Ex wife opened my mail and hid a CCJ from me

Joely1483

Hi,

I’m new here but could really do with some advice!

I separated from my wife a year ago and it’s not been pretty as I’m sure many splits aren’t.
I had all my mail redirected although it seems to be quite hit and miss (although I wasn’t aware not everything was getting redirected)

During a reference process for a rental property I was asked why I hadn’t disclosed an address that a CCJ was registered to 1 month ago. I haven’t lived in that address for 6 years.

I had no knowledge of this CCJ so decided to ask my ex wife knew anything about it (maybe a joint CCJ).

Now comes the issue......

The easiest way is to transcribe the conversation we had

Me: Have you had any letters about debts etc? Because I’ve just found out I have a CCJ

Ex: “I know you have a CCJ”

Me: How?!

Ex: I opened a letter because it said bailiffs were coming because of a CCJ, so I sent it back and told them your new address

Me: how did you know the bailiffs were coming before you opened it?

Ex: well ok I didn’t, it was a brown envelope so I thought it was serious.

Me: opened any other brown envelopes?

Ex: no that’s the only one

Obviously it was slightly longer but that’s the general conversation. It’s pretty clear letters went to her house about the CCJ that she opened and that’s how she knew the bailiffs letter was coming.


So my issues are these:

1) Can I get the CCJ removed? I didn’t know about it?
2) How do I go about that? I have no details about what the CCJ was for or which court or date etc?
3)Can I take legal action against my ex? She intentionally opened and hid my mail from me to cause me to get a CCJ.

Any help would be amazing

Thanks

Willing2Learn

The first thing you should do is to email the court to identify the creditor, so that you can determine whether the debt is, or is not yours. In lots of cases, the CCJ turns out to be for a parking ticket...

From your transcript, there does not appear to be any evidence that your ex deliberately prevented you from receiving the pre-action protocol letter. That would have forewarned that a CCJ was imminent if you were to take no action. She retuned the CCJ letter to the sender, notifying them of your new address, which is the correct course of action.

Edit: And welcome to the forum

boo_star

Joely1483 wrote: »

1) Can I get the CCJ removed? I didn’t know about it?

If you didn't inform your creditors of your new address, almost certainly not. "Not knowing about it" because you moved and didn't update your address with them is not really seen as an acceptable reason for a set aside.

2) How do I go about that? I have no details about what the CCJ was for or which court or date etc?

https://search.trustonline.org.uk/Search/Person will give you some details, for full details you'd need to speak to the court that issued it. Note that as said before you're unlikely to get this set aside if you didn't tell your creditors of your new address and unless you've got an actual defence to the claim you're going to be throwing good money after bad.

3)Can I take legal action against my ex? She intentionally opened and hid my mail from me to cause me to get a CCJ.

Opening mail that drops through your letterbox is only an offence if it can be shown that you intended to act to the intended recipients detriment. From the sound of it that's not the case, she returned the mail to sender which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do in the circumstances.

Joely1483

Thanks for the replies,
She said she opened it and returned to sender telling them my new address but I would question why I haven’t had any correspondence at my new address if she did that?
Does that mean she can open every letter incase it’s from a bailiff?
The CCJ is registered to an address from 6 years ago (moved 4 times since then)

I would have paid the debt had I know about any court action etc. Could I not get the chance to pay the debt?

Thanks again

boo_star

Joely1483 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies,
She said she opened it and returned to sender telling them my new address but I would question why I haven’t had any correspondence at my new address if she did that?

Maybe they ignored it, returning letters from debt collectors and the like as "Not at this address please return to sender" is likely to be a common tactic and probably gets ignored.

Does that mean she can open every letter incase it’s from a bailiff?

Given you've had a CCJ registered against you and a bailiff threatogram already I'd say she's well within her rights to open mail in case it's from a bailiff, DCA or other creditor. I can't imagine you're getting anything else after all this time that is "personal" anyway.

The CCJ is registered to an address from 6 years ago (moved 4 times since then)

If that's the last known address that the claimant has for you it doesn't really matter.

I would have paid the debt had I know about any court action etc. Could I not get the chance to pay the debt?

You do have the chance to pay the debt, in fact you should do it as soon as possible. If you mean can you pay it and get the CCJ removed, almost certainly not unless you can show that the claimant knew your current address.

MovingForwards

Contact the court and they will give you a the detail/send you a copy. The court claim number is listed on your credit file.

If you pay it in full you have to apply to the court to have a certificate of satisfaction, but need to provide proof it's been paid. Your credit file then gets marked as being satisfied, the CCJ drops off your file 6 years after the date it was granted.

If you want to apply to set it aside it costs £255 with no guarantee it will be.

How much is the judgement as under £400 tends to be a parking ticket. Over that is a regular debt.

Did you inform everyone you had moved? Have you failed to pay anyone?

Your ex isn't nice and could have let you know!

Willing2Learn

Joely1483 wrote: »

I would have paid the debt had I know about any court action etc. Could I not get the chance to pay the debt?

The CCJ is only automatically removed from your credit files if you can pay within 30 days of the judgement date. From what you have said, it appears that those 30 days have already lapsed. In that case you need to consider whether you have a reasonable defence. You don't want to be settling a CCJ, if the original debt was not yours!

You need to establish whether the original debt is yours, as you appear to be unsure what it could be for. Find out who the creditor was first, and then you can establish the facts from there.