PRH47 Help! Q re de-registering court order

[BrianAndHisBalls]

Hello

I've had help on this section before over my exh and wanted to know if anyone can tell me what he's up to now!

We had a court order which he hasn't paid (its for school fees). Arrears are now £4k+

I had help on here and registered it with the magistrate's court from the county court where it was originally.

Apparently the court case was yesterday. The magistrate's have ordered that he pay me the £4k+ but not set any time frame. The lady I spoke to today said they'll contact him for the full amount within 14 days.

But, she also said he's requested a form to 'deregister' the order. I have no idea what this means and she seemed a little vague too. She said he fills in this form, sends off a payment and makes a case not to pay the arrears.

I said to her are you sure he's not trying to stop the cpurt order going forward (ie continuing) rather than get out of paying the arrears but she said no its the arrears he wants to 'deregister'

This has me totally how can we have a county court order, and now the magistrates have ruled in my favour yet he can still 'deregister' it? On what grounds could this happen? I should say, he's a solicitor himself so I think he's playing games but not sure what or how!

Any advice from any solicitors out there would be more than welcome.

He can apply to have the judgment set aside if it was a default judgment (i.e. there was no actual hearing - it sounds like that's what you've got) on a number of grounds, including having already paid the debt, having acknowledged service within the time limit, having entered a defence within the time limit or having sent in the reply form within the time limit asking for more time to pay. If he can show that any of these apply the court has to set aside the judgment. The court may also set aside the judgment if they think he has a real chance of defending the claim or there is some other good reason for setting the judgment aside.

This does not affect the court order for school fees. It only affects the judgment for the arrears.

If he manages to get the judgment set aside it will be removed from the register. However, it doesn't mean that you lose the claim. It basically winds the clock back to the start of the process, allowing him to put in a defence or make a counterclaim.

hi prh47, you've helped me before thank you

The lady on the phone said there was an actual hearing and he turned up at the court. Does that mean it must have been an actual hearing rather than a default hearing? And if so are the reasons above still reasons?

Honestly this is all such a nightmare, he's owed the money for over a year and didn't respond to various court letters but it doesn't seem that there's any deterrent for just ignoring them.

He's definitely not paid the money already so it can't be that. What does having acknowledged service within the time limit mean? If it just means he sent a form back acknowledging the court then that seems mad that I'll have to start the whole thing over again. Won't he just keep acknowledging it then?

If he's sent a defence in shouldn't the court have sent it to me to look at?

The lady said the magistrates registered the order against him, it seems really weird that he can then 'deregister it'.

Sorry for all the questions and thank you again for your help.

ps. Will I ever actually get this money do you think?

I'm getting a little confused by all this. You say that "apparently" the court case was yesterday, which implies you didn't know in advance. You then say that there was a hearing and he turned up at the court. How did he know the hearing was taking place?

If he acknowledged service within the time limit, it means he sent back the form saying that he had received the court papers. If he did the courts should not have entered a default judgement against him. There should have been a full hearing, allowing him to present his case.

Equally, if he sent a defence the court should have sent it to you and there should have been a full hearing.

In either of these cases the court should not have entered a default judgment, which is why it can be set aside.

If there was a full hearing, he could still apply to have the judgment set aside if he can show that the hearing took place in his absence and he had a good excuse, there is an error in the judgment or the hearing didn't follow court rules.

So basically, assuming he is asking for the judgment to be set aside, he is saying that something went wrong with the process and he should be given a chance to argue his case in a full hearing. If he succeeds in getting the judgment set aside, the next step will be that he can put in a defence or make a counterclaim. There will then be a full hearing. As long as the court agrees that he owes you this money, they will then enter judgment against him. Whilst he could apply to have the new judgment set aside he would be unlikely to succeed.

Thank you for answering all my questions, its really confusing what's been going on.

The magistrates court told me that I didn't need to go to the court hearing, that they'd hold it and then send me a letter telling me the outcome. I said to them at the time 'are you sure I don't need to attend' and they said no they didn't need me. He would have known of the hearing because they were going to send him a summons to attend court i think they said.

I rang again a few weeks later and they said as soon as the case was heard they'd write to me with the outcome.

I rang today to see what was happening and they told me that the hearing was yesterday, that exh had turned up and that the magistrates had registered that he owed me the money.

She then said that he'd taken a form to 'deregister' the debt (?) and that he had to pay a fee to do this and put an argument forward and then when (if) he does they'll send me that argument to answer.

Thank you for spending your time to help me with this, I really appreciate it. I find it hard with him being a solicitor and me not!

UPDATE - And no, I still haven't got a clue what's going on!

Had letter this morning saying that the order has now been registered with the magistrate's court.

Says the amount £xxxx, 'lump' (i presume this means to be paid in a lump sum) and 'the maintenance order made in your favour has now been registered in this court. When payments are received from the respondent they will be sent to you.'

No mention on any 'deregistering' but I assume that would come in a different letter.

I'm still at a loss as to the deregistering as he definitely attended court and they definitely told me they didn't need me to.

I've spoken to the court again and apparently he's taken the forms to 'vary' the order. His defence is that he's been paying the csa £35 a week (his net salary x 15%) and therefore doesn't need to pay the court order. The court order is totally separate and nothing to do with the csa. CSA is child support and the court order is half of school fees.

Anybody out there could help? I think he's just messing around so that he doesn't have to pay. Frankly he's wasting court time because he's a solicitor and knows how to 'play the system'

That is no defence. A court order for school fees is separate from maintenance paid through the CSA. He is still liable. He is wasting everybody's time.

prh47 - tell me you're a fit single man? I want to marry you

Just in case you need this information, your order regarding school fees will have been made under the Child Support Act Section 8(7) and is therefore additional to any maintenance collected by the CSA.

My wife tells me I only meet one of your three requirements I'm afraid!

thank you prh47, I really appreciate all the time you've given me over this. Seriously its really nice of you, thank you.

I'd always thought you were a woman (sorry)