Part 0800.0005

[freddie]

help!! YFriend has ben told by his aunt's solicitor that to be served a court order by special delivery (royal mail) is legal, even though he wasn't in and did not receive it, and had not been to the P o to collect it in the 4 days prior to the serve time elapsing.

Thoughts /facts on this please oh knowledgable ones............

Thanks

[Patricia W]

I thought it had to be served personally and was not served till it was..... Legal people out there?

 

Tricia

[Gem_Seb]

I worked in a solicitors about 7 years ago now and then, you actually had to hold the court order in your hands to be legal. We used to use a private detective to serve them as the poeple wouldnt recognise him so take the documents! Not sure if thats the case now though...

[ladyjulian]

It depends what sort of order it is. The Civil Procedure Rules Part 6 govern service of documents:

 

6.3 methods of service - can include by Royal Mail

 

However if it's a claim which must be served personally, rule 6.5 sets out personal service.

 

So if it's a type of claim which doesn't need to be served personally then your friend's solicitor is right and Royal Mail special delivery will be deemed served.

 

You can see the relevant rules here.

[freddie]

Hell; that's a pity.

Oh well, there goes his inheritance.

How can she do this to him I'll never know.

What an unpleasant person

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Poor lad ..she obviously doesn't have a conscience to appeal to

 

The fact it wasn't actually delivered to him has no bearing on the situation then.........

 

 

Sha x

[Clur]

It does also depend what it's being served for. A couple of years ago a strange man turned up at our doorstep to serve papers. This was following some strange, random phone calls for someone with the same initial and surname as my DH, but blatantly not the same person. DH refused to accept the papers and we had a letter sent in the post saying if we weren't in to receive papers on X date, they would be posted through the door and listed as served.

 

Gave us a terrible fright as it they were threatening to bankrupt us and claim the house (forget the legal terms now, but several solicitors refused to touch it as it was "too far down the line"). To cut a long story short, it was a company that had bought a debt from other collectors that originated from an insurance company, and they were trying to claim several thousand pounds for a car accident that DH knew nothing about, in a car that he'd never owned. It caused a huge amount of friction at the time and we couldn't get legal advice. Luckily a family member advised us to write to ask for proof that we owed the debt and we never heard anything again.

 

It's pretty easy apparantly to buy all the forms from the internet and start legal proceedings for a relatively small fee - some collectors are barely, just barely on the legal side with this, so I'd get your friend to look into things more deeply perhaps?

[Yorkshire Pudding]

My Dad had a similar problem with a person with same initial and surname - though not the same first name, thank goodness - who lived in the same street,

 

The 'other' guy did owe money on various debts and for a while Dad had all sorts of agencies trying to collect from and serve papers on him. Fortunately showing his birth certificate and army ID to confirm his first name and DOB, and proof of address as no. 20 not no. 72 was enough to sort out the agencies concerned - but not to rescue his credit rating for a while...

 

It is relatively common, it seems!

[freddie]

Yf has had to go to solicitor with his troubles, as his aunt wants half the house, effectivly forcing him to sell the only home he's ever had. What a !!!!!!! she is, how could she.

Now we just have to work out a way to pay the fees.............

he's only just 19, and is coping really well, I dont think I would have at his age.

[Egluntyne]

Sounds as if he needs sound legal advice.

 

Maybe a trip to the CAB first off?

[Janty]

I also know someone whose S-I-L with the same first name and therefore the same married name used their address, stating she had previously lived there to get credit and then left them with an awful credit rating when the madame didn't pay it back.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

I also know someone whose S-I-L with the same first name and therefore the same married name used their address, stating she had previously lived there to get credit and then left them with an awful credit rating when the madame didn't pay it back.

 

She'd be off the Christmas card list, pronto!

[Redwing]

If he has a sound case and wins then surely the aunt would have to pay the costs??

 

He does need legal help, he has tried too long to do without this and its simply false economy

 

The way to get round this is fight not roll over and give up - not collecting the undelivered letter from the post office hasnt done him any favours and the situation just wont simply go away

 

At 19 could he get legal aid? if you suspect so then as Egluntyne says the CAB may be a good first step