Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

[Mark260681]

Hi, thank you for taking the time to read this, recently we had a court official turn up on our door step with forms from our local county court for my wife from a debt recovery company who had made no attempt to previously contact her and as far as she was concerned there was no debt, as she had paid this, it dated back about 10years. The issue is that I have terminal cancer and my health has seriously declined due to the stress caused. I have had a number of absent seizures which I had got under control before this and yesterday had a partial seizure which is basically a epileptic fit but I was fully conscious during it. I have put in a formal letter of complaint to them and they have acknowledged my complaint and have told me they will investigate over the next 8 weeks, they are aware of the serious health issues they have caused myself. I just wondered what the laws are concerning causing serious health issues like this to third parties, if they had contacted my wife prior to involving the courts they would have been aware of my condition and I wouldn't have been placed in this position. Will say the court has apologised to me for there part and couldn't distance self enough from the company and also suggested I seek compensation from them and gave all details for the debt agency so I could take the matter up with them

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Hi Mark, Sorry to hear you are going through a tough time, having a court process server at the door is never a pleasant surprise.

Was it an order to attend court for questioning following a CCJ ? or something else? Statutory Demand ?

What is the original debt and have you spoken with the court about the claim as you may need to apply to set any judgment aside and defend it. Has our wife moved house since the debt was sorted out 10 years ago which may explain why she didn't get any documents/letters previously ?

Whatever it is will need dealing with as well as any complaint you have made about their treatment of you. Being fair on the DCA and court, they wouldn't know about your health situation until such time as they had cause to come into contact with you - it is the way they act now that is important.

[Mark260681]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

It was an attachment of earnings form, my wife has spoken to the dca and they are looking into the debt because it's been so long, I did question there morals over the phone and they admitted they perhaps should have made contact by post before sending court officials around

- - - Updated - - -

The original debt was a loan from welcome finance when my wife was 18, she's 33 now nearly 34. She believes she paid it off by time she was 21

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Indeed they should, and the AoE form should only come after their is a CCJ - so I suspect there would be quite a lot of communication gone to an old address.

So the debt would have been statute barred - that is presuming the CCJ was obtained less than 6 years ago - and that is a defence to the claim regardless of whether your wife was correct in believing it was paid off back when she was 21.

Have you checked both of your credit files (try noddle) and the register of judgments ? ( check on http://www.trustonline.org.uk/ ) - If a CCJ had been obtained that you weren't aware of it should show on there if it is under 6 years old.

You could then apply to have the judgment set aside, allowing your wife to defend the claim, as this is the first you have known about it. This would remove it from your credit files and the register of judgments and halt any enforcement action they might be taking.

[Mark260681]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

My wife had already checked and there was no record, sorry I meant expenditure form, I get confused sometimes due to the brain tumour, thank you for your help so far

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

That's okay. I'm just checking whether there is anything you need to do other than the complaint to the DCA, to protect yourselves from any further stress/action on the issue in the future.

It could be the CCJ was obtained over 6 years ago and has since been removed from the register ( in which case the judgment holder would need permission from the court to attempt enforcement) OR it could be in your wife's maiden name and old address if she has had nothing about it since she was 21.

It could be worth calling the court and asking them if there's any record, and when the judgment was obtained etc - there should be a claim number on the forms served by the court.

Once you know exactly what the situation is you can see if you want/need to do anything about it other than the complaint to the DCA who owns the judgment debt.

[Mark260681]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

As well as putting the letter of complaint I also wrote to the court who sent the official out and they wrote back extremely quickly to apologise for what had happened and to distance them self as far as they could from the company involved, the court gave all the details for the dca and also there solicitors and said they were asked to pass the paper work over and that was as far as there involvement went, it was in my wife's maiden name, we have been married over 3 years.

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Who are the DCA and solicitors ?

Any chance you can post up or email me (admin@legalbeagles.info) a photo of the document you were served with, that might help a bit.

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Thanks for sending that over.

Okay there is a judgment and they applied for an attachment of earnings order. That was served on you and you responded on form N56 stating you were unemployed, the court has reviewed the case and dismissed the application for an attachment of earnings.

They do have other forms of enforcement available to them so I do think you should deal with the source of this to save any future issues, but it is your wife that will need to do it as it is in her name. It may be that they back off following your complaint and your notifying them of your circumstances so you could wait to go through the complaints process with them, but I think I would be asking them to agree to set aside the judgment and allowing your wife to defend. I know it is probably the last bloody thing you're worried about, but as you have said you are a believer in justice I think a conciliatory apology from the claimant with the CCJ still sitting there in the background isn't going to satisfy you.

The set aside application does carry a cost of £155 with a heairng or £50 without (by consent) and you might ( more than likely actually) be eligible for fee remission ( see form EX160 )

maybe something along these lines.....(adding in more bits reference your complaint that is already with them)

Dear Restons (or whoever the solicitors are)

Reference xxxxxxxxxxxx Claim #XX3456

Further to your above reference and my subsequent complaint, which is on going, I am now aware that your client appears to have obtained a judgment by default on a debt which you allege was owed to Welcome Finance.

I have no further details of this original claim and request that you send copies of documentation to me. I did not receive the original court documents and had no knowledge of any proceedings or judgment until I was served with the Attachment of Earnings order on xx/xx/2015. I have checked my credit file and the register of judgment and there is no record of any county court judgment against me.

The alleged original debt appears to be a loan which was taken out in xxxxxxx and was repaid in full in xxxxxxxxxxxx. I have had no communication or contact with either Welcome Finance or any third party since that date. In xxxxxxxx I moved house and in xxxxxxxx I changed my surname due to marriage. It is my contention that any debt owed to Welcome finance was paid in full and therefore no debt was owed. Further, it is my contention that any debt owed, which is denied, would have been time barred by virtue of section 5 of the Limitations Act 1980, long before any court action was taken.

I intend to make an application to the court to set-aside the judgment and allow me to defend your client's claim. In the interest of saving costs and any further adverse affects on my husbands health I ask that your client consent to set aside the judgment in the first instance, and consider withdrawing the claim against me.

I will be making the application to set-aside the judgment at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx county court on xxxxxxx ( say 14 days ?) and I would appreciate your clients agreement in writing before that date.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Mark260681]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Thank you for the advice I will speak to her about this matter

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice needed for terminal cancer patient

Ok and (((((((((((((( hug)))))))))))))))))))), just because xx