Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

[Inheritthewind]

Hello, hopefully one of you kind people will be able to help please:

Claimant Arrow Global Limited (with Restons Solicitors Limited also mentioned) have sent a County Court Claim Form, to my father-in-law, who sadly passed away last year.

I have gone through similar myself where I was sent a Court Claim and in that instance, thanks to help from people on this Forum, I responded requesting an Agreement / Contract and Notice of Assignment, which didn't arrive, and ultimately the claim wasn't pursued in court. However, this situation is obviously different for many reasons; a) I don't really know anything about the claimed debt they're referring to, b) technically I don't know how it works when the letter was addressed to my late father in law and not to the person who's actually found and opened the letter (it was sent to the address he lived at when he passed away) and c) not to mention the fact they are threatening to take a deceased person to court!

Any advice/suggestions would be most welcome.

Thank you

[charitynjw]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Is there an executor?

[Inheritthewind]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

I probably should have mentioned, he didn't have a will, so no named executors. He died intestate.
Technically his children have acted in this role by sorting out the estate etc.

[Diana M]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Claimant Arrow Global Limited (with Restons Solicitors Limited also mentioned) have sent a County Court Claim Form, to my father-in-law, who sadly passed away last year.

. . . the letter was addressed to my late father in law and not to the person who's actually found and opened the letter (it was sent to the address he lived at when he passed away) and c) not to mention the fact they are threatening to take a deceased person to court

May I ask an important question which I hope is not too indelicate.

Precisely who is named as the Defendant on the claim form?

Is it:

(a) Mr Father-in-Law

or

(b) The Estate of Mr Father-in-Law

Your answer to this question may lead to your next legal step.

Di

[Inheritthewind]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

No problem at all

They have named a) Mr Father in Law and it was addressed to him at the address they have on record for him, and not to the estate.

There doesn't appear to be any acknowledgement from the people who have brought this claim, that the person they have raised it against is deceased. I don't think they even realise.

[Diana M]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

They have named Mr Father in Law and it was addressed to him at the address they have on record for him, and not to the estate.

Then they may have a problem as far as litigation is concerned.

Is any family member officially the Administrator of your late Father-in-Law's affairs or has sorting out the estate been a bit casual so far?

he didn't have a will, so no named executors. He died intestate.
Technically his children have acted in this role by sorting out the estate etc.

Di

[spirit2534]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Just a couple of thoughts;
Does the person who has received the claim just return it by saying
a) no longer here
b) return it, explain that person is dead.

Presumably some one will have to file for probate?

[Inheritthewind]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Apologies if I get any terminology wrong throughout this thread.

As there was no will, it went through probate and his two children looked after everything. He didn't have a widow and he didn't own a house (he rented the flat he was living in when he passed away). He had a couple of bank accounts and a pension and what was left in there following payment for the funeral was split between the children.

We went through all the paperwork in my father-in-law's flat and didn't find any record of this debt, it didn't come up at all in any dealings with solicitors etc. either.

[nemesis45]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Apologies if I get any terminology wrong throughout this thread.

As there was no will, it went through probate and his two children looked after everything. He didn't have a widow and he didn't own a house (he rented the flat he was living in when he passed away). He had a couple of bank accounts and a pension and what was left in there following payment for the funeral was split between the children.

We went through all the paperwork in my father-in-law's flat and didn't find any record of this debt, it didn't come up at all in any dealings with solicitors etc. either.

Good morning,
Was there any money/ property in the estate and has it been distributed to family members?

nem

[warwick65]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Good morning,
Was there any money/ property in the estate and has it been distributed to family members?

nem

In the previous post the OP says there was no property but there was some money distributed to the children of the deceased.

Inheritthewind,
I am not sure the legal position now , obviously there can be no cci against your father in law

I believe that in cases where there is no will the correct thing to do is advertise in the London Gazette for creditors

AS you found no details of the alleged debt maybe its worth writing to the claimant saying your father in law passed away on xxxxxx and enclose a copy of the death certificate . Then explain you would have been in touch if there had been any record of the account anywhere amongst his possessions
[MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] , what do you think. I wouldn't want to maybe cause more trouble

[Inheritthewind]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Thanks all for your responses so far.

Yes just to confirm, there was no Property and the money left in his bank accounts and from his pension was split between his children.

I'm not sure whether the obvious option (to respond to them and advise he is no longer with us) would be the best one to take, it makes sense to me if it is but then I also worry that these are the types of companies who would then try to go after the bereaved family members, so I just want to be 100% sure I do the right thing all round.

[nemesis45]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Thanks all for your responses so far.

Yes just to confirm, there was no Property and the money left in his bank accounts and from his pension was split between his children.

I'm not sure whether the obvious option (to respond to them and advise he is no longer with us) would be the best one to take, it makes sense to me if it is but then I also worry that these are the types of companies who would then try to go after the bereaved family members, so I just want to be 100% sure I do the right thing all round.

I would send the claim pack back to the court with a covering letter stating the defendant is deceased.

nem

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks all for your responses so far.

Yes just to confirm, there was no Property and the money left in his bank accounts and from his pension was split between his children.

I'm not sure whether the obvious option (to respond to them and advise he is no longer with us) would be the best one to take, it makes sense to me if it is but then I also worry that these are the types of companies who would then try to go after the bereaved family members, so I just want to be 100% sure I do the right thing all round.

I would send the claim pack back to the court with a covering letter stating the defendant is deceased.

nem

[warwick65]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Thanks all for your responses so far.

Yes just to confirm, there was no Property and the money left in his bank accounts and from his pension was split between his children.

I'm not sure whether the obvious option (to respond to them and advise he is no longer with us) would be the best one to take, it makes sense to me if it is but then I also worry that these are the types of companies who would then try to go after the bereaved family members, so I just want to be 100% sure I do the right thing all round.

That is potentially the problem but a lot will depends on the amount of the balance. Of course if the debt was unenforceable it will always be that way.

[Inheritthewind]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

Thanks again all.
I suppose the question is, how do we know whether it's enforceable or not? Whilst we've seen no paperwork relating to this, and nothing has come up in the nearly year since his passing, the reality is that I don't know.
If sending a letter advising the person they're trying to take to court is only going to end up leading to them trying to get the money from his bereaved family instead, it'd be great to try and preempt that by a)advising them of this and b)putting our cards on the table and asking them for proof of what this 'debt' refers to, in the same letter (or would that simply end up potentially playing into their hands)? I dread to think of the distress this could cause his children as the death was very sudden and the wounds from the tragedy are barely even beginning to heal as it is.

[Diana M]

Re: Arrow Global/Restons Solicitors - County Court Claim send to deceased person

I'm not sure whether the obvious option (to respond to them and advise he is no longer with us) would be the best one to take, it makes sense to me if it is but then I also worry that these are the types of companies who would then try to go after the bereaved family members, so I just want to be 100% sure I do the right thing all round.

This is very straightforward

You write to Restons solicitors (since they have conduct of the case) to inform them that the Defendant is deceased. Enclose a copy of the death certificate with the letter.

At the same time you ask them to Discontinue the claim.

You also write to the court to tell them that the Defendant is deceased and enclose a copy of the death certificate, and a copy of your letter to Restons together with the returned claim form (N1 etc).

Keep a copy of your letter to the court and the returned claim form which you need to enclose that with your correspondence to Restons so that they know you've informed the court.

Copy the whole lot to Arrow so they're kept in the loop. They have the freedom to instruct their solicitors to Discontinue if they want.

The court has no power to dismiss the claim (unless a Defence is filed or an Application made) and no power to order a Discontinuance. Only the Claimant can halt these legal proceedings at this point in time.

I asked (post # 4) if the Defendant was named as Mr Father-in-Law or The Estate of Mr Father-in-Law because the Claimant cannot claim against a deceased person only their estate.

Did Father-in-Law have any life insurance and if so who was the beneficiary? If there was a named beneficiary such as ex-wife or a charity etc then the Claimant cannot make a claim on that money. If the beneficiary was the estate then they (Arrow) would be in a position to make a claim against those monies.

However in order for that claim to be successful the Claimant would need to have an enforceable debt.

Depending on the response you get from Restons, your wife (or another family member) may wish to send Restons a s.77-79 CCA Request as a back up legal argument if this trundles on.

Di