Court costs

[Help please 2015]

Court costs

Hi all,

I have recently had to withdraw from a very lengthy contentious probate battle regarding my Grandmothers Will. Needless to say I am now liable for the other party's costs, somewhere in the region of £29,000.
I am a married woman with two small children, I am a stay at home parent with no income of my own. Myself and my husband do own our own home.
My worry here is what will happen now, obviously my main worry is that they will try and take my house or put some kind of charge on the property.
I would like to put an offer to the other party of a monthly amount to pay, is this something I can do? Does anyone have any advice?

[des8]

Re: Court costs

Hi and welcome.
My sympathies for the situation you find yourself in.
Basically the creditor will have to go to court for a CCJ and charging order
At that time your husband will need to declare a beneficial interest in the house and should tell the court so the charging order is on your share only.
The creditor can then apply for a sale order on your share, but your husband can then tell the court why he should not lose his home when he does not owe the debt

• e.g. i)there are children living in the property. You can ask the court to make it a condition of the charging order that the property can't be sold until the children have grown up.
• ii)the need to stay close to work or school and the difficulty of finding suitable accommodation to move to in the area
• iii)if he paid for the deposit to buy the home
• iv)if he's been making the mortgage payments.
• You can always make an offer, it won't hurt but he other side may not accept
• Others will be along soon with more advice

[Help please 2015]

Re: Court costs

Hi and welcome.
My sympathies for the situation you find yourself in.
Basically the creditor will have to go to court for a CCJ and charging order
At that time your husband will need to declare a beneficial interest in the house and should tell the court so the charging order is on your share only.
The creditor can then apply for a sale order on your share, but your husband can then tell the court why he should not lose his home when he does not owe the debt

• e.g. i)there are children living in the property. You can ask the court to make it a condition of the charging order that the property can't be sold until the children have grown up.
• ii)the need to stay close to work or school and the difficulty of finding suitable accommodation to move to in the area
• iii)if he paid for the deposit to buy the home
• iv)if he's been making the mortgage payments.
• Others will be along soon with more advice

Thanks so much for the prompt reply.

My husband pays the mortgage and he put the deposit down with inheritance money from his late grandad.

My husband pays everything, it was his earnings that got us the mortgage as I'm a stay at home mother of two small children.

Regards

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court costs

I have recently had to withdraw from a very lengthy contentious probate battle regarding my Grandmothers Will. Needless to say I am now liable for the other party's costs, somewhere in the region of £29,000.
I am a married woman with two small children, I am a stay at home parent with no income of my own. Myself and my husband do own our own home.
My worry here is what will happen now, obviously my main worry is that they will try and take my house or put some kind of charge on the property.
I would like to put an offer to the other party of a monthly amount to pay, is this something I can do? Does anyone have any advice?

Hi and welcome.
My sympathies for the situation you find yourself in.
Basically the creditor will have to go to court for a CCJ and charging order

If there is a costs order, there is no need to go to court and get a CCJ, a costs order is also an order from the court and works in much the same way as a CCJ in terms of enforcement, although unlike a CCJ, it won't show up on credit files because it's not related to credit.

With a court order (CCJ or costs order), the other side can apply for a charging order even if there is a repayment plan in place and you are up to date with your payments. If the property is jointly owned but the debt is in your sole name, they can only record a restriction against the property.

We need to know a bit more to be able to comment further. :typing:

[des8]

Re: Court costs

With a court order (CCJ or costs order), the other side can apply for a charging order even if there is a repayment plan in place and you are up to date with your payments. If the property is jointly owned but the debt is in your sole name, they can only record a restriction against the property.

I thought that where the debt is one person's, but there was property in joint names, the creditor could apply for an order to realise their interest in the property
A final charging order would give a creditor an interest in the debtor's share of the property.
Or have I misunderstood , yet again!

[Amethyst]

Re: Court costs

If the costs have been ordered by the court then you must pay them and should contact the other sides solicitors to try and come to an arrangement to pay.

Yes they could apply for a charging order and that could progress to a sale order, although as it is your family home and you have young children it is more likely they would get a charge over the property and an installment order. A restriction could be imposed instead of a charging order but it depends how your home is owned.

Alternatively they could apply to make you bankrupt.

Have you spoken with the other side since receiving the costs order?

Did you take advice before discontinuing the claim ? and have the costs been assessed by the court ? ( posting up a copy of the costs order may be of help)

Communication is really going to be the key here and so you should try and deal with it as soon as possible.

[pt2537]

Re: Court costs

If the costs have been ordered by the court then you must pay them and should contact the other sides solicitors to try and come to an arrangement to pay.

Yes they could apply for a charging order and that could progress to a sale order, although as it is your family home and you have young children it is more likely they would get a charge over the property and an installment order. A restriction could be imposed instead of a charging order but it depends how your home is owned.

Alternatively they could apply to make you bankrupt.

Have you spoken with the other side since receiving the costs order?

Did you take advice before discontinuing the claim ? and have the costs been assessed by the court ? ( posting up a copy of the costs order may be of help)

Communication is really going to be the key here and so you should try and deal with it as soon as possible.

I agree with Ame, the risk of bankruptcy is real and present here, if they have a cost order they can enforce via any routes that they could with a judgment. IF you have assets then they may even transfer the matter to the high court and send a HCEO, which could sieze any vehicles, assets etc, subject to certain rules etc.

I

[Help please 2015]

Re: Court costs

I agree with Ame, the risk of bankruptcy is real and present here, if they have a cost order they can enforce via any routes that they could with a judgment. IF you have assets then they may even transfer the matter to the high court and send a HCEO, which could sieze any vehicles, assets etc, subject to certain rules etc.

I

Hi,

So far far all we have received is an email from GMS Law showing a court order with costs of up to £29k.


since then we have emailed them to see if they would accept a monthly payment plan.
What concerns me is I haven't received a reply now and it's been a couple of days however at the end of their email it states that interest is at 8%.
Is this added daily?

The whole situation has shown me how the system has failed a venerable woman of her wishes and allowed somebody to come along and get her to sign another will three months before she sadly passed away with Alzheimer's.

We have used all our life savings to fight this, the reason we had to pull out was due running out of funds and my ill health.

We were informed the day before the hearing that it was taking place, and in half term week I was unable to get childcare.

All I could do was send a email to the courts explaining my situation. I want ed the costs to be assessed by the court.

I feel because of this the judge has punish me.

where do I go now with no money?

[Amethyst]

Re: Court costs

It is added daily but it is an annual interest rate - 8% per year. It works out about 0.022% a day so about £6 a day ( my maths isn't brilliant so check that )

The hearing that you were unable to attend - was that the costs assessment hearing? Had you been given a breakdown ?

Could you post up the order from the court that GMS Law have sent to you.

Were you not represented at all ? Did you have any advice going into this ?

Were you arguing lack of mental capacity at the time of signing the new will ?

[Help please 2015]

Re: Court costs



- - - Updated - - -

Trying to attach but can't see where you do it

[Help please 2015]

Re: Court costs

It wasn't a costs assessment hearing it was a hearing to end proceedings.

we had no legal backing as no one would help as we had no money.

yes we argued last of mental capacity.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Court costs

Trying to attach but can't see where you do it

You need to be in advanced mode to post attachments. Click the 'Go Advanced' button, then scroll down to 'Manage Attachments'.

This thread may be of help: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...r-details-safe!)

[Amethyst]

Re: Court costs

Do you mind telling us a bit about the issue with the will ? All I know from your thread is that it was your grandmothers will, she had alzheimers and changed her will 3 months before her passing.

What was it changed from and to ? who benefited from the change ?

(I've pm'd you my email if its easier to send me the order to redact and post)

[Amethyst]

Re: Court costs

Hiya, Thank your OH for sending those through for me xx

Okay - you came to an agreement with the other party - did you have that in writing ? and was it via a consent order ? as the terms of discontinuance are quite specific and really do wipe out any claim against the estate whatsoever. If it was in writing then need to see that but from the court order it sounds pretty sewn up.

What did they claim against you for and what was your defence and counterclaim (basically) ?

Costs have been assessed at £19000 plus VAT - so £22800 overall. So we'll need to put together some form of offer to pay to the solicitors. You could consider using your home to secure the costs while making installment payments, by way of a voluntary charging order.

Actually if you can fwd me the email from GMS that might help format a response.

[Amethyst]

Re: Court costs

Docs.