If you are considering applying for a freezing injunction, it is vital to act quickly and avoid delay – failure to act quickly can make the difference between a freezing order being granted or not. Our brilliant team can help you on any freezing order issue. Call us today.
When applying for freezing injunctions it is vital to act promptly.
Any delay in making an application will potentially count against an applicant and the court may not grant a freezing injunction if the applicant cannot justify any delay which has taken place since the wrongdoing was discovered.
Commonly, applications for freezing injunctions are made within two to five days of discovering the alleged wrongdoing by the respondent. In that time, detailed Affidavit evidence needs to be produced in support of the claim and this requires a great deal of work from both the applicant and its legal advisors.
The court will however take into account that an applicant cannot possibly cover every possible detail in that short space of time. However, there is a balance between being able to supply the court with sufficient evidence to enable it to grant a freezing order and simply taking too much time to compile that evidence in support of an application.
Too much delay might be misconstrued by the court as
- weakening an applicant’s evidence that the respondent might try and hide assets / that there is a real risk of dissipation of assets;
- indicating that any dissipation has already taken place by the respondent during that period of delay which effectively renders the injunction pointless;
- having a detrimental effect on the defendant because of the disruption caused by an injunction on the defendant’s personal and business life.
Furthermore, if an applicant has already indicated that it may be seeking some form of injunctive relief against a respondent, this too can count against it when seeking a freezing injunction from the court. This is because the court will often view this as “tipping off” and giving the respondent the opportunity to hide or dissipate its assets and thus render any injunction pointless. As a result, a potential applicant should be very careful in its written and / or oral dealings / communications with the respondent / defendant upon the identification of a fraud.
Our expert team of freezing order solicitors at Francis Wilks & Jones can help you with any freezing injunction situation. Whether you are applying for a freezing injunction or have received one, we can provide the immediate and expert help you need. Speed is vital in these applications. Contact one of our team of friendly freezing order lawyers now for your confidential consultation.
