Re fast track county court

[wannabestressfree]

I wrote not long ago about my mother giving me/loaning me some money to pay a debt to a builder and changing her mind after a couple of weeks and now deciding to take myself and my partner to court. I need some more advice if possible
Main bits are though....
Money was leant to pay builder. Have helped her financially a LOT.
I wrote on a scrap of paper 'you can have it back when I have got it'
Money went into my partners account not mine.
He was not privy to anything other than my mother saying 'I want to help' and putting it in writing.
Mother than decided a. Another cheque she had written me had been altered- Barclay's even said they had made a mistake and she was now worried I could never afford to pay her.
She started walking into my house shouting and frightening the children. Sending five page letters to our work (we are teachers) and then solicitors letters.
It is now going to county court.
I have admitted I owe her the money (as I do) have been paying her back. As soon as I told my siblings this she stopped the money.
My partner has defended the claim. It has been allocated to the fast track.

We need help. As he is disputing the claim does he have to go to mediation. She is a narc. I gave my financial details to her solicitor and she photocopied and gave them to my sibs. My brother who works in finance has been in both my and my partners credit files.

We Don't know what to say on this form..there is/ are no expert witnesses. Just pages of ranting and her word against his. We are just not sure what to say.

Any advice would be hugely welcome.

[wannabestressfree]

Hopeful bump

[SparkleSoiree]

So what is your actual defence?

[wannabestressfree]

Well I haven't offered one. I sent my financial particulars and an offer.
My partners is that he didn't sign anything to say it was a loan, assumes it was a gift and that's what I led him to believe.
It has quite literally torn our family apart.

[wannabestressfree]

Just to add the money was paid into my partners account. I never saw it.
We Don't live together and I rent.
It's just horrible.

[amarmai]

since your p got the money ,is your m suing him? Are you separated from your p? How did the money go into his account? There cannot be an expectation /belief on his part that your m wd give him this $$, so if you say in court that it was a loan for the builder and that he knew that and give a reason why the money went into his account, will he not have to give it back? Why are you paying it back if he has the money? You need legal advice .

[wannabestressfree]

She is suing us jointly.
I have never lived with my partner. The building work was so we could live together as we have children at home.
She paid into his account after asking for his account details.
He paid the builder with it. The reason it was given in the first place was that he had exhausted every avenue to borrow more cash -used the money he dad had left him, borrowed it etc. He was so depressed and she wanted to help.
He had done lots for her eg tiled and RE plumbed her house pre sale.
I have admitted I owe it as I do. I asked and signed the paper. He didn't know about it..

[wannabestressfree]

I know I need advice but I just can't afford it.

[Shutthatdoor]

So you have admitted the claim and your DP has not admitted and so is defending?

What is he defending on the grounds of. Does he not believe you owe the money?

[wannabestressfree]

Yes that's right.
In all honestly he sees it as a something I very much did behind his back. He thought I should have contested it too but I am not well and morally I do owe it.

[wannabestressfree]

I suppose he needs to call me as a witness and I need to say that in court..
Does he need to offer mediation if I have already accepted liability?

[wannabestressfree]

Bumping hopefully for advice.

[Shakey15000]

Crikey that's complicated. I'm not a legal bod in any sense. What does your solicitor say?

I guess (without any expertise and probably incorrectly) that as you didn't technically receive the money your partner could argue that he believed it to be a gift? But in any case, why can't this be sorted without going to court? It sounds very extreme.

I hope it gets settled for you

[wannabestressfree]

I Don't have one. I have been using various legal sites and citizens advice.
No one has approached us with regard to settling before this fast track letter. I have said I will pay and sent my offer and heard nothing.
I suppose my question was if you are denying liability do you still agree to mediation? One half of the claimant (me) has already admitted it so does he need to? She very much 'wants her day in court'....

[amarmai]

your p is in effect stealing your m's money and you providing him with an excuse/alibi by saying you went behind his back. Even if that is true ,that is between the two of you and irrelevant to the fact that he used her money . Your m will need to go to court to recover her money as he has no intention of repaying it.

[SparkleSoiree]

Additionally the burden of proof is less in a county court than other courts:

The Burden of Proof.
As the Claimant, you will need to prove your Case. Your Claim is a Civil Case and as such only has to be proved on the ‘balance of probabilities’, i.e. If it's more likely that your version of events is true, then the Judgment will go in your favour. This is a lower form of proof than in a Criminal Case which must be proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. (Taken from [http://www.howtotakesomeonetocourt.info/joomla/explaining-the-small-claims-process.html]

Have you got time to obtain a free legal appointment via your CAB?

[gingeroots]

It does sound complicated and awful .

Can you email or write ( send recorded) to mother setting out that you accept you owe her money ,how much you've payed her back/how much you're offering to pay back by installment .Keep copy to show if it comes to court .

I think the court will expect all other avenues to be exhausted ,eg mediation before it comes to a hearing .I don't know this ,just think it from googling .

Some solicitors will offer 30 mins free consultation so it's worth ringing round .If you're in London I could suggest one .

Good Luck .

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

Right, so your mum loaned you money. You were aware of this, but your DP was not. You had the money paid into your DPs bank account. Did you ever discuss where that money had come from? Did he know that it was a loan?

Are you currently making payments? Were you making payments before your mum took you to court?

Are the payments all that you can both afford, or just you? When you send your income sheet, did you include his income?

From what you've said, he seems to believe that this was a gift from your mother, whereas you imply that you knew it was a loan all along.

Your partner could attend mediation, but as he is denying that the money was a loan, he wouldn't be expected to agree a payment plan. You could, as you are accepting that it was a loan.

Your defence here will be interesting because you could undermine each others' cases. Essentially, you are saying that it was a secret loan that you had paid to his account - did you have plans to pay it back? Was it intended to be paid back in one go, or in payments, and if in payments, are you paying the correct amount or are you now paying less?

His defence would be that he wasn't aware that it was a loan, and wouldn't have accepted it if he had. If this goes in his favour and he can prove it satisfactorily, he may not be liable for further payments. That would mean that you were liable for the whole amount. In reality, it'll hit you both anyway - he'll be expected to cover more of the household costs so you can make repayments, if you have separate incomes, and the payments will be calculated from your household income if not.

[wannabestressfree]

Amarmai he is not 'stealing' it at all. My partner is a quiet man who has never done or said anything to anyone.
My mother and father were married a long time. 30 years and they were both horribly abusive. Without outing myself the stories I could tell would shock you including one where they stole from my brother (aged 16) and told him they had CCTV footage I had done it. It was only he knew it wasn't physically possible that he believes me (the person had to know the pin)
They have stolen my cheque book when babysitting and charged me petrol when I was dying in hospital for petrol.
They split and the house was sold.
I have helped her numerous times.... she remarried within a year. She is terrible with money.
I met my partner years ago..we Don't live together due to us both having children at home and my son being mentally ill (I had a long running thread on it)
Due to the awful things that happened to him we took the hospital to court.... it's a long running case and that's how I was paying her back. My partner paid barrister, experts etc that's why money was tight.

She was happy to wait until we fell out.
I have been paying £50 a week until she stopped it - you can see it on my bank statements.

There was no fraud she just changed her mind. I admit I owe it. I have offered to carry on paying until settlement. He wasn't there nor privy to anything.

[Shakey15000]

But either way, why won't your partner agree to pay it back? Especially as you concede it was a loan. He's against you otherwise and must KNOW it will increase tensions between you and your mum. Though quite why you're in contact with her, never mind borrowing money off her, is beyond me after what you've written

I don't see how she can be suing anyway, being as you're repaying it. And your scrap of paper (how did that come about??), as Judge Rinder would say, is open ended. As in no fixed term.

I'm not sure we're seeing the whole story here though?

[wannabestressfree]

We are non contact since the day she instructed a solicitor. I have neither spoken to her or seen her.

I appreciate it's non fixed term but she has still done it.

We literally have no other available means to borrow money or he would and I am worried about him. He is undergoing diagnosis of copd and has fragile mental health as it is.

She stopped the payments into her account. I will put the offer in writing again as I have not heard from her solicitor.

I Don't Care about coming out as the bad guy. I already am.... my family is at each others throats. He is not at fault. I am.

If there is anything else I can answer please message me. I need to be careful due to being outed.... it's difficult.

[wannabestressfree]

All.my siblings have gone non contact for long periods of time with either her or my dad (he is schizophrenic)
I always kept the peace, walked on egg shells, leant money when I couldn't afford it, sent countless abusive messages, etc I could go on.
I could have argued the point and disagreed with the county court but I cannot face bullying mediation with her..so I owe it, I will pay it etc.

[NotDavidTennant]

You may get more relevant help if you post this under Legal matters rather than Money matters.

[wannabestressfree]

Thank you .....

[wannabestressfree]

Bump

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

If she's not allowing you to make payments normally, get proof of that, and start posting her cheques for the agreed amount. Take a photo of each cheque and keep proof of delivery. It doesn't matter if she doesn't cash them - you'll be able to show that you tried to stick to the arrangement which will help you, especially if she has legal representation and you don't.