J109 help with Set aside /Judgement by default.

[j109]

I hope somebody could please help me, I am trying to get a judgement in default set aside, I stood as a guarantor for my son for his rent whilst at university, without my knowledge he got himself into arrears which resulted in me getting a judgement in default back in May, trouble is that i did not recieve any court papers of any kind or any letter even informing me of a judgement, I only found out whilst I was in the process of getting my property re-mortaged that I had a ccj, I have never had one before or ever had any sort of bad credit.

I have a n244 form to fill out but would like help in wording my applocation for my jugement to be set aside, im not very good with wording letters especially as this might be my only chance in removing this judgement.

any help and advice would be greatly apreciated.

many thanks
Jai

[old_andrew2007]

Bump

[legalpickle]

PM me and I'll give you my e-mail address to try and help you tomorrow. Going to bed now.

[j109]

sorry I don't know how to pm cant see how to...sorry

but here is my first draft pls feel free to tell me my mistakes or how i can improve this letter... thanks

Jai

Dear Judge

I wish to apply for my judgement in default to be set aside.

The reasons being that I did not receive the summons or any court forms of any kind, however my son who also is a defendant as I stood guarantor for him for his rent whilst at university, received his claim forms which I only found out about after I inquired about this judgement, as he does not live with me, he lived at the address where the arrears were occurred. When my son received the documents he did not inform me as he thought it would not have affected me.

Also when the judgement was made against me I was not informed, I only found out about the judgement whilst I was on the process of getting my house remortgaged and everything was fine until they discovered I had a CCJ which I did not even now about, they told us to get in touch with our credit reference agencies, and hence I found out it was from Northampton county court. I called MCOL on 31st July and spoke to a customer service advisor who informed me of my judgement in default, I asked why I had not received any letter informing me of a CCJ against me and I asked what sum it was for he said he would send out a copy which I received a couple of days later, I also wish to add that if I had known about this judgement being issued to me, I would have certainly have paid. I also understand I would have received one full month in which to have paid the full balance and I would have been able to cancel this judgement. The amount that was still outstanding was £66.16 out of £681.16 which has all been paid and the claimant has acknowledged the payment and I have attached a balance sheet of my son’s rent and also a copy of the receipt of the monies paid on the 31st July same day I found out about the Judgement.

The only claim form I have received from the courts was one issued on the 25th July 2008, which was claim number ******** which was sent to me and my son which I received on the 30th July which I went and paid directly on the 31st July 2008. This claim included the remainder from the previous claim that I had received a judgement for which has now all been paid.

Dear Judge please take into consideration that I have never received any defaults or arrears or any kind of bad credit in my time. I would have certainly have paid if I had been made aware of these court proceedings as I was only the guarantor. I feel like this has been an unfair case as I was not given a chance to defend my case or a chance to pay after the judgement was issued.


Yours sincerely

[legalpickle]

Originally Posted by j109

sorry I don't know how to pm cant see how to...sorry

but here is my first draft pls feel free to tell me my mistakes or how i can improve this letter... thanks

Jai

Dear Judge

I wish to apply for my judgement in default to be set aside.

The reasons being that I did not receive the summons or any court forms of any kind, however my son who also is a defendant as I stood guarantor for him for his rent whilst at university, received his claim forms which I only found out about after I inquired about this judgement, as he does not live with me, he lived at the address where the arrears were occurred. When my son received the documents he did not inform me as he thought it would not have affected me.

Also when the judgement was made against me I was not informed, I only found out about the judgement whilst I was on the process of getting my house remortgaged and everything was fine until they discovered I had a CCJ which I did not even now about, they told us to get in touch with our credit reference agencies, and hence I found out it was from Northampton county court. I called MCOL on 31st July and spoke to a customer service advisor who informed me of my judgement in default, I asked why I had not received any letter informing me of a CCJ against me and I asked what sum it was for he said he would send out a copy which I received a couple of days later, I also wish to add that if I had known about this judgement being issued to me, I would have certainly have paid. I also understand I would have received one full month in which to have paid the full balance and I would have been able to cancel this judgement. The amount that was still outstanding was £66.16 out of £681.16 which has all been paid and the claimant has acknowledged the payment and I have attached a balance sheet of my son’s rent and also a copy of the receipt of the monies paid on the 31st July same day I found out about the Judgement.

The only claim form I have received from the courts was one issued on the 25th July 2008, which was claim number ******** which was sent to me and my son which I received on the 30th July which I went and paid directly on the 31st July 2008. This claim included the remainder from the previous claim that I had received a judgement for which has now all been paid.

Dear Judge please take into consideration that I have never received any defaults or arrears or any kind of bad credit in my time. I would have certainly have paid if I had been made aware of these court proceedings as I was only the guarantor. I feel like this has been an unfair case as I was not given a chance to defend my case or a chance to pay after the judgement was issued.


Yours sincerely

No, no, no. This would almost certainly - in my opinion - fail. Over the forum is too annoying to deal with something like this. I can't read it properly.

Here's how to PM me: In the top right hand corner [below the headers], click 'Private Messages'. In what opens up, click 'Compose Message' on the left hand side. Then fill it in - recipient username is 'legalpickle'. Give me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you.

[old_andrew2007]

Hi Legalpickle
Whilst I applaud your offer to give advice by e-mail, am I correct in saying it is not recommended, as mistakes can be made, however on the forum these can be corrected.
For myself I have to say I am no expert, however it has been by reading threads, and their accompanying posts that I have gained some knowledge.
If everyone corresponded by e-mail, then we would never learn by our mistakes.

Regards

Andy

[legalpickle]

Point made, Andy: So Jai, if you want I'll refine it with you by e-mail and then you can post it back here to see if anybody has anything to add. Happy, Andy?

[old_andrew2007]

Thanks we all get to learn from reading final document.
andy

[pt2537]

Hi there

Firstly, Advice via PM is frowned upon by the site team, there is no need for this kind of thing to be done in private

Regards

Paul

[pt2537]

Originally Posted by legalpickle

Point made, Andy: So Jai, if you want I'll refine it with you by e-mail and then you can post it back here to see if anybody has anything to add. Happy, Andy?

why not post on the forum in the first place?

[legalpickle]

No problem. If you don't want me to give advice by e-mail, then give it publicly yourself. I am only trying to help. It is confusing going between posts and therefore easier for me to do it by e-mail.
I have no problem with it being proofed by others as I'm only trying to help, not cause problems.
The point is not to not let other people see the work, or hide anything, but make life easier for everybody, because following 20 posts back and forth gets very confusing. For all those that have problems with it, help Jai yourselves rather than criticizing.

[old_andrew2007]

Come on legal there's no problem with constructive criticisms, I not even sure that the site team have criticised you, just pointed out a couple of things.
Why get worked up?

[j109]

Hello everyone,

I would just like to say thanks to everone who has replied and read my post...

Just wondered if anyone else had any pointers or tips that could help me change my letter and hopefully suceed in getting this ccj removed, I only have three weeks left with Halifax to remortage my house, they have said they will go ahead if I can get it set aside, any help will be greatly apreciated, many thanks

Jai

[legalpickle]

Your letter is problematic because you need to do it in the usual application process using the new n244 from the court service website The requested resource (/HMCSCourtFinder/tiles/Her Majesty's Courts Service -Forms and Guidance) is not available

It wil take a lot longer than 3 weeks to deal with it. You'd need to send it to the court with a cheque for £75 and they will take a few weeks to process it. It will then get transferred to your local court who will allocate a hearing. Though the hearing will be allocated quicker than normal hearings it will still take at least another month or two till then. And the CCJ won't be removed till after the first hearing.

All applications to set aside judgment must be done with a hearing, so there's no way around it.

You're looking at between 6 & 12 weeks till it's removed - more if the court is extremely busy.

Others may be able to help with the wording. I've been told off for offering to give advice by e-mail so if people have troubles with that they can give advice themselves. I'm not going back and forth between posts, sorry.

Also, don't word letters 'Dear Judge', it's 'Dear Sir'. Unless you're going to the High Court - which this won't be - you will need to address the District or Deputy District Judge as 'Sir' or 'Madam', but when writing letters - unless you know the claim is being allocated to a female District or Deputy District Judge - you write 'Dear Sir'.

[j109]

Thanks LegalPickle,

I have got the N244 form but I thought sending a letter also would have helped, but I wont do it if its not appropiate, please can you help me with two questions...
1. I should just state what I am requesting in part 3. i.e having judgement set aside and then the reason why.

2.Not recieving notification of judgement or any courts documents telling me about proceedings?....

Sorry if i sound silly but what do i tick in part 10. and what should i explain.

If its going to take more then three weeks It does not matter, ill just have to go through it again as I can't do anything until I sort this CCJ out.

I have the cheque ready also, do I need to send in the reciepts also with the balance sheet of the account to prove its all been paid?

Many thanks for your help....

Jai

[legalpickle]

Originally Posted by j109

Thanks LegalPickle,

I have got the N244 form but I thought sending a letter also would have helped, but I wont do it if its not appropiate, please can you help me with two questions...
1. I should just state what I am requesting in part 3. i.e having judgement set aside and then the reason why.

2.Not recieving notification of judgement or any courts documents telling me about proceedings?....

Sorry if i sound silly but what do i tick in part 10. and what should i explain.

If its going to take more then three weeks It does not matter, ill just have to go through it again as I can't do anything until I sort this CCJ out.

I have the cheque ready also, do I need to send in the reciepts also with the balance sheet of the account to prove its all been paid?

Many thanks for your help....

Jai

I wouldn't send a letter. If you need to say more, you can continue on a separate sheet. A letter is not going to help.

I would send a cover letter with the whole application and cheque saying that you would appreciate if it was handled quickly, as as they can see from the application you only just found about the judgment and it is causing you problems that must be rectified as soon as physically possible and can only be done so with this application.

That letter should be addressed to the court and be addressed 'Dear Sir'. That is only a cover letter and bears little relevance to the application besides for trying to get the court staff to feel for you and process it quickly - because a lot of the time it takes is beauracratic, not to do with the judge and law.

Part 3: 'To Set Aside the Judgment as the Defendant [Applicant] did not receive the claim form or Notice of Judgment.'

Part 10: Tick 'the evidence set out in the box below' and fill it in.

You can fill the whole form in on the computer and print it, only needing to sign it. It is a lot clearer when doing this and the court appreciates clarity.

Be as short and succint as possible. Rambling on does you no good, neither in the hearing or the documents. The judge doesn't want to read a whole bunch of stuff that ends up being irrelevant.

I would write that you didn't receive any letters informing that your son had defaulted on the rent, and were not made aware of it. Had you known you would have paid prior to the claim even being issued, you therefore contend that it is only right that you should not be liable for the claimant's [respondent's] costs [including court fees] or interest, only the amount that your son defaulted on, minus your costs in making this application, as you contend that the claimant was obligated to give you the chance to pay the debt without issuing any proceedings first. It's worth a try.

As I wrote above, try to word it as succintly as possible. Put it through a spellchecker first - if your acrobat reader doesn't have one [mine does].

Note: Some applications change 'judgment' to 'judgement'. 'judgment' is the correct form, but 'judgement' has been a change that many accept. All court documents should have 'judgment' written correctly.