Making an offer

[steampowered]

Might video conferencing be an option? Have a read of https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/video-conferences and see if the county court dealing with your case is on the list.

 

Otherwise I guess you could always try to submit a witness statement if you can't be there in person (although that may or may not be accepted by the judge).

 

I guess it all doesn't matter anyway as I can't afford a lawyer and I can't afford to travel to the UK (and can't anyway as I have small children and I'm a single parent). The judge has given me a week to do one or the other or will enter a default judgement. There goes any chance I have of giving my children a stable home.

CAG is hopefully able to provide you with help, however, if you want to receive input you will need to provide more details - such as what the particulars of claim says; what your defence says; what the judge actually said at the hearing; what hearing this was (I assume a case management conference?) etc.

 

they consequently were not trying to settle the case as requested

You have the option of trying to settle the case with the other side yourself, if that is what you want to do. You can put forward any proposals you have in a letter to the other side headed 'without prejudice save as to costs'.

[Guest iolande]

No. My parents in law gave my husband a gift towards a house over ten years ago. When we split up they flew him to the uk, came up with some handwritten IOU that purported to be from the orifginal time, took him to lawyers and got him to sign that it is a hard loan and put a charge on our property at the land registry. They then proceeded to sue the both of us to reclaim their loan. They are multimillionaires and know that I am a stay at home mum. I have plenty of evidence this is a sham (emails etc). The judge did ask their solicitor if they would allow me to videoconference and their solicitor said no. The hearing was a pre trial. Unless I can find someone to act for me in the next couple of days they will get a default.

[Guest iolande]

Btw there is no way they will settle.

[martin2006]

Did you sign anything purporting to being a loan or is this IOU just signed by your husband?

[Guest iolande]

Its just signed by him, pre-dating the marriage. I've always been told it was a gift, but apparently this was their 'insurance policy' in case any future marriage broke down

[honeybee13]

Hello again iolande.

 

As you're short on time, steampowered really needs the information they asked for in an earlier post. If you could provide the answers, I imagine they'll be along later.

 

CAG is hopefully able to provide you with help, however, if you want to receive input you will need to provide more details - such as what the particulars of claim says; what your defence says; what the judge actually said at the hearing; what hearing this was (I assume a case management conference?) etc.

 

HB

[martin2006]

Its just signed by him, pre-dating the marriage. I've always been told it was a gift, but apparently this was their 'insurance policy' in case any future marriage broke down

 

Well if theres no agreement in writing, signed by yourself, then it cant be considered a loan as there should be a vehicle for paying back set out in some form of contract.

Much in the same vein as a dca without a CCA agreement to enforce!!

 

I personally would be defending on the basis of no paperwork/ no debt. The case seems vexatious in nature with no chance of success.

 

Their "insurance policy" seems flawed to me unless theres much more to it than that.

[Guest iolande]

The court is on the videoconferencing list. The judge asked the other solicitor if they would consent to letting me appear via video link and they said no, so he said no. The property is only in his name and they did give him the money. I only have matriomonial home rights on it. The hearing was the pretreat hearing and I was given until Wednesday to organise representation or to arrange to turn up myself. The claim is to repossess the property to recover their loan. Two weeks notice was given before a court application was made. I'm not sure what else steampowered is asking for

[Guest iolande]

No repayments or interest or even discussion beyond avoiding inheritance tax was ever made on this "loan"

[Guest iolande]

Would you like to read the claim steampowered? Is there a way of sending it via message?

[martin2006]

You could simply post the text if the PoC here, there are some experienced team members here who could advise

[martin2006]

One more question iolande, is the property in the uk or australia?

[steampowered]

That's a tough situation. Hopefully you can reclaim your legal costs if you are able to get a solicitor or barrister to attend the hearing. I'm a bit surprised the judge said no to video conferencing - I'd usually suggest filing an N244 application formally asking for this, but depending on exactly what the judge said this might not work.

[Guest iolande]

He said no deal as I'd have to question the witnesses etc

[Guest iolande]

I have about 2k maybe 3 to pay a barrister. I just don't know if I could get one that cheap and how to go about it

[Guest iolande]

They say it will only take two days in sussex

[Guest iolande]

Claim form just says for mortgage arrears

[steampowered]

I have about 2k maybe 3 to pay a barrister. I just don't know if I could get one that cheap and how to go about it

You can search for a direct access barrister here - http://www.directaccessportal.co.uk/search/1/barrister

 

2k-3k is a tight budget but you may well find a junior barrister able to do it for that. Assuming the claim has not been allocated to small claims track (for claims less than £10k) you should be able to claim legal costs back from the other side if your claim is successful.

Edited May 10, 2016 by steampowered
typo

[Guest iolande]

awesome, thank you

[steampowered]

Sorry, a typo in my last post ... I meant to say that you can usually claim legal costs if you win and the claim is above £10k (i.e. it has not been allocated to the small claims track).

[martin2006]

This one gets even better, are they saying it was a mortgage but you have never signed anything regarding a mortgage?

And therefore have no contract of any outstanding debt re a mortgage that does not exist in your name?

[Guest iolande]

At this late stage, what would be the advantage of hiring a solicitor v hiring a barrister direct?

[Guest iolande]

No contract in my name. Never signed, saw or agreed to anything. They are claiming it pre existed the marriage and no one told me

[steampowered]

At this late stage, what would be the advantage of hiring a solicitor v hiring a barrister direct?

Solicitors are better positioned to deal with all the preparation, paperwork, client care and so on that comes with litigation. Some solicitors will also do representation in court; sometimes that will get farmed our to barristers.

 

Barristers are much more focussed on representing people at court hearings and not a great deal else, although they can also draft court documents.

 

It sounds to me that what you really need is just someone to represent you at the upcoming hearing, and you are also on a tight budget, so you may well be better off going straight to a barrister for this one.

[Guest iolande]

Thank you steampowered.