DMBM670740 - Summary warrant: Exceptional attachments: After the exceptional attachment order has been granted

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Court action

Once the sheriff makes an order of an exceptional attachment in accordance with the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Rules 2002 (SI560/2002) the sheriff clerk must intimate the order to the defender. This he does by completing a certificate of intimation and issuing a notice on form 25 and attaching a copy of the order to this notice.

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Debt management technical office action

On receipt of the order you must

  • contact the defender and make one final attempt to obtain payment.

Where this fails to elicit payment of the debt you must

  • instruct the sheriff officer to execute the exceptional attachment order.

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Sheriff officer action

On receipt of your instructions the sheriff officer will value the articles being attached at the price they are likely to fetch if sold on the open market. Note: the sheriff officer cannot attach any articles that he considers likely to be of sentimental value to the defender.

Where the sheriff officer considers it to be appropriate he will arrange for an attached article to be valued by a professional valuer or other such suitably skilled person. Any such valuer shall value the attached article at the price that it is likely to fetch if sold on the open market.

Where the valuations differ, the sheriff officer will notify the defender of the value that the valuer has placed on it.

Once the valuation has been done the sheriff officer will prepare a schedule of the article that he has attached. Both the sheriff officer and his witness will sign the schedule.

Unless it is impractical to do so the sheriff officer will immediately remove any article that he has attached. Where he cannot do this he will give notice to the defender and to any other person in possession of the attached article(s) of the date arranged for its/their removal.

Note: The sheriff officer may only remove attached articles which, if sold at the value placed on them, would realise in aggregate the sum recoverable.