How a civil dispute is run, from the first letter to the enforced judgment: pre-action correspondence, the claim and defence, case management, disclosure, witness statements, trial and appeal — for most kinds of dispute.
Which of these is you?
- A contract or business deal gone wrong Corporate and Commercial Law
- An injury someone else caused Personal Injury and Negligence
- Land, boundaries, tenancies Conveyancing and Real Estate
- An estate, or a will Wills, Probate and Administration of Estates
- A marriage, a relationship, the children Family Law, which runs in its own Division under its own rules
- A decision by a public body Constitutional and Administrative Law
Ask about this
Have a dispute to resolve?
Say who the other side is, what the dispute is about, when it arose, and whether anything has been filed.
What this covers
- Debt recovery from the demand letter to the enforced judgment
- Trial and the judgment
- Enforcement turning a judgment into money or property
- Appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council
- Settlement at every stage, on paper that holds
How it works
Everything begins with a consultation. You set out what has happened, what you have lost, and what you want — the money, the land, the order, or simply for it to stop. That conversation is for working out whether you have a claim, whether it is in time, whether the other side can pay, and the course that gets you the best result available.
- The position. The documents read, limitation checked, and the pre-action letter the protocols call for sent — or the response to one prepared — before the claim or the defence is drafted.
- Preparation. The claim or defence filed; disclosure, witness statements and the timetable met; every application made when it should be.
- Resolution. Settled, tried and resolved through an order of the court, and the judgment enforced or appealed.
In detail
What a civil dispute is
A civil dispute is any disagreement the law will decide that is not a criminal charge: money owed, a contract broken, land claimed, an injury caused, an estate divided, a public decision challenged. In the High Court most of them are run under one set of rules, the Civil Proceedings Rules, and follow the same basic course whatever they are about. Family cases have their own rules in their own Division, and small claims in the Petty Civil Court have theirs.
Before anything is filed
The rules expect the parties to set out their positions to each other first, and a claim filed without that correspondence starts badly. A well-drafted pre-action letter does two things: it tells the other side exactly what they face, and it puts on the record the position that will be argued if it comes to that. A good number of disputes end here.
From claim to trial
Where they do not, the claim is filed and served, the defence follows, and the court takes hold of the case at a case management conference, fixing the timetable to trial: when documents are disclosed, when witness statements are exchanged, when the trial is. Each of those steps is a deadline, and the rules are hard on deadlines missed.
Time limits
A claim on a contract or in tort must be brought within four years of the cause of action arising, and a claim for personal injury within four years of the injury or of the date you first knew of it, or could reasonably have found out. A judgment can be enforced for up to twelve years. Disability and fraud can move those dates, and for a debt or other fixed sum so can a written acknowledgment or a part payment; claims for specific performance, an injunction or other equitable relief are governed differently. A claim brought late is almost always a claim lost, however good it was. For personal injury the court has a discretion to let a late claim proceed, but no one should plan on it.
Judgment and enforcement
A judgment is not money. It is a right to be paid, and enforcing it, against goods, against money owed to the debtor by others, or against land, is its own procedure. After six years, the court's permission is needed before goods can be seized or possession recovered under it. It is thought about before the claim is filed, not after the judgment is won, because a judgment against someone who cannot pay is a piece of paper.
Which court
The Petty Civil Court, a magistrate sitting in civil matters, hears most contract and tort claims of up to TT$50,000. The High Court hears the rest, the Court of Appeal hears appeals, and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the final court. The Civil Division Act 2026 will replace the Petty Civil Court with Small Claims Courts once it is brought into force. Where the dispute concerns a subject this site covers, that page explains what the dispute is about. This one explains how it is run.
Questions
How long do I have to sue in Trinidad and Tobago?
Four years for a claim on a contract or in tort, from when the cause of action arose, and four years for personal injury, from the injury or from when you first knew of it. Twelve years to enforce a judgment. Some limits are much shorter: promptly and within three months to challenge a public body's decision, and one year for a workmen's compensation claim. Disability or fraud can move the dates, as can, for a debt, a written acknowledgment or part payment. Assume the clock is running.
What is a pre-action letter, and do I have to send one?
The letter that sets out your claim to the other side before anything is filed. The Practice Direction on pre-action protocols expects it, and the court can hold a failure to send one against you, including when it decides costs. It is also the single most effective document in the process: many disputes end when one side sees its position set out properly for the first time.
How long does a civil case take?
No one can promise you that. It depends on the court's list, the complexity of the matter, and how the other side conducts itself. What can be promised is that the timetable the court sets will be met on your side, which is how cases finish rather than drift.
Someone owes me money. What can I do?
A letter of demand, then a claim, then a judgment, then enforcement. Claims of up to TT$50,000 normally start in the Petty Civil Court. Before any of it, one question: can they pay? A judgment against someone with nothing is worth what it cost to obtain. That is checked first.
I have a judgment. How do I get paid?
By enforcement, which is its own procedure: seizure and sale of the debtor's goods, orders against money owed to the debtor by others, and charges over land. Which route works depends on what the debtor has, and finding that out is where enforcement starts.
Can we settle after the case is filed?
At any stage, and most cases do. A settlement binds once it is agreed. Made an order of the court, it can be enforced like a judgment if the other side does not keep to it, without a new claim.
