Affidavit of Truth & Affidavit of Obligation

[Archer1902]

My husband's step father has taken money gifted to us during our wedding. He was angry that we questioned this and said he would take us to court over money owed to him for a gift he paid for my wife during the wedding. During the wedding his financial contribution was minimal because my husband paid for most of the wedding costs.

 

Since this time he has called us threatening to call my husband's employer and get him blacklisted and also threatened to take us to court by telephone, he then sent us a pre-action letter for £10,000 that was owed to him but did not provide any evidence.

 

We responded to this via a letter which pointed out our evidence to counter this claim point by point, since this he has not taken us to court but his wife has left him due to ill treatment and domestic violence and is now in refuge (there is a strong chance that he believes that my mother-in-law is living with not in the refuge).

 

On this same day he called my husband's employer wanting to set up direct debit from my husband's salary. My mother-in-law has logged her domestic violence case against him. He has now sent an affidavit of the truth making false claims which the notary says they have not advised on but only witnessed his statement. My mother in law's solicitor advised not to respond to the affidavit of truth as there is no legal remit.

 

He has now sent an affidavit of obligation demanding compensation for the harassment we have caused and would like a million pounds from each of the respondents (myself, my husband, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law). The police are yet to investigate him regarding the domestic violence case my mother in law has reported. We have gone to the police to report harassment but they say this is a civil matter.

 

In light of this, we are considering writing a letter to my husband's step-father to stop sending such legal documents without the use of a solicitor or threaten us with court action without following through with taking this to court, we will have no choice but to report you to the police for harassment. We will not be responding to these affidavits or any letters sent to us unless they are from a solicitor or the courts.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

A

[AndyOrch]

Thread moved to the appropriate forum

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Archer1902]

Thanks Andy

[steampowered]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

It sounds like this person is losing the plot of life. Clearly, asking the employer to set up a direct debit and asking for a million pounds is not realistic.

 

The affidavit doesn't mean anything - the purpose of a notary is to verify the identity of the person signing the document, nothing more.

 

I think you've got the right approach. I would just say that you do not agree with the statements made in the affidavit, mention that any court proceedings will be fully defended, mention that you will not respond to future approaches about this matter unless they are through a solicitor or the courts and leave it at that. It doesn't sound like it would be helpful to go into the details.

 

I am in two minds about whether it is worth mentioning that you will report him to the police for harassment. This would be completely justifiable but it could also provoke him. My experience is that the police don't tend to get involved with harassment complaints unless things go on for a very long time, and also that people in a difficult frame of mind can sometimes make false or unjustified retaliatory police reports of their own in response. This is your call.

 

It is probably worth keeping this factual and polite. The hope must be that your husband and the step-father can one day reconcile, once the father-in-law has sorted himself out.

[Archer1902]

Thanks Steampowered for your detailed response! - Really appreciate it.

 

He's a complete tool! We went to gather my mother-in-laws recently and he was not cooperative to us or the Police Officer that came to escort. We will have to proceed to getting a letter from the Solicitor to enter the property.

 

We have sent the letter asking him politely to stop however, he's sent another letter this time to my husbands workplace with Affidavit of Fault and Opportunity to Cure basically summarising the Affidavit of Obligation and giving us a deadline of 31 days to pay back the £4 million in compensation.

 

We do not want to be associated with him in any way. All we want to do is get rid of him for once and for all. We will be visiting the police station to file for a harassment case.