Lodging a defence Scotland

[Laurdo]

My DH's ex is taking him to court over money she believes she is owed.

He had to attend court last week for the diet and was told he had 14 days to lodge his defence. He is self representing as he can't afford a lawyer and has already spent a substantial amount on legal fees. The court clerk told him to go to citizens advice and they would help him lodge his defence. He went and they said they were unable to help and told him to get a lawyer.

I called the court and they told me to read the ordinary cause rules which I'm currently on the process of reading however there's pages and pages of it.

Has anyone had to lodge a defence when they were self representing and could give me some pointers to help him?

The defence doesn't need to be fancy - just a summary of why the money isn't owed along with any proof (receipts, text messages etc that may help).
Courts aren't a scary place; with a decent amount of evidence to the contrary he should be fine.

Thank you. Last week was his first time ever being in a court. He's usually quite a confident person but he did find it quite daunting. Thankfully the hearing is being done over video call so it won't be as daunting.

We're 99% confident she doesn't have a case and previous lawyers have said the same thing. There's always that little niggling worry though. This has been ongoing for 3 years now with regards to lawyers letters. Hopefully this will be the end of it one way or another.

If you Google

Style defences Scotland

You will get as first result

Party litigants guide ordinary actions

A 31 page guide to representing yourself including how to write defences.

You need to take each statement in the condescendence and admit, deny, or not know and not admit.

what was the outcome op?

Court case is this week.

We drafted something pretty simple and to the point without going into too much detail.

I called the court to confirm how we lodge the defence, email in person etc. They gave me the email address to send it to and said it can also be handed in in person.

My DH dropped it off in person as he was worried an email would get lost.

Hopefully the whole facade that's been dragged out over 3 years will be done and dusted by the end of the week.

How did you get on?

Been postponed 2 weeks because the other lawyers complained that DHs paragraphs in his defence weren't numbered.