purchase price within Europe compared to the UK car prices. A POA is so powerful that i was the one accountable for any wrong doings and not the car owners. Even my solicitor was unsure if i could do it, the document is binding and it worked, I was able to register the cars in UK in the owners names for them with type approval certificates from the car manufacturers.

You may also be able to offset bad debt against your capital gains as an individual on your tax, though rules apply and each country is different.

[Mad Scientist]

Maybe it is different in Singapore but what JR8 described is a typical POA and not a contract. There are many different POAs. They typically differ by level/severity of the enforcement. For example you may have POA where you authorize your friend to pick up registered mails on your behalf - and actually verbal POA is here formally often good enough or you may have POA where you need a notarization. The role of notary public is for less "heavy" cases just to be a witness and in some other (i.e. change in the property ownership) to do also some background check.
Again, I don't know how much of it applies to Singapore.

This is incorrect

power of attorney lets you, the "principal," choose a trusted person or organization to handle your financial, legal or health care matters if you're unavailable or unable to manage them for yourself. The person or organization you choose to act on your behalf is known as your "attorney-in-fact" or "agent."

A power of attorney must be signed by the person granting the authority and that person must be mentally competent at the time of the signing in order to make the document legally binding.


General power of attorney
Limited power of attorney
Health care power of attorney
All powers of attorney terminate on the death of the principal.

Additionally, you can revoke or cancel your power of attorney during your life. To revoke your power of attorney, notify your attorney-in-fact in writing that the power of attorney is revoked. Also, notify any person or institution where your attorney-in-fact was used of the revocation. Another way of revoking your power of attorney is to specify in the power of attorney document that it expires on a certain date.

Hence to enforce it when everything went to custard, the POA done thru a lawyer and filed in the court of law has more legal standing and binding as the initial hurdles of legal entity has been overcome.
In SG, HDB , URA S & P purchase are done thru POA and filed in the court if the owner of the house is not residing in SG.

[Mad Scientist]

"You can use a lawyer in SG and go straight away and shaft this up in their NOSTRIL." Do you mean to hire a lawyer to go to the company directly? If they have no money in company account, what could the lawyer get?

what KSL said is correct. If they do not have money , you can get injunction to file for bankruptcy. The bailiff will seize their possession for auction to recover what is owed to you.
Read my earlier post. This you have to engage a lawyer. From memory cost me $1K all upfront. I did not manage to recover the legal fees from the defendant bit it is worth it as my amount recovered was substantial

[x9200]

@MS, I completely agree with you except this part the me incorrect . Simply POA is much more widely defined than you present it here.

This is after wikipedia:

Oral and written powers of attorney

Depending on the jurisdiction, a power of attorney may be oral and whether witnessed or not, will hold up in court, the same as if it were in writing.[2] For some purposes, the law requires a power of attorney to be in writing. Many institutions, such as hospitals, banks and, in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service, require a power of attorney to be in writing before they will honor it, and they will usually keep an original copy for their records. In some countries and situations, an electronic power of attorney can also be considered valid.

I use POA more less on regular bases to handle different things back in Europe.