american express, CCJ's, cautions, help!

Parisian

Guys, any advice would very much be appreciated, I am going crazy here.

A quick explanation of the background: My mother and father married in 1973. They bought a house together in 1975. My father went into business, had some troubles, and this liquidated in the 80's. He also appeared to have gathered some personal debt with a well known company (detailed below). My parents had a legal separation in 1987. My father has since passed away in 1999.

My mother is now elderly and unwell, and we are trying to sort out her home and affairs. She went to the citizens advice bereau recently, for advice on moving out of her home and into assissted accomodation. They realised from the land registry documents that there were two cautions in favour of this company. She was unsure of the details of them (secondary to her now being more confused), and so the CAB rang the company to ask them (!), and told them my father had died. This seems to have activated the company into pursuing the debt, and we have since received a letter asking for an amount of £966.22 and details of his estate/executor of his estate. However, I spoke with the companies solicitor and gathered that this solicitor did not seem to be aware of the two cautions on the property.

I have since rooted around for the paperwork from the company in the 80's and found a few things:

1.My father received a strongly worded request for payment of £1177.57 in May 1983.
2. He received another request for £1545.27 in August 1983.
3. In January 1984 a letter stating they had entered into judgement against him in the Liverpool District Registry for £1545.27 + £81 costs.

The two cautions I mention are both for the same company, one in December 1985 and the other March 1986.
I have managed to find one document from the land registry detailing the caution in March 1986 - that the property has been charged with £1943.89 in Harrow County. I do not have any documents regarding the caution in 1985.

A few questions:
1. I'm confused about the amount they are pursuing now of £996.22, and what this related to? Maybe the 1985 caution? Why have they not asked the about the 1986 amount in favour of 1943.89? Or have I got this all totally wrong?
2. Why does the solicitor not seem to know about the cautions?
3. Is there a way of finding out the caution amounts?
4. Could the 1986 caution of 1943.89 now be larger?
5. How should I handle this on behalf of my mother?!!!

Any advice, anything at all, would be so very appreciated. Thank you.

FireWyrm

Bump.....waiting for someone with more experience, but while we're here.....

1983? They didn't exactly move themselves did they? So, your father is dead and assuming that your mother is sole beneficiary, frankly, I suspect they can go whistle for the money. If they havnt bothered to get off their lazy backsides until now, then I suspect it's statute barred, it's not yours anyway and assuming a single signature, it doesn't belong to your mother either. However you need expert legal advice, which I strongly advise you to obtain.

dancingfairy

Hmm - o.k so there is 1 possibly 2 CCJS?
1 CCJ has had a charging order (restriction?) put on the property - the other we are not sure about.
To find out about CCJ's you can search the registry trust website - I think it is about 8 pounds(?) and you can check with regards to the CCJ's although whether there is any merit in this I don't know - you know one exists - it's more the charging orders that are going to be the problem.


O.K so you need to know what charging orders/ restrictions were put on the house and when.
You will probably need to dig back to the divorce (if they predate this) to see what if any mention is made of them then.
A solicitor should be able to find details of the charging orders but I'm sure you can do it yourself - I think this might be on the registry trust website as well.
The absolute worst case scenario is that your mother will have to repay the charging orders from the proceeds of any sale (if they were put on the house she recently lived in).
I would also search for a thread on here that explains the difference between charging orders and restrictions. Whether this should have/could have been resolved in the winding up of your father affarirs I'm not sure.
National Debtline should also be able to provide you with help and assistance.

Any CCJ without a charging order etc will be way out of time for enforcement (the creditor has 6 years to enforce the judgement) - after which time they have to go back to court and get it re-authorised by a judge.
df

dancingfairy

Further thoughts - National Debtline have factsheets on loads of stuff so I'd be surprised if they don't have one on charging orders etc. I believe that interest of 8% can be charged on a charging order (but not 100% sure on this).
It might be worth shelling out 6 pounds - 2pounds per credit report for your mum from all of the 3 main credit referencing agencies.
Before paying American Express anything I would demand to know what they were chasing and why - if they get stroppy/difficult you can do a subject access request (SAR) on them which costs 10 pounds and means they have to supply you (well your mum) with every scrap of information on her - I'm not sure how this relates to the fact that the debt was in your father name though. It may be that they don't have records going back far enough in which case it's going to be a right mess to sort out but there may be some scope for negotiating with them to settle the charging orders (restrictions) - IF she is in fact liable (which I have to confess I have no idea on - sorry).
df