Going To Court

[Mr Worried]

Hi to all

I shall keep this as brief as I can.

Couple of year ago a friend to to do some work for me blah blah in return I was gonna do some work for him..my work for him did not happen so he inflated his invoices and hassled me to pay, I refused etc etc, it got left dormant for a yr or so then he he sent debt collectors to my door the first visit from them I bounced the guy down the road, a few letters later another visit, I invited him in explained what he had done(inflated invoices) then went on to explain take me to court..to which they did stupidly i forgot to attend(other worries etc) he got judgement, so then I set it aside and got a court date which is next Thursday.

 

My 'friend' contacted me last week..oh hi how are you just thought I would call to see if you want to settle out of court cos I dont have the time to go etc and why put ourselves through this..so a few days ago I visited his nice new office to which we had a brief chat, I then left with his invoices approx £2k, i believe he is owed about a grand ish as I have checked over the invoices properly, he wants it sorted out with the debt we agree paid asap.

 

He has sent a text saying he wants it sorted by tommorow or court it is, which is ok with me since I need to explain the above to the judge, do I need to attend ? or can set aside till say I get the grand, or should I get him to agree the figures then still go to court, explain my financial posistion and let the judge decide how much I pay each week?

 

In a nutshell shall I tell him I'm skint and cant pay or do I go to court, and will the judge not think i'm taking the 'p'.

 

To be quite honest I think he may have found out about a court case I was involved in last week with TSB, and he may think '****' he has nothing and if we go to court i'll get nothing too, so lets see if we can sort it before court?

 

Hope it hasent went on to long.

 

Can he B/R me if I cant pay etc etc.

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

[the_shadow]

 

Can he B/R me if I cant pay etc etc.

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

 

Yes I believe as the debt is above £750 he can issue a stat demand and petition for bankruptcy but it would cost him to do this and if you dont have any assets it would be unusual unless he personally wants to see you bankrupt.

 

S.

[Beck1968]

Opps sorry missed a bit

Edited July 23, 2009 by Beck1968
opps

[the_shadow]

He has sent a text saying he wants it sorted by tommorow or court it is, which is ok with me since I need to explain the above to the judge, do I need to attend ? or can set aside till say I get the grand, or should I get him to agree the figures then still go to court, explain my financial posistion and let the judge decide how much I pay each week?

 

In a nutshell shall I tell him I'm skint and cant pay or do I go to court, and will the judge not think i'm taking the 'p'.

 

To be quite honest I think he may have found out about a court case I was involved in last week with TSB, and he may think '****' he has nothing and if we go to court i'll get nothing too, so lets see if we can sort it before court?

 

Hope it hasent went on to long.

 

Can he B/R me if I cant pay etc etc.

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

 

If you managed to get the judgement set aside I'm assuming you gave details of a defence against the original judgement... not being able to pay isnt a defence.

 

If you come to an arrangement outside of court for repayment terms then the "friend" should discontinue the claim.

 

If you cant/havent come to an agreement then it'll be for the judge to decide if you owe it and then you'll need to provide details of your I&E to the court who will set the amount of repayments if the judge agrees to monthly repayments.

 

S.

[Mr Worried]

If you managed to get the judgement set aside I'm assuming you gave details of a defence against the original judgement... not being able to pay isnt a defence.

 

If you come to an arrangement outside of court for repayment terms then the "friend" should discontinue the claim.

 

If you cant/havent come to an agreement then it'll be for the judge to decide if you owe it and then you'll need to provide details of your I&E to the court who will set the amount of repayments if the judge agrees to monthly repayments.

 

S.

 

Hi the defence is simple and even my 'friend' knows that his invoices are wrong, that is why we met and I told him that I was going to make deductions and he is ok with that but he wants a settlement and I cant pay it in full, do you think that it is better to agree with him out of court a payment plan, or let the judge decide how much I pay, if he is not happy with what the judge says can he disagree, can the judge make an order and if he does is there any thing my 'friend' can do,

I just need some advice on how to deal with this tommorow.

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

[the_shadow]

Hi the defence is simple and even my 'friend' knows that his invoices are wrong, that is why we met and I told him that I was going to make deductions and he is ok with that but he wants a settlement and I cant pay it in full, do you think that it is better to agree with him out of court a payment plan, or let the judge decide how much I pay, if he is not happy with what the judge says can he disagree, can the judge make an order and if he does is there any thing my 'friend' can do,

I just need some advice on how to deal with this tommorow.

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

 

If you can show that you have genuinely attempted to resolve the differences its always going to look better in front of a judge... that said it needs to be on paper and you'll need to show that you have given it to your friend so he cant deny it (possibly email a suggestion to him?)

 

If you cant afford it you cant afford it so offer what you can and say thats your best offer. If he turns it down you can show the judge you've tried to come to an arrangement to pay the undisputed amount of the invoices and were unable due to him wanting more.

 

The court will make a determination based on what you can pay, if he doesnt like it he can apply to have it varied but again its up to a judge to decide.

 

He could if he knows what he is doing as for the judge to make it a forthwith order where it becomes immediately payable and then he has further enforcement options like charging orders and bailiffs.

 

Just my opinion as ever.

 

S.

[Mr Worried]

If you can show that you have genuinely attempted to resolve the differences its always going to look better in front of a judge... that said it needs to be on paper and you'll need to show that you have given it to your friend so he cant deny it (possibly email a suggestion to him?)

 

If you cant afford it you cant afford it so offer what you can and say thats your best offer. If he turns it down you can show the judge you've tried to come to an arrangement to pay the undisputed amount of the invoices and were unable due to him wanting more.

 

The court will make a determination based on what you can pay, if he doesnt like it he can apply to have it varied but again its up to a judge to decide.

 

He could if he knows what he is doing as for the judge to make it a forthwith order where it becomes immediately payable and then he has further enforcement options like charging orders and bailiffs.

 

Just my opinion as ever.

 

S.

Thanks for the reply

so do you think that if I mail him and he agrees the reduction of invoices, should I then offer him a payment, or is that the wrong way to do it, or is it best to say....after carefull consideration of your invoices I am happy to agree a sum of xxxx and I can offer payment of xxxper week, should youagree to this then can you please confirm by return, and also contact the courts to terminate..

 

Should I tell him that if he does not accept my proposal then he will get less offered at court?

 

Maybe somebody could draft a quick response for me??

 

Cheers

 

Mr W

[the_shadow]

Thanks for the reply

so do you think that if I mail him and he agrees the reduction of invoices, should I then offer him a payment, or is that the wrong way to do it, or is it best to say....after carefull consideration of your invoices I am happy to agree a sum of xxxx and I can offer payment of xxxper week, should youagree to this then can you please confirm by return, and also contact the courts to terminate..

 

Should I tell him that if he does not accept my proposal then he will get less offered at court?

 

As you are admitting the debt anyway I dont see the point of heading anything "without prejudice" so its just a case of working out a common amount between yourself and the claimant.

 

I think your text above is sufficient

 

after careful consideration of your invoices I am happy to agree a sum of xxxx and I can offer payment of xxx per week, should you agree to this then can you please confirm by return, and also file a notice of discontinuance with the courts and myself.

 

You might also want to put...

 

Due to my current financial situation the amount I have offered is the maximum I can at this time and you should be aware if you wish to continue this claim I will present both this letter and a Income&Expenditure breakdown to the Judge and in reality there will be the risk that you may be awarded less than I am currently offering.

 

Anybody else got anything to add?

 

S.

[Mr Worried]

As you are admitting the debt anyway I dont see the point of heading anything "without prejudice" so its just a case of working out a common amount between yourself and the claimant.

 

I think your text above is sufficient

 

 

 

You might also want to put...

 

 

 

Anybody else got anything to add?

 

S.

Thanks for the reply

I will draft something up now.

Cheers

 

Mr W