Small claims court advice please

[LpPp]

Brief outline: Ex and I seperated in 2011, he has made it very difficult throughout (harrassing me, being abusive to me in front of the kids, taking drugs/excessive drinking in front of children etc) . As a result, I had to take out injunctions to protect myself and the children at beginning of December (which he has broken 4 times), and he has not seen the children since. He has made an application for contact, it hasn't really gone his way and both him and his family are becoming increasingly bitter.

My ex-mother-in-law contacted my solicitor (ex and his family are not allowed to contact me in accordance with his bail conditions) saying that he wanted some belongings back (dvds, dumbells, a washing up bowl etc!) and that she wanted my TV and micowave back because she supposedly lent them to my ex, and has the receipts for them in her name. I bought both from my ex sometime after we seperated. He bought the TV off of his Mum, then realised it was too big from his lounge, a few weeks ago my TV caught fire so he sold me his TV. As part of the deal he pushed me into letting him buy himself a new TV from my Next account which he would pay me back for and unsurprisingly he never did! The microwave is one that he bought from his Mums catalogue, and then he briefly came home (for a week!) and bought it with him, when he left again he left the microwave behind and as I wasn't at home at the time he took it upon himself to take £100 out of some money that I had the cupboard to pay for it! I asked my solicitor not to respond to ex-mother-in-law as she is representing me on the family law and injunction matters only, and because I would be charged for her conversing with her.

I hope that makes some sense!

Anyway, today I have come home to a letter from Money Claim Online, Nottingham County Court- she has now filed a claim against me for the return of 'her' microwave and tv, or £300! She claims that she bought them for her son (with no explanantion as to how they ended up in my house when we were seperated), and that she has asked me for them back and I have ignored her. It says that she will provide me with 'seperate detailed particulars' within 14 days.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do next? Is there any chance that I could win this at the small claims court? Would the court take into consideration the back ground to this case and the real reason for her making this claim?

Thank you in advance!

Judge Judy anyone!?

You cannot get good ownership/title from a thief usually. So if they were hers she is entitled to get them back and you have a claim against her son.

it is a bit like if you bought a stolen car and paid - the true owner can turn up and claim it back. Here the son sold you a TV he did not own which was owned by his mother and she now claims it back.

You could write to the mother in law setting all this out in the hope she will settle it and you might try to prove she never owned the TV and her documents are fake (if they are). It would end up as her word against yours I suppose. Her son could be called to the court hearing as a witness.

Either pay up or write a defence - but do everything exactly within the time limits given by the court otherwise she will win the case and be able to send in bailiffs to claim goods from your home worth that value.
Perhaps email your ex about it too as clearly he is the one at fault.

The bottom line is that son appears to have stolen from mother and mother is now claiming back what are her rightful goods and your claim is against son. In theory if there were £100k at stake you would bring the son into the legal action as a third party and claim against him. You could certainly do that at this small value of money too - in effect you would add him to the case and be bringing a claim against the son and it would all be heard on the same day at a short hearing before the judge. So you would write your defence to the claim and I think apply to bring the son in as another party being sued but best to speak to a solicitor, although it is such a small sum it makes that uneconomic I suppose.

Find an identixal microwave on ebay or gumtree. Print out as many 'completed sales' as you can find.
Offer to pay her the cost it sells for. That is the value of what she has 'lost' - a second hand microwave.