Private Loan with Ex - Witnessed by Solicitor

Tinkerbell666

Hello Everyone

I'm just after some advice...... 4 years ago I was in a relationship with a guy..... We had high hopes... but unfortunately it fizzled out. My parents had just divorced and my Dad had some money from the house sale.... and offered to lend my partner £15K to get rid of his debts. My Dad, partner and myself went to a solicitor who drew up a piece of paper saying that the money was given to my partner and it was signed by him, my dad and witnessed by the solicitor (who actually said at the time that it wasn't really worth the paper it was written on).

The thing is.... the money was transferred from my dads account.. into mine (never my partners and we didn't have a joint account)... and I paid off his debts from my account..... looking back it didnt total the complete £15k... it was maybe around £14K...... he paid it back £500 per month until he was made redundant.. then payments dropped to £300 per month and then to £100 per month... he paid off about £6k... but has been made redundant 5 times within the past 10months (so I hear as he now has another partner and has moved on etc...)..... he is currently saying that because his financial situation has been so rubbish over the past 12 months he's not in a position to start paying again... as with his redundancies his bills were behind etc.. and he is trying to get himself straight blah blah.....there was never a time limit on the letter at the solicitors etc..... do we have a leg to stand on to enforce it? Would the letter that was signed stand in court?

Thanks in advance for your help! Any info would be much appreciated!!

chalkie99

Tinkerbell666 wrote: »

a piece of paper saying that the money was given to my partner

Is that what you really mean?

dougyd

Hi there,

It's very important that you have the correct wording from the contract up here. If (as the poster above has eluded to) the paper says 'giving' then it really wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on, as it wouldn't be a debt but a gift.

Tinkerbell666

Sorry - Yes I mean it as in terms of 'lending'.... not giving him!... I am in the process of trying to find the document after moving house.....

foxwales

If he signed the peice of paper, then it constitutes a legally binding contract, how he repays the money is solely down to the original agreed terms.

If he is in financial difficulty at the moment, give the guy a break, if he has been made redundant that many times, how demoralising for him.

Don't kick him in the nuts while he is down, give him some time and then pester him for repayments.

If he is not prepared to repay the debt at the moment, then you will have to enforce this through county court.

zzzLazyDaisy

foxwales wrote: »

If he is not prepared to repay the debt at the moment, then you will have to enforce this through county court.

the balance owed is over the limit for the small claims court (capped at £5,000) so your father would have to go to the county court, which will be more expensive. The court/legal fees would be added to the debt owed by your ex, but that wouldn't help much if he has no money, and no assets.

Before your father does anything, though, he should write to the ex pointing out that he agreed to pay £x per month and he has defaulted on the agreement, and that he is required to bring the payments up to day and maintain regular payments in the future as agreed, otherwise he (father) will have no alternative but to demand repayment of the debt in full. Again, this is of limited value if the ex doesn't have the money.