Advice desperately needed!

[ThePrufeshanul]

Hi there, First time poster on here - i would really appreciate your advice on a nightmare situation

 

Long story short

- I went out with a girl for over 14 years with the intention that we would both get married together.

During our time at uni we pooled our money to pay for stuff.

 

 

In reality, i ended up paying for absolutely everything including holidays away, car repairs, meals, you name it.

 

 

In order to pay our uni fees we both took out a loan from the bank

- and she transferred a lump sum to my account so that I could pay two years fees.

 

 

Initially the transfer was suggested as a loan but this was never formalised and, after we left uni,

we decided that there was no point me paying her back the money as our finances were intermingled

(although we had separate accounts) and that I had given her far more than she had given me.

In other words, the money was a gift.

 

More years went by and nothing further was said.

 

 

Unfortunately our relationship then fell apart in 2012.

I was taken aback by my (ex) partner's request to have that original loan paid back to her since we were no longer going to be together.

 

 

As this "loan" had been converted to a gift you can understand that I was taken aback by this request

and argued for quite some time that this was completely unreasonable. But, truth be known, i felt guilty about the relationship ending

after so long and my ex wanted to save up to move away from her family who were ruining her life

 

 

i agreed to pay back the money as a matter of goodwill and completely under my terms when I was financially able to afford it.

 

I was lucky enough to start a new relationship with a new girl and things progressed so well that i ended up getting engaged to my new partner this year.

The day AFTER we had told our mutual friends about the engagement, my ex (who had by now worked out the issues with her family)

got in touch and enquired by email about the repayment.

 

 

I replied that I hadn't forgotten about her plight and that i couldn't afford to repay her at the moment,

having just gotten engaged and moving into a new house,

but that I could start repaying her with a monthly standing order starting from January 2014.

 

She emailed me back saying that this wasn't good enough and that she had recalculated a new amount that I should be paying with interest

starting from the day we had broken up and a monthly payment schedule that i frankly couldn't afford.

 

 

I wrote back an email pointing out in polite language that I did not accept that I owed her any money

and that I had agreed to make her a payment out of my goodwill in order to help her escape her family circumstances

and that we had never had a loan agreement or a repayment plan or that any interest was to be charged as the money was a gift.

 

This morning I received a letter from her solicitor representing a formal demand for payment stating that they had seen our email exchange

in which i "readily acknowledged the loan"

and had made apologies for not making the payments back and that they had advised her that I could be pursued through the courts for the missing amount.

 

I was invited to provide a written response within 21 days after which the new, recalculated amount with interest payments,

would be withdrawn and I would be taken to court for a CCJ.

 

I feel quite saddened that things have come to this and I am now in a situation where i need to find some good legal advice to examine my options.

 

The transfer into my account was in 2003 and this email correspondence occurred this Summer, 2013.

 

 

I guess my main questions would be:

 

1. How do I go about finding good legal advice?

2. What do I need to gather to fight this? and what sort of chance do I have?

3. Having received this letter from the solicitors unexpectedly I haven't got any leave booked from work over the next few weeks and will have to access services that are mainly available at the weekend if i'm to make the deadline - which resources should I be utilising?

 

I'm in a state of worry as I have an upcoming wedding to pay for and it would obviously ruin my plans with my new partner.

 

Really really appreciate any advice you can give me - many thanks in advance.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Andyorch
Paragraphs added

[AndyOrch]

Hi ThePrufeshanul and welcome to CAG

 

I have added paragraphs to your post....... I will redirect your thread were it would be better placed in the General Debt Issues forum.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

urm..statute barred.

 

more than 6yrs since the money was transferred

 

dx

[ThePrufeshanul]

So I got my solicitor to write a letter pointing out the debt was statute barred.

 

Got one back saying that the law has recently changed due to a case that went to the House of Lords (Rashid Vs Bradford and Bingley).

 

 

Here, the defendant had the statue bar overturned by the act of acknowledging the debt.

 

 

(theres a brief summary on the jcp solicitors page "admission enough to confirm debt"

 

As this will probably have a major bearing on a lot of the people using this forum I wondered if anyone had any ideas about the best step forward>?

Edited November 22, 2013 by ThePrufeshanul

[AndyOrch]

Nothing new... we always ask if you have acknowledged/made payment within 5/6 years...that is the basis of Statute Barred defence.

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

NOTHING can UNBAR a debt

 

 

not even a JUDGE.

 

 

dx

[ThePrufeshanul]

Thanks guys - much appreciated.

 

I am going to instruct the solicitor to write back reiterating that the debt is statute barred and that I regard the matter as closed with further communication being regarded as an act of harassment.

 

Please note though - the case that I mentioned above is really important reading for anyone on this forum - can't post links but there is a good summary written by Tim Akkouh and Emily Gillett in the Solicitors Journal.

 

In this case, the company pursued an individual who argued his debt was statue barred - a decsion that was unanimously held up by the Court of Appeal - and which was overturned and unbarred by the House of Lords. At the very least it's important to know that any negotiations / acknowledgements entered into before court action should contain the phrase "without prejudice" to aid the chances of it being inadmissable in a subsequent action.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Thanks guys - much appreciated.

 

At the very least it's important to know that any negotiations / acknowledgements entered into before court action should contain the phrase "without prejudice" to aid the chances of it being inadmissable in a subsequent action.

Thanks again for your help.

 

 

This is why our letters contain the phrase: "No debt is acknowledged to you or any company you claim to represent", and have done for a long time.

[ThePrufeshanul]

Further couple of questions if anyone is able to help:

 

 

1. Does an email count as a written acknowledgement with a (digital) signature if you put your name at the end?

 

 

2. We never had a joint account however we made occasional transfers of cash between our accounts

after the alleged loan was given

- for example, whilst we were in a relationship, one of us might have paid for dinner

and the other person would transfer their half of the money to cover it at a later date.

 

 

Would the person making the claim have to prove that this transfer was specifically being made towards the alleged debt

and therefore count as an acknowledgement?

 

 

Or would ANY transfer between accounts be presumed to be for payment of the alleged debt?

 

 

3. What is a reasonable amount of time to give the other party to respond before I can say i am regarding the matter as closed

and unwilling to enter into any further correspondence?

 

 

thanks again - really appreciate it.

Edited November 25, 2013 by ThePrufeshanul

[dx100uk]

specific payments.

I wouldn't worry too much

I don't think this will go anywhere

 

 

its just a bit of willy waving to see if you'll fall for it.

 

 

dx

[ThePrufeshanul]

yay - thanks dx - this forum has been a major help in this difficult period - can't thank you guys enough

[ThePrufeshanul]

Just an update - thanks for all the advice, following the posting of my last etter I didn't hear anything further. Looks as though it was indeed "willy waving"!

[citizenB]

Just an update - thanks for all the advice, following the posting of my last etter I didn't hear anything further. Looks as though it was indeed "willy waving"!

 

 

This is good news