Contested will / Stay hearing

[Syra]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure where to start with this I suppose first thanks for looking and I appreciate any advice you can offer I will be as brief as I can.

 

When my dad passed 4 days after my step sisters mother landed on my door step demanding 50% of his estate which had been left to me in his will. I of course refused since she was an ex wife of approximately 20 years but my step sister (who dad hadn’t seen for years, but paid CSA till she was 18) said she had grounds to contest his will.

 

My Farther also had an insurance policy for around £20,000. She wanted the lot but I was advised to offer her £15,000 to avoid going to court and she accepted. I was advised that dad’s debts come first so I used the money from the policy to clear some of them leaving a mortgage and few credit cards to pay off.

 

After a lot of messing about getting buildings signed over it was finally late 2013 all buildings where signed over and in December we had the bank onto us saying that they would give us till April 1st 2014 to sort out the money for the house we are living in that my dad mortgaged for us or they would take it back leaving us homeless.

We have been unable to secure a high street mortgage to pay the amount owing on the house and now my sister too.

We did get the go ahead on bridging finance to cover the cost of the house pay my sister off and clear off my small amount of debt to be able to have a better chance at a High street mortgage to put me back on track. Which we are in the process of finalizing now.

 

My sister (or her legal aid solicitor) has taken me to court for the £15,000 which is the main reason I’m here. The court suggested I apply to stay it. I’m unable to get representation as I really can’t afford it at the moment with everything else on my plate with the completion of the bridging finance close their solicitor has informed me that trying to stay it giving me a bit of extra time is doomed to fail and I should withdraw my request saying loan is imminent I have a stay hearing tomorrow and I have no idea what I’m going to walk into if its just talking to the judge or am I going to end up being bullied by a solicitor?

 

Thanks again in advance for reading.

 

Sorry she didn't contest the will this was a settlement she wanted and this hearing is because she couldn't wait and has applied for a CCJ this hearing tomorrow is to set aside the CCJ

Edited August 21, 2014 by Syra
Updated information at the end of the post to make it more clear.

[citizenB]

I will try and find someone to help.

 

YOu say there was a Will and the ex and step sister are not mentioned ?

[Syra]

That's correct

[Syra]

Just to clarify they did not contest his will they wanted a settlement.

[citizenB]

Thanks.. I have left a message for others on the site team, with more knowledge.. they will look in on your thread as soon as they can. Many of htem have day jobs so it will be later on this evening.

[Syra]

I appreciate your time thank you very much.

[citizenB]

No worries..

 

Another question.. on what basis is the ex and stepsister claiming they are entitled ?

[Syra]

On the basis of being a dependant. They made it clear they were going to tie the estate up until there was nothing left through legal fees and a settlement figure was reached if they decided not to go ahead with the challenge. They agreed to this and it was made clear to them that it would come from this funding being arrange to pay the estate debt of the house we live in and them. However now they have applied for a ccj and we have the hearing to have the judgement set aside tomorrow to allow us more time for said funding to be in place. They are opposing this, which frankly makes no sense as the funding would fall through and we would no longer be in a position to pay them in full. Our options are have the judgement set aside and pay in full once the funding arrives or the ccj stays and we have to apply to pay in instalments.

[citizenB]

Righto, thanks, this information will likely help the others on the team to advise more effectively.

[Syra]

Sorry for the confusion I really am at a loose end here I really have no idea what i'm doing and I feel i'm going to make it worse.

[caro]

What time is your court case?

[steampowered]

In order for anyone to give you sensible advice, you need to be much clearer about what has happened in the court process so far. It sounds like there was a claim form issued, which you did not issue a defence for within the deadline, which resulted in you getting a default judgment. You are now applying to set aside that default judgment. Correct?

 

It would be helpful if you can list out a clear timeline of what has happened with the litigation to date.

 

If you have a set aside tomorrow, you need to be prepared to explain to the judge what your proposed defence is to the claim.

[caledfwlch]

Surely getting a CCJ at the local court is the wrong venue and process here?

 

The OP's stepsister and mother are challenging or at least claiming money is owed them as they disagree with the will and I would have thought that would be a more specialist form of hearing than a ccj

 

In order for anyone to give you sensible advice, you need to be much clearer about what has happened in the court process so far. It sounds like there was a claim form issued, which you did not issue a defence for within the deadline, which resulted in you getting a default judgment. You are now applying to set aside that default judgment. Correct?

 

It would be helpful if you can list out a clear timeline of what has happened with the litigation to date.

 

If you have a set aside tomorrow, you need to be prepared to explain to the judge what your proposed defence is to the claim.

[Syra]

Initial claim form was issued in March. Gave a time frame of end of May as advised by our lenders. A court letter requesting more information was sent in June and replied to stating things had progressed but still not to completion and passed on our lenders details. July we get a form stating a judgement was made in our absence. Applied for a set aside basically for additional time once more as this has turned into the longest loan arrangement process in history. At all times have stated we can only pay in full if this goes through which it won't if we get the judgement.

[Syra]

What time is your court case?

 

14:20 Today Caro.

[caro]

Okay so you will need to explain why you should get the set aside which will put the claim back to where it was before the judgment was made. You will need to persuade the judge that you have a reasonable chance of defending the original claim. Then you'll need to submit your defence (you'll probably be given time to do this) and there will be another hearing for the claim. Bear in mind that as the claim is for over £10k there will be additional costs involved, quite possibly for today's hearing and the hearing for the claim. I think you may also need to explain why you didn't defend the claim in the first place. Can you explain why you agreed to paying £15k in the first place if your step sister was not named in the will? Is there really that much equity in the house? Is there anything in writing to prove you agreed to pay her? Can you afford to pay the extra finance to pay the money if you get the loan. I would suggest that you complete an income and expenditure sheet to demonstrate that you can't afford it (if that's the case), and also a summary of your fathers assets and debts when he died to demonstrate how much (or little) he actually left. I'm not an expert, but this is what I'd do. I realise time is very limited nowRemember as well that if there is nothing in his estate his debts die with him, although if you've already paid them you won't get the money back. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Ell-enn]

Why do they think you owe them the money ?

[caro]

My Farther also had an insurance policy for around £20,000. She wanted the lot but I was advised to offer her £15,000 to avoid going to court and she accepted. I was advised that dad’s debts come first so I used the money from the policy to clear some of them leaving a mortgageicon and few credit cards to pay off.

[caro]

Hope you see this, but when it comes to costs you could ask the judge if each side could bear their own costs as their is not the money in the estate to cover them. This means they will have to pay their own legal costs. The judge may not agree, but if you don't ask you don't get!

[goodatresearch]

Who on earth advised you to pay £15,000?

 

Its very difficult for an ex spouse to challenge a Will, on what basis is she saying shes a dependant?

 

Why is the step sister a dependant? Is she under 18?

 

Think you may have been given bad advice. Did you actually speak to a probate solicitor?

[steampowered]

Hope the hearing went well for you. If you need more help, do update us. There is not much we can do to help with only a day's notice, but maybe we can help you more with the next hearing!

[goodatresearch]

I'm a little confused. Is this just about the CCj or the actual Will?

 

As iv said previously, its very difficult for an ex wife and step daughter to challenge a Will. The presumption is that you are entitled to leave your estate to whom ever you want. To successfully overturn a Will there has to be exceptional circumstances. This would be dealt with by a specialist probate court who are used to people bringing frivolous actions. They also look at the length of the marriage, how long divorced etc. You also have to remember that the ex wife/stepsister would not get legal aid for this, the chances of losing for them is extremely high and this leaves them open to a very big bill.

 

Did your dad or his ex wife remarry? Have you looked at the decree nisi? What did it say? Was it a clean break? All future claims barred?

 

These are all relevant questions.

 

As for the CCJ, did you not challenge it at the time? What was the insurance policy for? Who was nominated to receive it on your dads death? Did you sign anything agreeing the £15,0000?

 

We really need more details to assist.

[goodatresearch]

OK I've just re read everything. They said they'd challenge the Will if you didn't give them £15,000 from the policy. You paid debts etc from the policy proceeds and was going to give them the £15,000 from the estate. They then obtained a CCJ for the £15,000 which you didn't contest.

 

Did you sign anything agreeing to the £15,000? If not, you could get this set a side.

 

As to the Will, it sounds like a bluff to me. If they've received legal advise they will have been told about how expensive this would be for them to challenge. Are they so rich they can take the risk. If it was so easy to challenge everyone would be doing it.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure where to start with this I suppose first thanks for looking and I appreciate any advice you can offer I will be as brief as I can.

 

When my dad passed 4 days after my step sisters mother landed on my door step demanding 50% of his estate which had been left to me in his will. I of course refused since she was an ex wife of approximately 20 years but my step sister (who dad hadn’t seen for years, but paid CSA till she was 18) said she had grounds to contest his will.

 

My Farther also had an insurance policy for around £20,000. She wanted the lot but I was advised to offer her £15,000 to avoid going to court and she accepted. I was advised that dad’s debts come first so I used the money from the policy to clear some of them leaving a mortgage and few credit cards to pay off.

 

After a lot of messing about getting buildings signed over it was finally late 2013 all buildings where signed over and in December we had the bank onto us saying that they would give us till April 1st 2014 to sort out the money for the house we are living in that my dad mortgaged for us or they would take it back leaving us homeless.

We have been unable to secure a high street mortgage to pay the amount owing on the house and now my sister too.

We did get the go ahead on bridging finance to cover the cost of the house pay my sister off and clear off my small amount of debt to be able to have a better chance at a High street mortgage to put me back on track. Which we are in the process of finalizing now.

 

My sister (or her legal aid solicitor) has taken me to court for the £15,000 which is the main reason I’m here. The court suggested I apply to stay it. I’m unable to get representation as I really can’t afford it at the moment with everything else on my plate with the completion of the bridging finance close their solicitor has informed me that trying to stay it giving me a bit of extra time is doomed to fail and I should withdraw my request saying loan is imminent I have a stay hearing tomorrow and I have no idea what I’m going to walk into if its just talking to the judge or am I going to end up being bullied by a solicitor?

 

Thanks again in advance for reading.

 

Sorry she didn't contest the will this was a settlement she wanted and this hearing is because she couldn't wait and has applied for a CCJ this hearing tomorrow is to set aside the CCJ

 

 

 

Hi in this post syra you say you were advised to offer her £15K who advised this please?

[goodatresearch]

Iv already asked this Brig and its a very good question.

 

I can't imagine any good solicitor advising to give in to this type of blackmail, especially knowing, as a good solicitor should, that its difficult to contest a Will and very, very expensive if you lose.

 

 

Hi in this post syra you say you were advised to offer her £15K who advised this please?