Ex Colleague owes me money, can i send court papers to his Sister's house?

Saffypig

MalMonroe said:

Saffypig said:

I lent a Colleague money, had done before, he always paid back, but he's been sacked and still owes me money, so is ignoring my calls, obviously his work email is offline and i don't know his address.
However i do know his sisters, as she has a very unusual name, and lives in a town i have family in.  
Can i send court papers to his Sisters house, as 'care of' does anyone know?

Is it a large amount?

And was it an official loan?

Is there any proof that you loaned him the money, or is it just your word against his? (If you manage to contact him, that is.)

That is to say, do you actually have a case that would stand up in court?

You could only send papers to his sister's house if that was his own permanent address too.

I have bank details and transactions, i also have whatsapp messages relating. So yes i have proof per se.
He lives up north somewhere, so no his Sisters house is not official.  It seems to me, if i cannot find an address for him, then i cannot progress anyway. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Saffypig said:

macman said:

You need to send an LBA before you send 'court papers'. Judges take a dim view if you go straight to the small claims process. Same requirement though: sending to a relative's address won't be sufficient at all and your claim will be thrown out at the outset on grounds on non-service.

Ok, thanks, didn't know that.  The way i have to contact him will be via linkedin messaging, so that will have to suffice.  But i obviously have his bank details, so I'll have to employ a tracing agent to see if i can get an address. I assume i cannot file at all without any address for him?

That's correct. If you know where he's now working, it shouldn't be hard to find out where he's now living.  The question is, how much effort are you prepared to put in?  What's the debt?

Thrugelmir

If the debt is sizable and warrants the cost. Use a tracing agency. 

macman

You cannot serve any legal paperwork via LinkedIn or any other social media platform! You must find his physical address.
Even if you obtain judgement in your favour, that does not mean you will ever get the money back, you may have to employ bailiffs at further cost, and without any guarantee of recovery. 
Does the amount owed really justify the upfront cost to you?

bris

Use a track and trace service, there a loads of them about and a few do a no track no fee policy.

You can also use a professionals called process servers, they will also try and track them but if they fail they can apply to the courts to have the papers served in their absence (last know address for example). Using professionals means there is no excuses to have the courts set aside a verdict for non delivery in person.

So yes you can move forward but it all depends on how far and to what expense you want to go.. 

Undervalued

Saffypig said:

I lent a Colleague money, had done before, he always paid back, but he's been sacked and still owes me money, so is ignoring my calls, obviously his work email is offline and i don't know his address.
However i do know his sisters, as she has a very unusual name, and lives in a town i have family in.  
Can i send court papers to his Sisters house, as 'care of' does anyone know?

As other have said, no you can't.

Obviously we don't know the amount involved (or the whole story) but there is an age old saying "never sue those who can't or won't pay"!

Yes there are steps you can take to enforce judgement (assuming you get one) but they are not always successful and will invariably cost you money if they fail.

Another problem with a personal loan is proving (on the balance of probability) both that it was a loan in the first place plus, if even some repayments have been made, that you didn't make the rest into a gift and / or that you had agreed to extend the loan when he fell on hard times. 

No easy answer.

Saffypig

macman said:

You cannot serve any legal paperwork via LinkedIn or any other social media platform! You must find his physical address.
Even if you obtain judgement in your favour, that does not mean you will ever get the money back, you may have to employ bailiffs at further cost, and without any guarantee of recovery. 
Does the amount owed really justify the upfront cost to you?

It's a grand, so i have no idea, as i've never need to go down this path.  Happy to put the grunt work in, but if it costs me 500 quid, then no point, if it costs me100 quid, sure give it a bash

bris

Undervalued said:

Saffypig said:

I lent a Colleague money, had done before, he always paid back, but he's been sacked and still owes me money, so is ignoring my calls, obviously his work email is offline and i don't know his address.
However i do know his sisters, as she has a very unusual name, and lives in a town i have family in.  
Can i send court papers to his Sisters house, as 'care of' does anyone know?

As other have said, no you can't.

Actually; you can it was brought into law in 2011 with a landmark case where court papers were served on Twitter.

Apparently it's done on Facebook a lot, again you need a Process Server who can do it on Social media if all else fails.

Oh and you can add reasonable expenses to the claim, I would assume using a process server would be classed as a reasonable expense considering they are going to great lengths to be hidden.

But just remember getting a judgement default or otherwise doesn't mean he will pay, so it's a risk whatever you do.

user1977

If he's had to borrow money off colleagues, and since been sacked, what makes you think he's got enough now to repay you?