Court Action over a gift

AnnieO1234

Hi everyone,

I hope I'm posting on the right board but if not please let me know where's best/admins move somewhere appropriate

I've never posted on this particular board from what I remember but I'm a forum regular elsewhere.

I'll try and keep this as basic as possible. Essentially a friend (with various mental health issues) was taken to court for what was a gift. She never attended court. She has paid £100 of the original "debt" claimed as £120 + court fees etc.

The claimant has not accepted her offer to pay £10 per month and it is now due in court again in January as the claimant is seeking recovery by bailiffs.

My feelings are that the Claimant gave a gift to Sally and Kevin, but he has also pursued Sally for its return. I believe that I could have got the claim struck out if I had known about it when it first raised it's head. But I'm not sure what the current position is as, in effect, Sally has admitted (to some degree) that she somehow owes this money. She doesn't currently have a social worker assigned which would have been my next step to contact. Things are little hairy now to say the least and unfortunately the situation is doing little for her mental health.

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For more detail carry on reading (name's changed for privacy):

Sally and Kevin went away on holiday to Turkey with two of Kevin's work friends, Keith and Simon. (I believe that Kevin, Keith and Richard often went on lad's holidays as it were so Sally was something of an interloper to their group). None of them are particularly well educated and suffer with varying mental health issues.

While in Turkey, Richard gave Sally and Kevin £100 for "food" as they Sally and Kevin discovered they couldn't afford to go out etc for the remainder of the holiday. Richard additionally paid for Sally and Kevin to go to a spa to the tune of £20.

Fast forward the rest of the holiday and the return home and Richard began to demand the money back from Sally. Richard even sent letters to Sally's neighbours making a variety of accusations etc. Richard then issued in court (approximately 12 months ago now). Sally didn't attend court and instead sent a postal order to Richard for £100.

Richard continued to pursue Sally and it now has a court date as described above where he has not agreed to Sally's application to pay £10 per month. To make matters more complicated Sally hasn't filled in the court forms correctly in regard to income and expenditure. Sally lives with Kevin in a council property in Kevin's sole name. Neither Sally nor Kevin work due to disability.

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Thanks in advance!

Ax

firesidemaid

you're right, it's complicated lol.......


but if I have understood it correctly - £100 has been repaid by postal order, so why oh why is the person taking them to court??


presumably there's no evidence of the 'loan' or the repayment?

AnnieO1234

No evidence of money passing from claimant whatsoever as a loan/gift or otherwise; evidence of postal order however with proof of posting. I believe he continues to persue court fees, plus the remaining £20.

sourcrates

So in effect there is £20 outstanding plus court costs.

Ring national Debtline, number below, ask there advice.

I can see a judge throwing this out as a waste of court time.

firesidemaid

doesn't the small claims system make people use their mediation service first before anything can go ahead?


I would have thought that would have sorted this out.


sounds like someone needs to attend in January and explain the whole thing - if not in a letter to the court in advance.


it's not like she hasn't paid most of it back even though she thought it was a gift - I appreciate she might not even have taken the money if she had known otherwise.


in theory she owes £20 - plus it's one word against the other. it should never have come to this! I know you know that lol

sourcrates

Has this been posted before ?

Something about it seems very familiar ?

fatbelly

If he claimant already has the judgement, why is this going to a hearing in January? You don't need a hearing to instruct the court bailiff to act on a judgement that hasn't been complied with.

Has 'Sally' made an application to vary the order to an instalment arrangement? Sounds like a lot of wasted effort on everyone's part.

National_Debtline

Hi Annie


This sounds like a molehill that has become a mountain. It does seem there is an element of vindictiveness or malice in Richard's efforts to recover this debt - the use of bailiffs is rather ridiculous for a balance of this size. I am assuming that the balance Richard is reporting to the court reflects the £100 postal order payment?


Is Sally in a position to send through any payment towards the remaining balance at this stage, regardless of Richard's refusals?


I would recommend that you or they seek advice from one of the debt charities directly, as this thread throws up as many questions as it does answers.


Dennis
@natdebtline