County Court Jurisdiction

Oldernotwiser

I've just received a claim form from the County Court; I've been living abroad for the last 5 months and could prove this. Does anyone know whether I can contest the court's jurisdiction on this basis? Thanks

hev_2

It depends on a number of things.

Were you living in England or Wales when the agreement was made (or the event that led to the County Court claim)?
Is the claimant based in England or Wales?
Is there any clause in a relevant agreement that says that any disputes will be dealt with under English Law?

You can sue someone who has lived in Germany all their lives (or Scotland - same problems because different legal system) as long as you quote the right part of the County Court Act on the claim form. It is, however, more practical to use the local legal system.

If it is a divorce, to be able to proceed either husband or wife must have been in England for the last 12 months.

Would contesting jurisdiction help - you could be sued from a different venue and still be served by local court bailiffs.

HTH

Oldernotwiser

Thanks for your reply. The claim is for a debt owed to HFC and I was living in the UK two years ago when I took out the credit card.

I believe that a debt can, at present, only be persued in a foreign country if there is a CCJ in place from the original country or unless it's sold on to a local DCA.

tyllwyd

On this payplan page, the 'I am living abroad' link implies that you can be chased abroad
http://www.payplan.com/frequently-asked-questions/debt-in-general.php

Oldernotwiser

tyllwyd wrote: »

On this payplan page, the 'I am living abroad' link implies that you can be chased abroad
http://www.payplan.com/frequently-asked-questions/debt-in-general.php

But I'm not trying to hide from my debtors as I've offered payment that I can afford. I'm trying to avoid getting a CCJ, which is quite different.

hev_2

Some of this information may be out of date, but AFAIK none of the rules governing this have changed.

I am speaking as someone who years ago worked at a County Court (please don't flame me. I always tried to do my best for every person. I have also worked at MacDonalds and I say that there isn't much between them). We were not legally trained, so please correct me if necessary and check before you rely on anything here.

Two issues. Let us assume that someone is living in Scotland. Legally that is a foreign country with a different legal system.

1. You can get a judgement against someone living in Scotland by just going through the normal county court procedures here, getting a judgement here and then sending it to Scotland to enforce it. That person living in Scotland never needs to have visited England in order for the judgement to be made. The person claiming should live in England or Wales and on the claim form they have to quote bits of the relevant Act - can't quite remember it but used to be able to rattle it off. So where you were living at any time is not relevant. HFC based here can issue a claim here, pursue it to judgement and then send it after you to enforce. The only difference between serving someone in Glasgow and someone in Bristol is that the time allowed for service is different.

2. If you think that it is more effective, you can proceed against the person in Scotland through the Scottish system which I know nothing about. It will largely depend on the local system for jurisdiction - for example in Scottish Law do you have to be resident for a set amount of time before anything can be issued?

Jurisdiction will not usually stave off a CCJ. Are they definitely going to pursue that? It may be an empty threat because if the debt is under £5k and not regulated by the Consumer Credit Act then all interest stops and they can be at the mercy of the court when it comes to setting payments.

First of all - good luck with HFC. I hope you manage to convince them to accept realistic payments without the need to go to court.

Second - if you do get stung with a CCJ then immediately badger away to get manageable monthly payments. Ask at the Court for information. Most of us were happy to help.

Hope this helps