Hello Suzanne(posted 8555 days ago)You say that you were in correspondence with the lender until 1995, 5 years ago, I’m assuming therefore that the summons and judgement was made against an address other than the one you were corresponding from?
In any event you can apply for the judgement to be set aside, but you must act quickly. Visit your local County Court and tell them that you wish to apply for the judgement to be set aside as you did not receive the summons.
Its possible that the Courts will have a preprinted form for you to complete, or they may say that you need to make your own application, in which case see a solicitor who will draft it for you. Basically the application asks for a hearing to set the judgement aside and when its sent to the Court they will give it a date and time. You then go to Court, either alone or with your solicitor (and the lender’s representative will go along too) and you tell the Judge that you didn’t get the papers, and that the CCJ was filed against a very old address.
The Judge will then decide what should happen. Its very likely that s/he will set aside the judgement allowing you to file a defence.
At that point then lender will need to provide documentary evidence of their claim, and will have to provide you a list of what they have (discovery) and you can have copies of whatever you need from the list. This is where you can then challenge the selling price of the house. Look at the website for more information on what others have done.
If the worst happens and the Judge grants the go ahead for the Attachment of Earnings Order, then you can plead that it be refused because you risk losing your job. At this point you can usually offer to pay in instalments, and failure to do so will mean the AOE goes ahead.
As for bankruptcy, if your house is in your spouse’s name only, then it can’t be sold. If it is in joint names, then your spouse would have to buy your share, otherwise the Trustee in Bankruptcy can force a sale, but its possible to put that off for some time to allow for other housing arrangements to be made. Bankruptcy doesn’t last forever, and you are automatically discharged after 3 years, whether or not the debt is repaid.
Do seek advice before attempting to give up work. Unless your partner can support you, you may not receive unemployment benefits because you willingly left your job.
See a solicitor as soon as you can. Best of luck.