Caveats - the Early Warning System in Scotland

Is your business protected?

Caveats (peculiar to Scotland) are a simple and cost effective way in which we can protect clients from being served with a court order without warning. Caveats should be lodged at the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts on behalf of individuals, companies, firms and partnerships.

Any business with a link to Scotland (whether that be property or a trading address) should consider lodging caveats from a risk management perspective.

What are Caveats?

Assuming a caveat has been lodged in the relevant court then when an application is made for an interim order, Bond Dickinson will immediately receive notification from the court clerk to ensure that no interim orders are granted against you without having a chance to be heard in court and put forward your side of the argument. The court will usually give parties 24 hours to seek representation to attend a hearing (unless extremely urgent).

 A Caveat will "trigger" in respect of an interim interdict (an injunction in England) or a winding up petition (of a company which is registered in Scotland). If you do not have a Caveat in place then it is likely the application would be granted and whilst interim orders are capable of being recalled, prevention is better than cure. It is far easier to prevent an interim order being granted than trying to have it recalled at a later date.

A solicitor from Bond Dickinson will always be on call out of hours and at weekends in the event that a Caveat is triggered.

Costs

Caveats should be lodged in the Sheriff Court(s) where the business trades or has their registered office together with the Court of Session which has jurisdiction across the whole of Scotland. We routinely put Caveats in place for many of our clients for a fixed fee of ￡70 plus VAT per caveat together with court fees which are currently ￡48 in the Court of Session and ￡36 in the Sheriff Court. Caveats require to be renewed on an annual basis and we will contact you before the Caveat(s) expire to renew for another year.