Relationship breakdown - deposit for wedding

saintscouple

Hi,

I'm after some opinions in regards to my sons dilemma,

He was in a relationship with a girl and due to wed this November, however the relationship broke down and they split in February this year.

The father of his ex-partner had paid a deposit for the wedding venue and the caterers, and for the past 6 weeks has been sending my son demands for him to pay that money back.
(there is no written agreement that he was going to pay the deposit back even if they did wed)

My son ignored these letters, but today has received court letters where there is a claim for £4k, this includes interest. My son has 14 days to submit a defense.

I've advised my son to take all letters and this document to a solicitor for them to deal with but he's afraid he won't be able to afford their fees.

Does anyone have any advice on what he should do, or the chances that he could be liable for this money? As for me until he received the court letters today, it seemed a lot of hot air and there is no way that this money could be made enforceable.

LilElvis

You are more likely to get useful replies if you post in the Consumer Rights board - ask a mod to move your thread there.

The first port of call for the father should be to the venue and caterers as the deposit could well be reclaimed from them - there is no automatic right for them to keep it, but only if they can't resell their services for that date.

Marvel1

Is this the full 100%? If so seems very cheeky that the Daughter pays nothing and interest!

tensandunits_2

Is the father holding your son entirely responsible for the relationship breakdown, then?

justme111

If there was no written agreement with father then I would have prepared my own defense which would consist of a statement that there was no agreement (neither verbal nor writren), that it was a nice gesture of him to pay for it which I regrettably can not benefit of and I do not consider myself liable as a result.
Liase with court , do some Internet searches.
Causes of breakup irrelevant.
If it was a loan than morally he would be responsible for 50% of a loss but with abscence of paperwork not legally , he could just dispute it was a loan.

PasturesNew

It used to be that if you were dumped you could sue for "breach of promise".

Who did the dumping?

If he did the dumping, then he should pay it all.
If she did the dumping, then that's her tough t1tty (although it depends why she dumped him as it could've been for cheating, drugs, whatnot).

So, the bill belongs at the feet of the person or persons "responsible" for the wedding not occurring.

This is a moral issue .... where the one with the least morals paying.

In English law this would now be dealt with as if they had married and therefore had a shared debt - specifically because it is an issue regarding money and a previous engagement.

iammumtoone

I think you need professional help with this. If she was content to go ahead with the wedding and he dumped her then morally he is liable, if it was a mutual agreement to split it should be 50/50, However whether this is claimable by law is where you need the help.

I would also be asking for evidence that the father has tried to get his money back from the venue and caterers as he has to mitigate his losses.

Could he see a solicitor for advise but do the leg work himself this would work out cheaper than the solicitor doing everything.

pinkshoes

saintscouple wrote: »

Hi,

I'm after some opinions in regards to my sons dilemma,

He was in a relationship with a girl and due to wed this November, however the relationship broke down and they split in February this year.

The father of his ex-partner had paid a deposit for the wedding venue and the caterers, and for the past 6 weeks has been sending my son demands for him to pay that money back.
(there is no written agreement that he was going to pay the deposit back even if they did wed)

My son ignored these letters, but today has received court letters where there is a claim for £4k, this includes interest. My son has 14 days to submit a defense.

I've advised my son to take all letters and this document to a solicitor for them to deal with but he's afraid he won't be able to afford their fees.

Does anyone have any advice on what he should do, or the chances that he could be liable for this money? As for me until he received the court letters today, it seemed a lot of hot air and there is no way that this money could be made enforceable.

What was the agreement for paying for the wedding? Who was paying for it?

And as above, WHY did the relationship break down? This will have quite an impact on who should "morally" be responsible for paying.

If the deposit for the wedding was a loan, then he should pay his half and offer half the money.

As he hasn't already done this, I assume it is because either the FIL was offering to pay for the wedding, or it was the partner who ended the relationship, in which case he felt no need to pay. If this is the case, submit a defence stating such.

It is quite hard to advise on this matter without further information.

Gloomendoom

Presumably, the father's solicitor must believe that there is a reasonable chance that the claim will succeed. They will have only heard one side of the story though.

Pollycat

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Presumably, the father's solicitor must believe that there is a reasonable chance that the claim will succeed. They will have only heard one side of the story though.

Maybe the Father has done the claim himself instead of engaging a solicitor.

Marvel1

PasturesNew wrote: »

It used to be that if you were dumped you could sue for "breach of promise".

Who did the dumping?

If he did the dumping, then he should pay it all.
If she did the dumping, then that's her tough t1tty (although it depends why she dumped him as it could've been for cheating, drugs, whatnot).

But what if If he did the dumping, for her cheating, drugs, whatnot