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Any Legal experts?
Hi,
My wife has been named in a court case over unpaid tuition fees. She has a daughter with her ex-husband and my wife and her ex do not have any contact at all.
The daughter who is now 19 organised tutors on my wife's email address and home address. The ex husband agreed to pay the tutors fees but for some reason he decided to stop pay the tuition after a while fees and ignore their emails, letters and phone calls. There is now a bill of over £1000 and my wife has been named along with the ex in the court case.
Why is wife named in the court case? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the ex husband and daughter?
My wife has been named in a court case over unpaid tuition fees. She has a daughter with her ex-husband and my wife and her ex do not have any contact at all.
The daughter who is now 19 organised tutors on my wife's email address and home address. The ex husband agreed to pay the tutors fees but for some reason he decided to stop pay the tuition after a while fees and ignore their emails, letters and phone calls. There is now a bill of over £1000 and my wife has been named along with the ex in the court case.
Why is wife named in the court case? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the ex husband and daughter?
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18, with a private tuition company.
Who booked the tuition?
Good luck!
Indeed, Pull2Open. A useful first contact in this instance might be the Law Centres Network: http://www.lawcentres.org.uk/
I disagree with this. You get a lot of sensible advice here.
The thing is though, if your email address was used to book online you probably woud have got a confirmation, although you may have just deleted it as spam? How would your daughter have been able to deal with this with your email address
In any event, if its not your order, and they surely will not be able to sue you. Having said that, if a court case has been set you will need to attend.
But it then becomes a bigger issue, as your daughter may guilty of fraud, rather than just not paying a bill.
You need to get to talk to her, and get her to sort it. Failing that you need to decide how far to drop her in it.
It would be a bit different if your daughter was not yet 18. Your wife has a divorce settlement laid down by a court about the daughter's education costs.
This is not legal advice. People who get divorced and bound up in silly court actions trying to screw their former spouse out of jealousy and hatred get what they deserve and the courts and the lawyers get some of their money, it keeps them going nicely.
You are best keeping out of it. Except to tell your wife she really has to move on.
Surely, as an adult, the daughter is liable to pay?
Agree, she's 18, she arranged it, end of story
I didn't say that the advice wouldn't be sensible but sensible doesn't mean legally correct. The law isn't always sensible but is the law and most of us on here are not lawyers. Many of us may think we are but that doesn't make it so!
The BIB is a case example, it is not in any way useful to the OP. It makes sense to you but you are not giving any advice that is of use, you are just saying what you think it should be.
Also, the bit about fraud...seriously OTT!
If she did not arrange for the tuition, did not contact the company etc, she will need to enter a defence to that effect. It will then be a matter for the claimant to make out its case.
I am assuming she has received a county court summons. It is vital she enters a defence within the prescribed time, otherwise she could find judgment being entered against her by default.
Yes, daughter could indeed be guilty of an offence if she has entered into a contract under another person's name.
Guilty??? Only a court can decide that!
Yes I know that fraud may be a possible outcome in such situations but to suggest a parent consider fraud against their daughter when there may have been no intention to defraud is a way OTT, particularly when the only info we have it what is in the OP.
Unless there is a Barrister, Solicitor or Legal Exec on here giving advice, I suggest anyone else is simply saying what they think rather than what they know.
As a matter of fact, I am a solicitor.
Read my post. I said the daughter may be guilty of an offence, not that she was, nor that her parents should report her. To call that OTT is, frankly, ridiculous. What is nonsensical is non lawyers trying to pronounce on what could be a quite complex legal situation.
Then your advice is valid but it might have been better that you had identified yourself as such to avoid confusions.
I was referring more to the previous posters comments and making such severe suggestions without legal knowledge. Hence my opening gambit, pay for proper legal advice rather than rely on a forum full of faux keyboard lawyers.
BIB I agree and is what I am trying to say here about non lawyers giving legal advice.
Point taken Pull2Open.
Why? Assuming the OP (well the OPs wife) has been summoned to appear, which is what the OPs said, then not attending will result in summary judgment. So there needs to be an understanding of what the plaintiff is claiming, and what the defence is. So if the claim is that the OP entered into a contract, then the defence must be to show that the OP did not enter into a contract. It is surprising that the OPs was not aware of the contract, but be that as it may. Now if the OPs daughter entered into the contract, but falsely claimed to be the OPs, then clearly the daughter is acting fraudulently, I would have thought. The op may need to consider whether to settle the claim, or allow her daughter to get into serious trouble. Maybe the op ought to contact the plaintiff.
Overall I do not think my thoughts were bad. The op may need some legal advice. I am not sure I would turn up to court as a defendant without some careful consideration and understanding of what was going on.
On the other hand it may be that the op is just being asked to appear as a witness, and not a defendant.
I was not saying that you would sue your daughter for fraud. What I was saying is that if she has bought something in your name, and you deny it, then your daughter may have committed fraud, and be in a worse position than just having an unpaid debt. That's what I meant.