thanks for all your help

can anyone help? i work for a large law firm and was told yesterday that 2 from my team of 7 are to be made redundant. (2 do wills and 5 do probate - i'm probate). the consultation period starts now and those selected for compulsory redundancy will be notified on 19 march. voluntary redundancies have also been asked for. I have worked there 18 1/2 years. there are 2 more senior above me, one equal to me and one below me(she is currently pregnant) the department is made up of 2 teams and there is a partner in charge of my team with another partner in charge of the department overall. the partner in charge of my team announced the redunancies yesterday as the department head was on holiday! my team partner was off today and the department head came to see me just before i left the office to ask how i was. I was amazed as she doesnt usually care how people feel about anything. i told her naturally upset that i could lose my job nd my husband wa self employed in construction and he could go anytime and with 3 young children it wasn't ideal. SHe then said "Well you could live off benefits couldn't you!" not unless i want to lose my house i said. i then told her i was surprised about our time as with the pregnant girl going on maternity leave i thought we would be ok as there was enough work for the 4 of us that was left and that i knew one of the wills people was extremely quiet. (the other is a blue eyed girl so shs not going anywhere) she then piped up and said "well we need her because she can do things that you can't!!!" i told her that of my 18 1/2 yrs service the last 2 1/2 were part time and that i would lose out cos if i took voluntary then i would have liked to ask for it to be on full time pay given my length of service and loyalty (been there since school). she said oh yes you should definately tell them you want it on full tme pay. i have since found out that my team partner rang her to see if she had spoken to the team and she said she had to everyone but me, she then asked my team partner to ring me cos she didnt want to come and see me and my team partner refused. it seems to me that she knows i will be one of the two made redundant by refusing to see me and then making those comments. i was thinking of making a formal complaint to human resources. do you think should i take legal advice as i think it could be unfair as she has hinted on day one of the consultation period that its me. thanks

Just to let you know.... I have just rang the courts and the guy in the office has said that he has spoken to his line manager and they will have to speak to a judge on Wednesday next week (1 Oct) to see what is happening with the stays and to get some direction and that I have to ring back then!

HELP!!!!! Do I have to do something before Wednesday next week when the DJ ordered that my case must be stayed until the outcome of the Test Case or 1 October whichever is the sooner? I have just been letting it carry along until the outcome but have just realised that I may have until next week to resubmit everything. Any help would be appreciated. Ta

Thanks. I e-mailed Ronan and Inga last night and got an e-mail back apologising informing me that I would receive a cheque within 5 days! I'm not going to hold my breath though!!!!

Well Abbey's 21 days were up last Friday to pay me my loss of earnings of £50 and yes you've guessed it nothing has appeared. I have just rang the court and they have told me to apply for a warrant of execution in order to send the bailiffs round! It will cost me £35 but I think it will be worth it!!!!! Has anyone else had to do this and if so what happened? Cheers

Sorry didn't realise. I do probate in England so cannot help with scottish as it's different.

Hi I have just noticed your letter and you may come unstuck. You have stated that creditors have 6 months from probate to make a claim. This is only if you have placed a section 27 notice. Did you place a s.27 notice (creditors notice) in your local newspaper and the London Gazette? (one must be in the London Gazette and the other in the place where they lived). If you have then you are right they are outside the time in which they have to claim but you are stuck if you haven't. If the estate has been distributed and you haven't placed the notices then they may come back on this and try to reclaim the money from the residuary beneficiary which I believe is your father. I gather from reading previous threads that there was no estate and that a Grant of Representation was not applied for. if not then there would have ben no need to place the s.27 Notices. If there were no assets then you should write and tell them that your mother died insolvent and there are no assets with which to settle the liabiltiies of the estate. Under English Law the debt dies with the creditor if there are no funds. Hope this helps.

Just got back from court this morning for my bank charges claim. Abbey again sent a barrister to apply for a stay. The judge was lovely. She told the barrister that she couldn't find any papers in regards to the application for the stay and he said that he was here now to make the application. She told him that it wasn't good enough and he explained that because of the volume of these cases banks left it till the last minute. She said that in that case she was awarding me costs for my time and gave me the maximum £50! She stayed the case though pending the outcome of the test case as she said it wouldn't be fair to rule now. I thought she was going to at first!

Just got back from court this morning for my bank charges claim. Abbey again sent a barrister to apply for a stay. The judge was lovely. She told the barrister that she couldn't find any papers in regards to the application for the stay and he said that he was here now to make the application. She told him that it wasn't good enough and he explained that because of the volume of these cases banks left it till the last minute. She said that in that case she was awarding me costs for my time and gave me the maximum £50! She stayed the case though pending the outcome of the test case as she said it wouldn't be fair to rule now. I thought she was going to at first!

Sorry for the delay in replying. Thanks for all your help. Yes I've just had my claim for bank charges stayed this morning by the judge, however, she did award me costs of £50 because abbey had not filed their application for a stay before this morning! Things could be looking up!

Yes I did but I never got any letters from them telling me what I was entitled to. Everytime I rang them I mentioned it and was told different things off different people. I told them I wanted it noted on my file incase they tried to come back and say I owed them money when I couldn't check what they were paying me for. One person wouldn't speak to me because I got an answer to his security question wrong about what I was receiving. When I told him that I didn't know because I never received any letters he put the phone down! Our money changed slightly but not by a great deal as my part time wage alone exceeded the maximum amount for working tax credits.

Thanks for all of your kind words. Yes I have 3 boys aged 9, 3 and 1. The worst of it is that I was such a good creditor until the turn of this year when things just got out of hand. It really hasn't helped the fact that my husband had no income. I get so frustrated when I think that both of us have worked hard all our lives and paid our taxes yet if we didn't we would get help with our mortgage, council tax etc. We didn't even get a discount on our council tax because I worked. I feel sick half of the time worryng about it. I have never been in this position before and thankfully he is working but its hard trying to get on your feet when you are so far behind with everything.

Thanks I did bank/have everything with Abbey but when things got so out of hand with the charges (£300 per month) I opened a basic account with Nat West and all of our money goes there now. I have made an arrangement with the mortgage and am paying the arrears off £100 per month on top of my usual mortgage payment. I'm worried that I may have to declare myself bankrupt and lose my home. No I haven't with Next but I will do it today.

I need some help. I went on maternity leave last year (Half pay) and just at the end of my leave my now husband was laid off work. He tried to claim jobseekers allowance (contributions based) but was told that because he was partly self employed he hadn't paid enough Class 1 contributions. I rang and asked how people who never worked a day in their life were entitled to benefits and they said they claim Jobseekers allowance (Income based). I asked if we could claim that and was asked if I worked. I told them that I did and they asked how many hours (29) they said that because I worked more than 16 hours per week then it was up to me to financially support him (and 3 children) . I told them that I couldn't do that and they told me to try Working Tax Credit. We have not been entitled to this in the past as our wages exceed the limit. I rang them anyway and was told that because both our wages had exceeded £15,000 from April to December we couldn't claim it but that they were taking the childcare element away as my husband was no longer working he should be looking after my middle son who attended a local playgroup for social reasons!! Anyway, things got majorly out of hand. He had no income whatsoever and we fell behind with all of our payments including the mortgage. I went to my local branch of Abbey who told my husband to get a bar job! (He is a building contractor and does make good money when he works) As you can imagine the charges started piling on our accounts. Currently going through court sytem to claim them back) We have a mortgage with abbey (currently £1100 in arrears) I have an unsecured personal loan with abbey (£10,000 plus int) 3 accounts with Abbey (£2000 o/d in total) Credit Card with Abbey (£1600) Next (£200). I've tried explaining our situation to them all and have written them letters with a budget sheet. They weren't really sypmathetic. Anyway he got another job and things were looking up but he got laid off and I couldn't make any payments. MBNA are now hounding me at work and I'm frightened to answer the phone. What can I do, he is working again but we are trying to get back on our feet. Incidentally our mortgage deal has expired and when I rang up to see if I could change it because the interest rate had shot up Abbey said no because we were in arrears and had to wait 6 months from the arrears being clear before we could apply for a new deal. I know this is a lot to take in but any help would be appreciated.

Hi I do Probate for a living and I have run this passed my colleagues for reassurance. They cannot make you pay the debt. If the debt was in your Mother's sole name and there are no assets of the estate to clear the debt then it is an insolvent estate. You cannot pass debts on death. If they contact you again tell them that it is unfortunate bought you have sought advice and the debt dies with your Mother. Hope this helps.

adam1976brown Don't get too complaceant? That happened to my hubby. Abbey didn't submit anything. I rang the court (Newcastle upon Tyne) the day before and they told me that Abbey had applied for a blanket stay on all claims but the judge would not allow it and said that Abbey would have to apply on an individual basis. They sent a barrister to represent them on the morning of the hearing and he was applying for a stay. When we entered the room the judge had been given instructions that morning to stay all bank charge cases until the High Court test case goes through. My hearing is due for 28 September and I have just rang the court and they told me it is still going ahead for that date and probably the smae thing will happen.

Well I was right. Abbey sent a barrister to apply for a stay. The deputy district judge said that he had just received dircetions this morning from the high up Judge in Newcastle upon Tyne informing them that all cases must be stayed until a decision has been reached in the OFT High Court case or 1 October 2008 whichever is the sooner. Then claimants have until 28 days from that date to resubmit the claim or it will be struck out. The Barrister seems to think that it will go before the High Court in January. This hearing was for my husbands claim, mine is due on 28 September. The barrister was really nice, turns out I work for the same firm as his girlfriend! He said that I should write to the court asking what action I should now take i.e Do I still have to turn up on 28 Septembet, given what has been said this morning.

Oh My God, just rang my local court (Newcastle upon Tyne) and gave them the claim number, the guy said that Abbey have applied for a stay pending the OFT Test Case result. The Judge has informed Abbey that they must apply on an individual basis rather than use a blanket stay for all claims. They must attend court tomorrow to apply for the stay. He said the hearing is still on for tomorrow. I asked if any of the banks had shown up in the past and he said that in the past they always settled before they got to court but now they don't in light of the OFT Test case. He said no banks have as yet shown up. (They will tomorrow I can guarantee that!) I'm really panicking now.

Oh My God, just rang my local court (Newcastle upon Tyne) and gave them the claim number, the guy said that Abbey have applied for a stay pending the OFT Test Case result. The Judge has informed Abbey that they must apply on an individual basis rather than use a blanket stay for all claims. They must attend court tomorrow to apply for the stay. He said the hearing is still on for tomorrow. I asked if any of the banks had shown up in the past and he said that in the past they always settled before they got to court but now they don't in light of the OFT Test case. He said no banks have as yet shown up. (They will tomorrow I can guarantee that!) I'm really panicking now.

In court tomorrow at 10am. Getting quite scared now. What if they show up? The luck I have that will probably happen. Do I have to say anything in court? If they turn up do I just go through my defence and court bundle with the judge and argue my point with them?

My other half is due in court in 10 days time. I sumbitted his court bundle and sent a copy to Abbey. I rang the court and Abbey have not submitted anything. Is this usual? Also if they ring to offer do we accept only the bank chargaes or the charges plus contractual interest AND the daily rate of interest that would be set by the court and court fees? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi Kia Sorry for sounding thick but what does bump mean? Many thanks

Trying to find T&C's for August 2001 and when I click on the link on this thread it keeps telling me that they are not in the archive. Also on my account it was originally a National & Provincial Account that converted to Abbey when they were taken over and i can't remeber when that was. A reply is needed pretty quickly for the first lot as I have until Thursday to submit. Thanks

I am putting together the court bundle but don't have a copy of the banks terms and conditions. Does anyone know where I can get them? A reply would be really much appreciated as when I have asked questions in the past no one seems to answer. I am getting totally scared now. I'm getting married on Saturday and am stressed to death with that as well as this!