Letter from Alex M Adamson? Read this before you reply

A letter from Alex M Adamson usually means a debt has reached the Scottish enforcement stage. Adamson is a firm of Scottish solicitors specialising in debt recovery, working closely with sheriff officers — Scotland’s equivalent of bailiffs. Their letters carry real weight under Scots law, and the deadlines printed on them can be the difference between a manageable arrangement and a sheriff-court decree.

This page explains who Adamson are, what the Scottish enforcement framework actually allows, and how to handle their correspondence — including how a Protected Trust Deed or, where eligible, an IVA can legally stop their action.

Who Alex M Adamson are

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Alex M Adamson is a firm of Scottish solicitors regulated by the Law Society of Scotland, with a long-established practice in debt recovery and sheriff-court litigation. They act as agents for sheriff officers and pursue commercial and consumer-credit debts on behalf of a range of creditor clients.

Scotland operates a different debt-recovery framework from England and Wales. The key differences matter:

• Sheriff court, not county court — Scotland’s civil courts of first instance
• Sheriff officers, not bailiffs — the officers of court who carry out enforcement
• 5-year prescription under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 — and prescribed debts cease to exist legally, not just become unenforceable
• Charge for payment — a 14-day pre-enforcement demand served after a decree
• Diligence is the umbrella term for enforcement: arrestment, attachment, inhibition

What Alex M Adamson and sheriff officers can and cannot legally do

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Adamson’s solicitors-and-sheriff-officers combination can:

• Issue pre-action correspondence and Letters Before Action under Scots law
• Raise a sheriff-court action (Simple Procedure for claims up to £5,000, Ordinary Cause above)
• After a decree, instruct sheriff officers to serve a charge for payment
• After expiry of the 14-day charge, instruct earnings arrestment, bank arrestment of funds in your account, or attachment of movable property
• Apply for inhibition preventing the sale of heritable property (the Scottish equivalent of a charging order)

They cannot force entry to a private dwelling for an ordinary money debt, threaten criminal sanctions (the matter is civil), or attach essential household items — clothes, bedding, basic furniture, tools of trade are protected.

If a sheriff officer attends, you do not have to let them inside; for an attachment of movable property they must use lawful means of access only.

The two checks worth running first

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1. Prescription check — five years in Scotland under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. Once prescribed, the debt ceases to exist legally. Run from the last payment, written acknowledgement, or court action.
2. Document request — for regulated consumer-credit debt, you can still request the original credit agreement under sections 77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which applies UK-wide. Until documents are produced, the debt is unenforceable in court.

Don’t make a token “goodwill” payment — even £1 can reset the prescription clock.

How Adamson tend to operate

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Scottish enforcement runs on a defined sequence: pre-action letters, sheriff-court action, decree, charge for payment, then diligence. Adamson typically:

• Send pre-action correspondence with a defined window to respond
• Raise Simple Procedure claims at the appropriate sheriff court for smaller balances
• Apply for decree where no defence is lodged within the 21-day window
• Instruct sheriff officers to serve a charge for payment after decree
• Move quickly to earnings arrestment or bank arrestment after the 14-day charge expires

A switch in correspondence from solicitors letters to a sheriff officer’s notice means enforcement is imminent.

What happens if you ignore Adamson

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Ignoring Adamson is high-risk under Scots procedure:

1. Pre-action correspondence escalates fast
2. Simple Procedure or Ordinary Cause action raised at the sheriff court
3. Decree in default if no defence is lodged in 21 days
4. Charge for payment served by sheriff officer — 14 days to pay
5. Earnings arrestment to your employer (taking a fixed percentage of net wages)
6. Bank arrestment freezing funds in your account up to the decree amount
7. Attachment of movable property outside the home, or inhibition if you own heritable property

Each step has costs added under the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 and related fees orders.

Routes out under Scots law

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• Pay in full if you can, with a written full-and-final agreement.
• Time-to-pay direction — applied for before a decree, allowing repayment by instalments and pausing further enforcement under the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987.
• Time-to-pay order — applied for after decree, similar effect.
• Affordable repayment plan with Adamson directly, based on Common Financial Tool standards in Scotland.
• Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) — Scotland’s statutory debt-management programme. Stops further enforcement and freezes interest while you repay over a longer period; no write-off.
• Protected Trust Deed (PTD) — the Scottish formal insolvency equivalent of an IVA, typically over four years, with the unpaid balance written off at completion.
• IVA if you have UK-wide creditor links and meet the eligibility criteria — though for most Scottish residents a PTD is the natural fit.
• Sequestration — Scottish bankruptcy, where no realistic monthly contribution is possible.

Pitfalls when Adamson are involved

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• Never ignore a sheriff-court initiating writ. Decrees in default are entered when no defence is lodged within 21 days.
• Never ignore a charge for payment. The 14-day window is when most leverage is lost — earnings arrestment follows immediately on expiry.
• Don’t make a part-payment before checking the prescription dates — it can reset the 5-year clock.
• Time-to-pay applications are time-sensitive — far stronger before decree than after.
• Don’t confuse Scottish and English law — bailiff guides written for England and Wales do not apply.

Frequently asked questions

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Are Alex M Adamson sheriff officers themselves? Adamson are solicitors who instruct sheriff officers — the officers of court who handle physical enforcement.

Can Adamson take my belongings? Not directly. After a decree and an expired charge for payment, sheriff officers can attach movable property outside the home; essentials are protected.

Will a Trust Deed or IVA stop Adamson? Yes — a Protected Trust Deed (Scotland) or IVA legally stops their action on the included debt and writes off the unpaid balance at the end of the term.

Can I apply for time-to-pay? Yes — under the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, before or after a decree.

Related guides

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• Do debt collectors give up?
• How long can I be chased for a debt?
• Can debt be written off?
• How do I apply for an IVA?