getting the money my ex owes me

monstermuncher

Long story short:

Ex husband is currently living in Australia. We agreed for speed that when the house was sold they'd transfer it all to his account and he'd transfer my share, but then he never did. The only method of contacting him that I have is an email address which he doesn't reply to.

I've looked into doing Money Claim Online, but you need an address which I don't have. His Mum had power of attourney for the sale of the house, and I know her address. I wasn't sure if I should claim against her, or claim against him and use her address.

We don't have solicitors (didn't bother because I thought I could trust him!) and this has been dragging on for months, the house was sold in November, he hasn't responded to any attempt to contact him since the beginning of December.

I know he has access to the money (he's taken the brilliant step of blocking me on facebook, but not changing the log ins for his online credit card management, genius that he is) I think the not replying to any attempts to contact him is worse than the money side of things.

I still find it very difficult to come terms with his sudden change of character after being together for 11 years. I can't control that, but I'm sure as hell not letting him get away with ripping me off as well. I've tried other things, but I do feel like I'm running out of options now.

newcook

whats your relationship like with his mom? would you be able to ask her for the address?

Teddy_KGB

Only problem with contacting his mum is that she might be fully aware of what he is doing and you are probably best keeping her in the dark of what you are planning to do, can you really trust her?

What about getting a private investigator to track him down, then get on the next plane to oz and cut his ******** off if doesn't pay up?

monstermuncher

I thought about that, we got on well while we were together but it's been over 2 years and we've had no contact.

Plus he will have been giving her his side of the story, whatever that is (he was always a liar if it made him look good), so I doubt we'd get on now!

I contacted a mutual friend and asked him to pass a message on, saying that if he didn't get into contact with me I was going to report him to the police for theft, and with pending legal charges it could jeopordise his residency in Oz. I'm not a cruel or malicious person and he knows that, so no doubt he knew I wouldn't go down that route.

I just want my money and to get on with my own life, I've no desire to mess up his.

Plus if I get an address that's Australian, will a UK court deal with it?

Maybe I should have a desire to mess his life up? He's got no qualms about doing it to me!

monstermuncher

Teddy_KGB wrote: »

Only problem with contacting his mum is that she might be fully aware of what he is doing and you are probably best keeping her in the dark of what you are planning to do, can you really trust her?

What about getting a private investigator to track him down, then get on the next plane to oz and cut his ******** off if doesn't pay up?

I like that idea! :beer:

I can't afford a private investigator, and not entirely sure the best way to go about things. I've got a friend who knows somebody he used to work with, she's going to try to get the company that he works for. If I can get that, I can get a phone number. I'll ring him every day until I get a satisfactory response. He'll have to reply then out of embarrassment.

NAR

monstermuncher wrote: »

We agreed for speed that when the house was sold they'd transfer it all to his account and he'd transfer my share, but then he never did.

We don't have solicitors (didn't bother because I thought I could trust him!) and this has been dragging on for months, the house was sold in November,

Have you anything official in writing to say that he would transfer your share? Without this you could be wasting money trying to chase him for anything, especially if he denies any such agreement. A solicitor would have been beneficial to draw up the agreement.

monstermuncher

I've got an email from him saying he'd agreed a lesser amount (which I dispute) but the house was in joint names.

The email is proof that he's agreed something and then done nothing for 4 months, so it's obvious he's trying to rip me off, it's just the amounts we disagreed over.

clearingout

You may struggle with the courts accepting e-mail as proof as it is pretty easy to tamper with e-mail - you can add and delete anything you want to before printing it. My barrister wouldn't accept an e-mail from my ex's accountant saying there was no value in the business for this reason.

If there's no legal agreement in place and he's spent the money, you might struggle to get anything. If he still has the money or you don't know, I would think a free half hour with a solicitor to discuss your next move would be the most sensible thing to do.

NAR

A solicitor will also give you a view on the legal standing of the email. I would also try CAB for advice.

sjc3

I would also recommned contacting CAB. Bet your ex thought all his pay days had come at once when the whole of the proceeds from the house was transferred solely to him :eek:. No wonder he scarpered to OZ.

Hope you will manage to sort it out. If you both paid equally into the mortgage and put down the same amount as a deposit then it should be a 50/50 split of any equity. Can you prove this?

I wish you luck.

Caroline_a

Let me get this straight. You divorced without solicitors. I guess at some point there was a reason for this divorce, but surely you have friends/family who have been through divorce? Did you not think at some point that, actually, when you go through a divorce the other person no longer gives a damn what happens to you?

And as far as all the money for the house going into his account 'for speed', that's bonkers! Surely you had in principle at least agreed as to what the split would be? and at no point did you think to take any sort of legal advice about this?

if you're not a troll you're either very naive or very stupid! I think you're going to be very lucky to see any of that money again. Wise up, he's probably spent most of it now, and unless you have proof that he was to give half of the money to you then it isn't theft, as you would both have had to agreed where the payment was to go with the conveyancing solicitor.