debts after breakup

[Hurricane Puffrose]

A friend came to me yesterday in tears, her brothers partner has walked out on him (a sad all too common occurance up here) and taken the little girl.

He went home to find the house looking like falujah without on clean towel in the house, and as he sat down he had a knock on the door, it was a ballif with a writ for over £2000 in debts that, to his knowlegde his now ex had paid.

She hasn't paid a car loan for over 7 months, the gas for over 8 months, the electricity is being put on key meter soon as she hasnt paid that, the water has over £400 owing as she hasnt paid that. Every letter she recieved she threw in the bin, and he has bank statements showing the money for the bills being taken out the account 3-4 days before the amount were due.

Is there any way that he can get any of his money back from her as, to his mind, she has spent the lot on clothes etc as (for a family of 3) they were getting through £250 a week, i have a family of 5 and my weekly food shop is under £150.

On a positive note, the baillif who came out looked at all the details, took a payment of £40 as a note of willingness to pay and is refering the debts to the creditors as to his mind, the Ex stole this mans money.. and yes I will find out the name of the baillif so we can issue him his gold star!

[Sapphire]

Re: debts after breakup

First off he needs to change the locks, just in case this piece of xxxx decides to come back and remove things.
As soon as possible he needs to go through every bill/debt etc and work out whats in his name and whats in hers, anything in her name he should write to them and give them her new address (if he has it), then he should write to everyone of those in his name, explain the situation and ask for time to sort himself out, with a promise to send each one an up to date income and expenditure form as soon as possible with offers of payment.
Oh and its not just up there, its everywhere, I know of at least 3 people who have gone to work and upon their return the other half has taken off and in two cases all of the furniture etc as well, one was my brother in law in the 90's, its done him a favour ever since then he went from strength to strength.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

update,

as far as im aware its a council home and the debts were in his name, but Debs will find out for me, she took all the clean stuff and left him in a house that took 5 hours just to clean the kitchen and with an empty fridge, so the poor love couldnt even make a sandwich, she even took the teabags!

we can do the cosmetic things, but she literally took a weeks wages and squanderd it ev every week for something insane like 9 months, the poor man didnt even know he was in debt to that extent!

debts we know of so far, Water Board over £400 (2 years she didnt pay)
Gas £500 (no payments since last sept)
Electricity £1400 (no payments since last feb)
Car loan £700 (no payments since last august)
rent/mortage Amount to be confirmed but she hadnt paid it for at least 4 months
council tax £250 (no payments since august)

All the bills for the amounts were found under the sofa, reminders were binned the final demands are being found in recycling bags etc.

[Sapphire]

Re: debts after breakup

Okies on the face of it hun its not surmountable, as I said above, the best favour you can do the guy is get hold of the letters and do the writing, ask him for a copy of his wage slip and do the income & expenditure form and send it with the letters and ask for a months grace on all bills so the lad can get his head together.
Once its done, give him a ((((Hug)))) from us here.
Oh and make sure he gets any cards that she may have stopped, pin numbers changed to his accounts and so on.
Then I reckon he could report her for theft, but Bluebottle as an ex copper could advise more on that.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

yeh i was wondering if he could.. ive literally just got in from his house!!

[Sapphire]

Re: debts after breakup

I've pm'd Bluebottle to spread his wings and get over here.

Buzzzz Buzzzzz Buzzzzz

So how was the house, did you manage to grab the paperwork ?

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

the living room looked like an atomic bomb had gone off!

We found 14 towels (dirty) in there alone! and there were dirty cups etc everywhere. found a letter saying if they are having problems paying to ring, and he rang them at once to explain, they are being very understanding about it, and his bank have offered him an appointment with a financial advisor (Lloyds bank folks) and the guy who came out was from Alpha One Baillifs we cant make out his name on the slip, so a GOLD STAR to him, I advised him to write to the company and thank them, as the baillif showed initiative and has referred the debt back to the creditors as, to his mind my friends brother has been robbed!

[Shadowcat]

Re: debts after breakup

There are people on LB who know more about bailiffs than the bailiffs themselves so that is one area that can be helped quickly. If they are not court bailiffs I think their powers are very limited to trying their luck.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

According to this lad, the baillif was incredible!

He said look, its gonna cost cos i had to come out but I will take it was a willingness to pay, and he put on his writ REFER TO CREDITOR, POSSIBLE THEFT FROM DEBTOR, he cant sing the baillifs praises highly enough, said he was very fair and understanding!

I know.. dont have a heart attack, we found a baillif with a braincell!!

[teaboy2]

Re: debts after breakup

Was the wages and money she took out of the bank in a joint account or in his own seperate account? If so then it is theft!

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

i'm not sure teaboy, I think it was his but i shall ask when i see my friend.

[bluebottle]

Re: debts after breakup

Hi,

Need a few questions answered in order to be able to answer the question, "Should she be nicked?"

Was the guy in a registered civil partnership with this light-fingered lady?
Was the bank account she was drawing cash from his private account or a joint account?
In whose name were the utility accounts?
Is the little girl his, hers or theirs?

All due credit to the bailiff for using commonsense. A rarity, nay, a miracle, that a certificated bailiff should do such a thing.

[Sapphire]

Re: debts after breakup

A bailiff with a brain should be in an exhibition of rarities.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: debts after breakup

Hi,

Need a few questions answered in order to be able to answer the question, "Should she be nicked?"

Was the guy in a registered civil partnership with this light-fingered lady?
They were in a relationship, but i dont think they ever made it "official".

Was the bank account she was drawing cash from his private account or a joint account?
Dont know atm but I find out for you

In whose name were the utility accounts?
I think in his, but again I will find out

Is the little girl his, hers or theirs?
She is theirs, and shes a poppet!!

All due credit to the bailiff for using commonsense. A rarity, nay, a miracle, that a certificated bailiff should do such a thing.

Yeh i said to him, gimme his name and company i gotta tell the beagles!!

[Bill-K]

Re: debts after breakup

Yeh i said to him, gimme his name and company i gotta tell the beagles!!

Yes indeedy, Puff. Credit where it's due.