Can i complain?

KMK

My sister is going though a difficult divorce, especially with the financial settlement.She has been offered a very poor settlement by her husband on a "settle or I go to court" notification.

My brother and I are willing to pay her costs, as she is unable to do so, and I sent her a private "heads up" email to tell her this, along with some advice about what could help her case in court.

My brother- in -law read it, then forwarded this private email to his solicitor claiming that I was "intimidating" him by offering to pay her court costs.Then his solicitor sent it to my sister's solicitor, although the email was clearly addressed to my sister and not to him,repeating the same accusation of "intimidation" by me.

Can a solicitor,in the full knowledge that a private communication/letter has been intercepted by their client, read it, copy it and send it on to a 3rd party? if not,what can I do to complain?

Tigsteroonie

When you say that you sent your sister a private email, how did your brother-in-law come to read it? Does he have access, knowingly or otherwise, to her email account?

KMK

Yes he has access via a phone which she had given to him months ago which she has tried to disable, but cannot do so unless he agrees to give her back the phone. He refuses to hand it back.She has involved her provider but unless he returns the phone, she can't do anything to stop it.

That is what i understand anyway.

BrassicWoman

She can change the password on her email account!! Then the phone won't sync it.

Also she can open a new gmail account or similar for confidential correspondence.

onwards&upwards

Is it an iPhone?

onomatopoeia99

KMK wrote: »

Yes he has access via a phone which she had given to him months ago which she has tried to disable, but cannot do so unless he agrees to give her back the phone. He refuses to hand it back.She has involved her provider but unless he returns the phone, she can't do anything to stop it.

That is what i understand anyway.

That sounds completely wrong.


She should change the password on the email account.

74jax

KMK wrote: »

That is what i understand anyway.

Tell her to change the password on everything. FB, insta, email, banks etc. No apps will sync. Let him keep the phone, it's not worth it.

Pollycat

KMK wrote: »

My sister is going though a difficult divorce, especially with the financial settlement.She has been offered a very poor settlement by her husband on a "settle or I go to court" notification.

My brother and I are willing to pay her costs, as she is unable to do so, and I sent her a private "heads up" email to tell her this, along with some advice about what could help her case in court.

My brother- in -law read it, then forwarded this private email to his solicitor claiming that I was "intimidating" him by offering to pay her court costs.Then his solicitor sent it to my sister's solicitor, although the email was clearly addressed to my sister and not to him,repeating the same accusation of "intimidation" by me.

Can a solicitor,in the full knowledge that a private communication/letter has been intercepted by their client, read it, copy it and send it on to a 3rd party? if not,what can I do to complain?

What has your sister's solicitor said about it?

KMK

My sister has now changed her email address so we hope he will no longer be able to access her messages by phone.This happened before she was able to do that last week.

I just feel that his solicitor has crossed a line here by not only reading my private message to my sister but then sending it to a 3rd party without my knowledge or consent.I am unsure about whether this is unethical conduct.It certainly feels like it!

Marvel1

KMK wrote: »

I just feel that his solicitor has crossed a line here by not only reading my private message to my sister but then sending it to a 3rd party without my knowledge or consent.I am unsure about whether this is unethical conduct.It certainly feels like it!

Your sister is to blame for not changing the password.

Nicki

No it’s not unethical conduct by the solicitor to do this. However if you have not done anything illegal in your email you have nothing to worry about. If you have conspired to fabricate evidence or conceal assets however or offered to lend money in return for a cut of the final settlement, these are all relevant issues to put before the court and you would be advised to get your own legal advice in that case