Vexatious Ex. Letter before action trying to force house sale.

[OakAshSycamore]

Hi there,
My ex has instructed a solicitor who has sent a letter before action forcing sale of my house.

Background, we were together for 4 years although we never lived together or shared bank accounts. He was a considerably higher earner in comparison to me, director of a business, think high 6 figure salary, dividends, shares, very generous benefits package. I am a single mother with a disabled child, working part time and caring, as such I fall within the low income bracket.

He was very very generous with his money, insisting on paying for things and never mentioning repayment throughout our relationship. I often felt uncomfortable and pressured by this dynamic like he had the power in the relationship because I had few resources. He would say things like, by investing in you I am investing in our future. I bought a house with my divorce settlement and he offered to cover the shortfall via a financial gift, all legally drawn up with the solicitor and mortgage company.

I now see that his behaviour was what is termed as love bombing or 'white night' behaviour designed to keep me dependent to him while he wielded financial control over me. Lots of red flags became apparent at the latter part of our time together there was a lot of harassment, aggression and manipulation. I finally saw the light and ended things after a very scary incident which frightened myself and my children and I could see we were unsafe with him. He took my ending the relationship very badly and there was months of abusive messages and threats. Lots of look at what I have done for you, given you etc, I am subsidising your lifestyle type thing.

Fast forward to now, I have received a threatening letter from his solicitor forcing sale of my property (which is in my sole name) on the following basis.

Our Client also contributed a substantial amount to the purchase price. This
money was not provided by way of a gift to you but was paid on the understanding that our Client would have an interest in the property.
Our Client therefore has two potential claims under TLATA, namely through a resulting trust
(contribution to purchase price), constructive trust (intention) and can also ask the Court to
assess his rights under proprietary estoppel as he has relied on promises that the property
would be held jointly and he has acted to his detriment (in providing the lump sum and monies

I have copies of the legal gift letter that was issued by the mortgage company and witnessed by the solicitor. I am so confused by this, the financial gift for the property forms 75% of his financial claim against me. He must have omitted telling his solicitor this surely?

What is my best approach in response to this. I don't have any savings, I know that his calling card is to manipulate and intimidate.

The longer this drags on, the longer OP will have this stress in her life. Getting back at her ex by wasting his time and money, comes with a downside that really isn't worth it, in my experience.

How do you think the solicitor will learn of the existence of this letter if OP doesn't share it with him? Who else do you think will give them a copy? Let me give you a clue. No-one will. Unless OP shares it, her ex's solicitor won't know about it. And withholding her ace card at this stage could end up with OP having to pay some of her ex's legal costs.

@dontletmedownbruce

The letter is not an”ace card”

Sharing it is not “doing the solicitors work”

You’ve watched too many court room dramas with gotcha moments. RL is not like that.

There’s a real, albeit small, risk associated with not sharing it.

I wrote, ‘IF this ends up being what the threatened legal action rests on.’

That’s (rather obviously) how the solicitor would learn of its existence.

So you’re saying it’s not the work of the solicitor to untangle the facts of the terms and conditions (ie none) of how this sum came to be paid to the OP??

In a case like this, this is exactly the solicitor’s woek.

Considering a solicitor has responded on this thread, and to you, I think OP would be well advised to follow their simple and very clear instructions.

No, it isn't. The solicitor takes instructions from their client. If the client says the money was a loan and there is nothing to indicate otherwise, they will proceed on that basis. They don't have to conduct their own investigation to find out if their client is telling them the truth. And I still have no idea how you think the ex's solicitor would find out the truth if OP doesn't share this letter with him. Yes, he will eventually find out if it gets to court as OP will certainly have to share the letter then, but if she waits that long she may well find herself having to pay some of her ex's legal costs.

Except that this is a letter written by the ex. It’s not the OP’s secret that she’s withholding from the other side; it’s a letter the other side wrote and signed. They already know it exists and what it says. (The solicitor stands in the shoes of their client. It’s not the OP’s job to educate the solicitor qua his client.)

if the other side doesn’t present all their own relevant documents to the own solicitor, that’s not the OP trying to take advantage.

She can present the letter to the court, but I don’t see how she can be faulted for not sending it back to the person who wrote it.

Your contrary opinion welcome, as always.

I am not saying definitively that she would be held responsible for any of her ex's costs. Given that he should know he signed the letter, I don't think she should be. But I wouldn't take the risk.

i think you are confident that the other sides solicitor will see the letter and persuade their client to discontinue the claim, which is what the OP wants, yes? If that’s the outcome, that by itself is sufficient reason to send it.

Okay. Once again… the solicitor can only proceed to action on the basis of the facts at hand, together with the instructions of his / her client. If the client has been dishonest about the facts to hand, the solicitor will discover this if and when the case progresses.

This sounds like hot air in any case and an attempt to intimidate OP. Proprietary estoppel cases are all so varied and irregular and usually fall outside the normal scope of casework. It’s hugely expensive to pursue proprietary estoppel for this reason and probably not worth the ex’s time, depending on the sum that was gifted.

It’s really not.

I’m not a solicitor but as in-house counsel I work with them pretty much every day and have a passing acquaintance with what their work entails.

Unless the OP discloses the letter how else do you imagine it will come to light?

I think i responded to a similar question further up the thread, ie if action is taken and the case rests on the letter.

But I can’t believe the ex would seriously pursue such expensive, high-risk proceedings, especially when he will likely lose. The letter before action will not have cost him much at all - it’s just to put the frighteners on OP.

But what do you mean by “if action is taken and the case rests on the letter”?

You seem to be under the impression that the solicitor will perform some sort of investigation (how?) and the letter will materialise. How do you anticipate that will happen?

the only way anyone is going to have that letter is if OP provides it.

Send a reply with a copy of the gift letter and as a previous poster say that you hopes the ends the matter. I would also state that you and your children have been made to feel unsafe and you have blocked X due to repeated threats and are now contacting the police. And do so. The police won't douch except record your complaint and possibly send an officer round for an informal chat with him but it starts a very necessary paper trail.

As always, @prh47bridgehas given excellent advice. Keep the response dispassionate, factual and to the point, include the gift letter. It need not be long. I would not recommend getting into the “personal” impact in this letter.

Whilst the gift letter only relates to the deposit, it is good, persuasive evidence in my view as to the overarching intentions and expectations of the parties that no interest in the property was intended and that the mortgage was granted on that understanding too. I would expect a court to need some pretty firm evidence to the contrary to find otherwise as regards an interest in the property.

If the ex were able to successfully argue that the gift was something he was later relying on, and that the gift was therefore significantly to his material detriment, and if this put pressure on the OP and put her into a difficult position…. then she might disclose the letter further down the line, if she chooses not to do so immediately.
If the solicitor pressed his/her client for more details of the context in which the money was handed over, he might himself make reference to it.

Neither situation is remotely likely as he probably won’t pursue it.

Thanks for your input everyone, I spoke with my house insurers legal advice line, I'm applying for a defense claim. I have been advised to just send a holding email in the meantime until I know I've got cover and then we will obviously go armed with all the info as advised by @prh47bridge .

It has occurred to me that his solicitors actually do know that it was a gifted deposit and they are still trying to reclaim it, is this possible? They make no mention of it as a gifted deposit.

I think it is entirely possible. It’s not the solicitor who is trying to do anything, it’s your ex, the solicitor just represents them. A solicitor could suggest it’s possible to rebut the idea it was a gift (he signed the letter under duress, it’s forged, he didn’t know what he was signing, none of which is remotely likely to be accepted, but can still be claimed). Or the client could say he doesn’t care about the letter, and tell his solicitor to send a letter before action just to see what you do next. Maybe you’ll offer him some money go away? Some money is better than what he has now, which is no money. You just can’t tell.

That goes to my point that you have to accept you don’t have control of this situation. But you have very very good facts, and you also have full posession of the property in dispute. Which puts you in the best possible position.