No it was not. The case was heard and awarded by a Master at a court.

Thanks! I'm going to give the application for setting aside a try. And you are right I might only be proloning it if they take action against where I'm resident now.

They didn't seem to need to show the UK court that the papers were served before they applied to get a default judgment against me. How could they have? I haven't been in the country for 3 years... I'll give the application to set aside a try with the wording above. I only have £80 to risk. I don't think I can ask to recover costs for a set aside.

On another note... I think I finally managed to track down the court fee for filling a N244 - £80 And I guess I'll have to post them cash in an envelope as getting a Sterling postal order over here is I'm pretty sure impossible.

So what happens once they are granted permission to serve out of jurisdiction? Will they be able to get a UK default CCJ against you if you don't reply or acknowledge service? I read on some form that filling an acknowledgement of service was submitting to the UK court even if out of jurisdiction.

Cerberusaleter: I can't seem to find any reference after reading the 'The Civil Procedure Rules 1998' that CCJs can't be obtained against non UK residents. One of the claim orders that was emailed to me indicated: it is order that: 2. Permission to the Claimant to serve the Claim Form, Particulars of Claim, Response Pack, Order for Service out of Jurisdiction and a copy of this Order by inserting the same through the letterbox at (some address where I haven't lived in over 3 years) pursuant to CPR 6.15 A subsequent order modified item 2 above to serve the docs by email as I guess they discovered that I didn't live there anymore. I didn't receive the email until several months after the fact as it isn't an email I use often. Do you think it's enough to put: 'I respectfully request that the court set aside the above referenced judgement on the basis that I am not a UK resident and did not receive the original claim notice dated May XX, 2011 in a timely manner'.... and then some further evidence proving that I haven't been in the UK for several years. Cheers, Oliver

Hello, Firstly I'd like to say thank you for the existence of this forum and for the people posting here. I've read a number of questions and replies and have found them very informative. I too have a question. I've found myself in a similar situation to Skyluke82 albeit with slightly different circumstances. In 2008 I incurred a large amount of debt and have been paying it off monthly ever since ensuring not to miss a payment. Over the years I'd been asked if I could pay more each month but given my circumstances I informed them I simply wasn't able to. Fast forward 4 years... I just happened to check an old email account which I had used back in 2008 and rarely check any more. Lots of spam and useless email as one would expect but then I noticed an email from a UK law firm this November containing a letter and a PDF scan of a default judgement against me! The court judgement (in default) dated this November says: It is therefore ordered that you must pay the claimant £ 30,xxx.xx for debt [and interest to date of judgment] and £500.00 for costs less £3500.00 which you have already paid. I have a few issues with this. 1) I've never been served a summons for this claim 2) I haven't lived at the address stated in letter for over 3 years 3) I haven't lived or set foot in the UK since the winter of 2011 4) The last email statement in November from the company who is apparently suing me shows a balance owing less than £23,000 5) The letter from the Law firm is asking me to acknowledge receipt of their service by email. I didn't think email was an acceptable method of service? 6) One thing I really don't get is why the company decided to down the legal route if I was already paying off the debt? I was paying it off in good faith and to avoid a situation exactly like this. So my questions are: 1) How do I go about asking the court to set this judgement aside based on the fact that the amount claimed is not correct and that I'm not a UK/EU resident and wasn't at the time of the alleged service (when ever that was?). Is there a way to do this online, by post, or do I need a UK lawyer? 2) If successful with setting aside, what is the company likely to do? Will they be able to take action against me where I live now? Do I need to tell the court where I live? or can I just inform them that I don't live in the UK/EU? What if I decided to move to the EU in a couple years? 3) If unsuccessful with setting aside, what can I expect the company to do? I note from cerberusalert's post in the thread Can I be sued for an Overseas Debt - that they can enforce a UK CCJ through reciprocal agreements. Should I move to a country without reciprocal agreement? What can I expect the company to do against me in the UK? I don't have any assets in the UK apart from a bank account with less than £100 in it that I use now and again to top up my UK sim card. Will they garnish my UK account or freeze the account? Will they garnish the account to the full extent of my over draft - ie: should I cancel my overdraft now? What about my UK credit card can they get to that and max it out? Note: The claimant is not the company I have bank accounts which is the case of SkyLuke82 (the original thread poster). 4) I am now outside the UK/EU so does the Data Protection Act protect the transferring of my details outside the EU if a UK CCJ has been awarded? I was reading in another thread about the tactics of Australian Debt Collection Agencies and Barclaycard (UK) debt. 5) With regards to the term 'submitting to the jurisdiction of a UK court' doesn't one do that when they sign a credit agreement in the UK? or is that rather in the case of accepting a UK court summons or order? 6) Any other suggestions or advice? Thanks, Oliver

how to save line feeds? ah. got it now.