finding a lawyer (child support related)

[UncleBulgaria]

Hello all, I'm trying to help my sister-in-law with a difficult situation she found herself in. She isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but needs to get a lawyer to help with a claim for back payment of child support that the CSA can no longer act on (or so they say).

The situation is this:
- Sis & hubby had a bad breakup when their kid was 7 (now just turned 18) and he moved out and they divorced.
- They sold the house and he agree to pay £35k as a deposit on a new house for Sis & kid (she had a mortgage of £60k on the new place) and agreed to pay child support for the kid up to age 18. So far so good.
- Hubby stopped paying child support after a few payments and moved to Thailand with a new girlfriend (now wife). The CSA chased him via letter a few times and gave up trying to reach him.
-Hubby dropped off the radar (his family stonewalled us when trying to get info) and in spite of the odd sneaky drop-by to see his kid when he was in the country (he would arrange this with his kid by email), he was absent.
-Last year Sis lost her job locally and ended up moving to London to get another one, but the time out of work and the cost of keeping 2 places going had burned any savings and dropped her in a hole of debt (she didn't tell us until she was nearly buried) so she is selling the house.

That leads us to the situation she is in now - hubby owes £50k is unpaid child support but the CSA refuse to go after him for is as the child is now just over 18. She is going to have to give about half the profit from the proceeds of the house sale (£35k) to him in spite of him owing her £50k. She will have very little left after paying off her loans etc she has built up just to keep the lights on.

Hubby is refusing to answer solicitors letters sent to the family address (the family still refuse to give details other than his bank details). We have his email but he is refusing to negotiate over the debt.

This is why we need a specialist who understands the law in this sort of situation and can hopefully avoid her giving away the money he loaned for the mortgage on the house when he owes much more to her.

The CSA have a difficult case here but their refusal to go after debt built up when the kid was a minor now is galling.

If anyone can recommend a suitable legal professional that can help, ideally be based in London (central/west) and is available soon - I would be grateful.

Thanks
Iain

[melonfool]

The CSA (CMA) are useless and they don't chase payments once someone is outside the UK, so she can stop banging her head on that wall.

My friend used an ace solicitor her similar issue. I have the details at home, PM me to remind me to send them to you.

To be honest, if she withholds the equity from the house, what's he going to do? If he takes her to court she'll have his address to serve him papers for her claim, won't she

Mel

[UncleBulgaria]

Thanks Mel, I think there is a contract that stipulates that in the case of the house being sold, the deposit money is returned to him. Her solicitor says he is required to do this which is why we need someone to help put a legal block on it if possible.
Iain

[DrBunsenHoneydew]

I think there is a contract that stipulates that in the case of the house being sold, the deposit money is returned to him. Her solicitor says he is required to do this which is why we need someone to help put a legal block on it if possible.
Iain

How's he going to to that? Are they really going to send to the "bank details", without an actual physical address?
Anyway, a private detective would find him in short order probably. As might 192.com etc.

[chas49]

I would ask the solicitor to explain why s/he does not think that a right of set-off exists in respect of the two debts - assuming there is a contractual debt in relation to the house deposit money.

In simple terms, if A owes money (Debt 1) to B, and B owes money (Debt 2) to A (and I think provided that the amounts of the debts can be proved), A can pay B the net amount (Debt 1 - Debt 2) or claim the net amount from B if Debt 2 is greater then Debt 1.

So there shouldn't be any need to pay the house deposit money unless it's more than the child support debt - in which case she should only pay the difference.

Obviously she'll need proper legal advice to confirm all this.

[Clitheroekid]

Thanks Mel, I think there is a contract that stipulates that in the case of the house being sold, the deposit money is returned to him. Her solicitor says he is required to do this which is why we need someone to help put a legal block on it if possible.
Iain

This is absurd. If she's owed £50k she doesn't have to pay him a penny of the £35k.

I assume that the house is in her sole name, and that the ex doesn't have a legal charge registered against it. If so, her solicitor is not bound to pay her ex, and he must act in accordance with her instructions. So if she tells him to pay the whole of the sale proceeds to her he must do so, even if it is on the face of it in breach of the court order.

It's she who is bound by the terms of the order, not the solicitor. Consequently, if she fails to pay her ex the £35k and is therefore in breach of the order her ex would have to apply to the court to enforce the order. When the court finds out that he owes her £50k they will almost certainly throw his application out with the contempt it deserves.

Unfortunately, it's quite possible that the person dealing with her sale may well not be a solicitor at all, or even have any legal qualifications, so is incapable of advising regarding a court order. Even if he is a solicitor he probably only deals with conveyancing so hasn't got a clue about court orders. It's a sad fact that solicitors have been forced to specialise so much these days that it's rare to find one with any knowledge outside their own little sphere.

It's quite ridiculous - a bit like a GP doctor saying that he only deals with sore throats so can't look at your sprained ankle. But this is the way the profession has been steered by the Law Society, who want to make legal practice look a lot more complicated than it really is so as to preserve the `mystique' of the profession (and help justify higher fees!) The main result of their idiotic actions has been to more or less kill off the GP solicitor, which is a great loss to small communities (rant over ).

So she needs to go back to her solicitor and instruct him in writing to pay all the money to her, no ifs or buts. If he is not willing to do so he will then have to justify (in writing) his reasons, in which case you can come back with those reasons to see whether or not they hold water.

However, she should not under any circumstances have to employ a different firm of solicitors to deal with this. She needs to understand (as does her solicitor) that she is employing him to obey her instructions, not the other way round, and that unless it's impossible for the sale to go through without a payment being made to the ex (for example if he has a charge registered) she is entitled to demand payment of the whole of the sale proceeds.

Even if he does have a charge registered payment can be avoided, but we can cross that bridge if and when we need to.

[UncleBulgaria]

Hello Clitherokid, there is a legal charge on the mortgage to repay the £35k, but I hope with the right advice I can help her make the bet decision for her situation.

The guy just upped sticks to move away from my sis-in-law to escape the child support payment and get himself a less troublesome partner in Thailand - leaving his kid and responsibilities behind. What a coward! He is using his mother to push sis-in-law to get him "his money back" but I hope to leave him with a very unpleasant surprise of no money and an outstanding bill to pay if he sets foot back in the country.

He has performed a few visits to his son when he knows sis-in-law is out (the son likes his dad so will do what he asks) and brings the usual bribes of cash presents to him and offers to come and visit him in Thailand, while sis-in-law ends up being stuck with the role of housekeeper, parent, disciplinarian and generally considered uncool as kids of that age think. Having not enough cash to buy food or pay bills is tough and we have had to dig into our reserves to help her avoid repossession so I have a personal interest in making sure she is given a break.

Thank for you advice

Iain

[Clitheroekid]

Hello Clitherokid, there is a legal charge on the mortgage to repay the £35k

Ok, in that case I can understand the difficulty.

What I would suggest is that your SIL / her solicitor contacts the CSA / Child Maintenance Service as a matter of urgency and tells them the position. They have the legal power to intercept the payment to her ex, so can effectively prevent it being paid to him and ensure that it's paid to them instead. They can then pay it to your SIL.

However, she will need to press her case hard, as they are generally pretty hopeless about enforcement, particularly once the child's over 18.

If she gets no sensible response I would suggest that she get her solicitor to write to them warning that if they fail to take prompt action and thereby miss this unique opportunity to grab the cash she will sue them for negligence.

In view of the sums involved it would also be sensible to defer exchanging contracts until they have taken the necessary action to secure payment.

[Rhyd6]

No comment on the problem just a "thank God for CK". His advice is always given with no caveats and no charge - brilliant.

R6

[UncleBulgaria]

Just and update - my SIL has contacted the solicitor that was recommended here and struck a deal for the work of effectively placing the £36k into escrow while the payment is contested - this stops the ex BIL from receiving the proceeds and disappearing out the country again.

It isn't cheap but from what SIL told me, this is a £6k fee for the services for whatever is required. I thought this is probably too much but she got prickly at this point and told me to back off...

The £6k covers the lawyers fees, the court fees and and time for the lawyer / assistants etc.

Does this seem a reasonable figure from what could be involved here? It is a bit late as she has signed up, but I was curious.

thanks
Iain

[Clitheroekid]

Does this seem a reasonable figure from what could be involved here?

It sounds a lot for what I would expect to be involved, particularly as if she'd followed the recommendation to get the CSA to block the transfer it would have cost her nothing.

But without knowing what the solicitors are actually doing for her it's impossible to say one way or the other.