county court judgement

bebop

advice please, after a family breakup i returned to sender all of my daughters letters including now what turns out to be a county court judgement. as soon as she became aware of the matter when applying for a mortgage she settled the debt of approx £150. This judgement was about 6 months ago i think, can i tell the judge she did not know anything about it as i feel responsible and don't want to ruin any chance of our reconciliation, any advices please.

meer53

Wouldn't think so. If that worked, lots of people would use it as an excuse. If your daughter wasn't living with you anymore she should have had her mail redirected really.

bebop

i understand but if i were willing to swear i returned it the judge should believe me, i really must try.

Quimoi

meer53 wrote: »

Wouldn't think so. If that worked, lots of people would use it as an excuse. If your daughter wasn't living with you anymore she should have had her mail redirected really.

Sorry but that's not correct.

If she genuinely did not know of the proceedings then she can apply to have the judgement set aside.

She needs to send an N244 form to the court which issued the CCJ along with a statement supporting the application explaining why she did not know of the proceedings against her.

I've gone through this in the past when court papers were served to an old address and in that instance the judgement was set aside. I don't know whether her paying/admitting the debt in the meantime will affect the magistrates decision though...

Edit: CPR 13.3 which covers where a court may set aside a default judgement:
(1) In any other case, the court may set aside or vary a judgment entered under Part 12 if – (a) the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim; or
(b) it appears to the court that there is some other good reason why –
(i) the judgment should be set aside or varied; or
(ii) the defendant should be allowed to defend the claim.
(2) In considering whether to set aside or vary a judgment entered under Part 12, the matters to which the court must have regard include whether the person seeking to set aside the judgment made an application to do so promptly.

You'll need to look at what the CCJ was for and whether she could satisfy the test of whether she 'has a real prospect of defending the claim'. Frankly though, in my case, the magistrates never even asked me about how I intended to defend the claim, I simply had to show them when I moved out of the property that the claim was sent to and swear that I didn't know about the proceedings.

N244 form: http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n244-eng.pdf

meer53

For a CCJ issued 6 months ago ?

Quimoi

As long as you apply for the set aside 'promptly' as soon as you become aware of it then yes.

fermi

Was she living at your address at the time you returned it?

bebop

no she was not living at my address

fermi

OK, if she had moved an not informed the creditor of her new address it would be more difficult.

As she was at the address it was sent to, but you intercepted it preventing her from knowing of it, then she would have ab better shot.

meer53

fermi wrote: »

OK, if she had moved an not informed the creditor of her new address it would be more difficult.

As she was at the address it was sent to, but you intercepted it preventing her from knowing of it, then she would have ab better shot.

She wasn't living at the address though ?

fermi

Oops. Misread.