TAS Forced repayment of debt

[Tim W]

...what is the use of going to court if a court can not force someone to pay back their debt!

The courts have all the power they need.
That certainly includes the power to make an order seizing and selling property to settle a judgement debt.

My husband is beyond sick of it, and is pushing to go go court, simply to make a point and to have them realise that we will not be pushed around anymore.

I hope his reason to go to court is in order to get the money.
Because if it's for any other reason, it will be more complicated (by which I mean, expensive).
Hard to say for sure, but it sounds like you may well have enough on law and merits.
Which means that you don't really need to worry about things like "the principle of the thing" and "simply to make the point".
Of course, actually bringing an action might well inspire an offer to settle the claim - which is fine, and encouraged.

We have done nothing wrong, yet are left to try and claw our money back from someone who has lied from the outset, and we will be worse off at the end than we would have been if we had simply not lent the funds in the first place! The justice system in Australia is a joke.

Certainly nothing wrong. But certainly something poorly thought out.
Thing is, what the courts cannot do is protect people who, of their own motion, make naive choices.
Such as loaning a relative an unsecured hundred grand.
Really, what the courts are for is to help clean up the mess after the deal like this goes wrong.

Let's get down to it.
What you want is the rest of the hundred and ten grand.
Before the Family Law process operates on the marital assets.
(the alternative is that their debt to you will form part of the Asset Pool of the divorcing couple).

Hard truth is that it will cost you five (more like ten) grand to recover the remaining $82,500.
You will of course also recover costs (that is, they will also have to pay for your lawyers etc).
That will cover lots, but in cold truth, maybe not all, of the expense of doing it.

 

[Sheree]

The courts have all the power they need.
That certainly includes the power to make an order seizing and selling property to settle a judgement debt.

Thank you for confirming this.

I hope his reason to go to court is in order to get the money.

Well yes of course.

But certainly something poorly thought out.

Yes totally agree, and thankful that a court is there to help sort it out. It has been a lesson learnt that is for sure, trust no one!

Thank you for your reply. We are proceeding with filing court documents through the lawyers, hoping it will help settle this sooner rather than later.

 

[Atticus]

There's also the *possibilty* of there being a jurisdictional conflict if the judge decides the joint assets bound up in the debt should best be dealt with by family law ... Maybe ask your lawyer about the risk of that happening before you lay down $5K

@Sheree ... Please consider asking your lawyer about the risk of this happening & what he proposes is the best course of action if it doe's ... I have seen it happen before.

 

[Sheree]

Well for those that are interested in the outcome.

Finally had it appear in the supreme court - judgement was given in our favour - as he didn't bother putting in a defence.
Turns out, that same day, they managed to find the funds to repay us. We are expecting payment in full today.
Not sure of the full cost to get to this point, as we need to wait for the final invoice from the lawyer, but so far we have paid $6,058 to get to this point. With none of this being able to be claimed back from the defendant because he didn't contest it.

At least it looks like we will get our funds back, they made us fight for it and it has caused a great deal of stress. Fingers crossed we can put it behind us, and learn a very good lesson in the process. Trust No One.