QLD Debt Collectors Chasing Me for Ex's Debts?

[888]

Hi everyone and anyone,

I'm desperate for some help.

My ex fiancé gifted a car to me in 2014 and I sold it in 2016 when he left me, abandoned with nothing... I had an outstanding dental bill in France that he made me start but still have not finished. The defamation court case against his wife he promised to pay which he didn't. Factories in China were chasing me for products he ordered but never paid. I was always acting on his behalf on these matters thinking he trusted me to negotiate on is behalf.

So I sold the car I was gifted to pay off all the debt he put me in. I didn't know if the car was still under his name and there was no way I was asking him because he will do and say anything to keep me entrapped.

Now, he is sending debt collectors to my mum's house and sending threatening emails to both my mum and I, saying that we emotionally manipulated him into buying the car. I'm very concerned for my mum's health, since she has known and witnessed my ex behaving so bad with me she has become very ill... She is on so many different medications and the time laps fits in with what this man has done to my life...

I do not have money for a lawyer and neither does my mum as she paid money from her superannuation in order to help me get out of the bankruptcy I was almost in due to the lawyers against his ex wife...

What can I do? I'm so stressed. I can't sleep, I get terrible nightmares... I've left states, I left Australia. I feel like I can't escape this person... I feel suffocated and trapped in every way.

I can't ask for the car back as I sold and used that money for my debts...

What can I do?

 

[Rod]

Your post indicates you've left Australia, but the state you selected is Qld. Which is it, and in which state is your mum?

Your post is short of detail, and full of angst making it hard to understand the legal issues you face. Gifts are rarely able to be taken back.

Aside from this, take back control. You've ceded control to the ex and you need it back.

I'd be telling him to back off and stop harassing you and if it continues seek an intervention order against him.

 

[888]

Hi Rod,

Thank you for replying so promptly.

It truly is a very messy situation... He bought me a car on finance in 2014 and I sold it in 2016 as I was left alone to pay off all the debt he put me in.. he went on substance abuse and he became too violent.

Yes, I left Australia I followed the advice of my psychologist as I just couldn't get away from this person... Now after four years of not talking to me about this he has now decided to start threatening to sue both my mum and I for two things... emotional manipulation upon purchasing the vehicle and theft of a stolen vehicle...

The vehicle was registered into my name but the finances into his. I was working for him.

I do not have money to hire a lawyer to defend me and I just don't think I'm emotionally capable anymore to see him. There was so much abuse in the relationship.

What do I do if I don't have the money to defend myself but have so much evidence that he was the one abusing me mentally, emotionally, physically and controlling...?

Will the finance company make me take over the loan or will the courts fine me for stole vehicle?

My mum is in QLD and i'm currently in China teaching

 

[thatbloke]

Finance in his name = car is his. If you sold a car and did not use the proceeds to finalise the payments to the finance company if it was secured you could be in big trouble. If the finance was over when you sold it and was actually clear title or the loan was unsecured you could be on more solid ground in making a claim that the car is yours despite the finance being in his name.

I really hope you did not sell a car under finance that the car was secured on the loan.

 

[AllForHer]

I have so many questions.

Your ex hired a debt collector in Australia to approach your mother, even though your mother has nothing to do with the gifting and selling of the car? Did she explain to the debt collector that the debt is not her liability? Did she ask for the contact details of the creditor so she can raise it with them?

Your ex may be a manipulative/abusive/etc., but debt collectors are still bound by the law, and your mother is still protected by consumer rights.

 

[Rod]

Tell your mother to get a Domestic Violence Order against him if he harasses her.

If you mother had nothing to do with your the debts (eg not a guarantor), get the debt collector's details and contact the QLD Office of Fair Trading about harassment.

re: You and your ex. This is more complicated and may involve a de facto split of property. If you do not want anything he has do nothing and wait. Keep all you paperwork though for a minimum of 6 years in case he does something through the courts. But in the meantime, enjoy life in China, life is short and should not be wasted over events you cannot control.