Blackmailing ex partner wants my house or else

breaking_free

TBagpuss wrote: »

I would recommend that you speak to a solicitor.
Are you divorced, and has there been a financial settlement? If not, get that sorted ASAP.
He refuses to divorce me as he thinks there's still money to be made from me. We've been separated for more than two years now.

Have you reported the threats and abuse to the police? If not, do that now. Even though the police may not be able to do anything if he is in Ireland it will create a record of the threats.
Already done thanks.

what were the circumstnaces in which you recorded the threats / blackmail? Generally speaking you cannot make use of recorded telephone conversations unless the other person involved with the call was aware they were being recorded, so if your ex cals again, let it go to voicemail rather thanpicking up the phone an then recording him.
He knows he is being recorded and even states during the call that he knows I'm recording.

Your dad could take advice about what sort of sums might be involved if your ex were to sue him. Given that your dad was convicted of assault and sent to prison it must have been a fairly serious assault, and the criminal conviction would be sufficient evidence of your dad's responsibility as the criminal standard of proof is higher than the civil one.
I agree with this. However I am not taking my exe's threat to sue my father all that seriously as he's simply using this threat to instill fear in me - he has a LONG history of doing this

The amount of compensation would depend on the severity of the injury and how long the effects lasted, whether your ex had any subsequent losses as a result (e.g. loss of earnings)


A personal injury siolicitor would be able to give your dad some advice about what range of damages might be awarded. Obviously how much he would be entitled to would depend on a lot of factors but unless he was severely scarred or injured then I'd be surprised if he would be entitled to anyhing like 4/5 of the value of your house (unless your house is of very low value!), so even if he caries out his threat you may do beter to get the hosue sold and then to give or lend your dad some money in the event that your ex dpoes sue him, if you feel that is fair.

Another way of looking at it is that your dad made a bad choise to assualt someone and having to pay comepnsation to the peson he injured is one of the cosequeneces of that choice, and is not your responsibility.

Fully understood and I agree with you. As I've mentioned above though, the ex really has no interest in paying out money to take a civil case against my dad. He just wants to upset me. What he does want is my house in Ireland. He believes the house, and ME, to be his property. He is an abuser and this is the way abusers think.

Mojisola

Guest101 wrote: »

Not really, a letter before action is:

"Give me money or i'll take you to court", which is what he's saying.

and a LBA is part of pre-action protocol for civil cases

But selling him the house at a massively discounted price wouldn't remove his option of taking the father to court.

It's not like settling a dispute over a car sale that went wrong.

breaking_free

Guest101 wrote: »

Not really, a letter before action is:


"Give me money or i'll take you to court", which is what he's saying.


and a LBA is part of pre-action protocol for civil cases

Well firstly it's not a letter, it's a series of phone calls.
Secondly, after being interviewed by the police this morning the officer has assured me there is more than enough evidence to arrest him for breaking the restraining order. The blackmail is a separate issue that the officer can't comment on.

breaking_free

Mojisola wrote: »

But selling him the house at a massively discounted price wouldn't remove his option of taking the father to court.

It's not like settling a dispute over a car sale that went wrong.

Quite so, and thank you for pointing this out.

Guest101

Mojisola wrote: »

But selling him the house at a massively discounted price wouldn't remove his option of taking the father to court.

It's not like settling a dispute over a car sale that went wrong.

It would if it was made clear that it was an out of court settlement.


The financial payment being the 80%

Guest101

breaking_free wrote: »

Well firstly it's not a letter, it's a series of phone calls.
Secondly, after being interviewed by the police this morning the officer has assured me there is more than enough evidence to arrest him for breaking the restraining order. The blackmail is a separate issue that the officer can't comment on.

The principal is the same.

He couldn't comment on it because it's not blackmail...

I'm ignoring the restraining order as that's straight forward.

breaking_free

Guest I think you are missing the point of why this is blackmail.

1. My father commits a crime against my husband.
2. My husband tells me that unless I sell him my house at a discount he will sue my father.

How is this not blackmail? Horrid as it sounds, he can take action against my dad if he wants, but why is he threatening to take money from me for something my father did?

breaking_free

Let me put it another way.

I say to you, Guest 101, your father has committed an offence against me and I'm not happy about it. I want you to give me lots of money and then I'll leave your father in peace. However, if you don't pay up...

missbiggles1

Quote
"He refuses to divorce me as he thinks there's still money to be made from me. We've been separated for more than two years now."

You should be divorcing him, not the other way round - he doesn't need to agree to it.

Guest101

breaking_free wrote: »

Guest I think you are missing the point of why this is blackmail.

1. My father commits a crime against my husband.
2. My husband tells me that unless I sell him my house at a discount he will sue my father.

How is this not blackmail? Horrid as it sounds, he can take action against my dad if he wants, but why is he threatening to take money from me for something my father did?

Hes not threatening to take money from you. He's saying that he will take action against your father, but is willing to accept a discounted rate on a property as an out of court settlement.


Your father can then owe you the money.


He has made an offer, its up to you if you choose to decline it. If you do he sues your father, it's simple (and its civil!)