ACT Friend Not Returning Money - Recovering Personal Loan?

[soul12]

My wife and I have given a friend a combined money of 31k. He is not returning it back.

I have some chats on Facebook and WhatsApp about the personal loan. Not sure if those are exactly very clear to be used as evidence... Most of it was verbal... All transfers were through the bank.

How can I recover the amount? If I need to hire lawyer how much does it generally cost?

 

[Rod]

First question is whether the friend has any assets. Not worth pursuing if the friend has no money, unless you want the satisfaction of bankrupting the person.

re: question of costs. Depends on how much time and effort the lawyer needs to put in. Assuming the Magistrates Court my guestimate is $4k-$15k. Depends on how well defended the action is by the other side. If it is undefended, easy, if the other side gets a lawyer and submits a well prepared defence and ask for discovery and better particulars, then your lawyer has more work to do. May even need to brief counsel if there are some arcane points of law being raised.

 

[James Mahoney]

Evidence of the loan will include the conversations between the parties along with written correspondence (messages on FB and Whatsapp) along with bank records exhibiting the payments.

In relation to having the money repaid - a letter of demand is generally the first step and if the demand is ignored, filing a statement of claim in the applicable Magistrates'/Local Court is generally the next step.

In relation to costs, it will largely depend on the attitude of the Defendant and the duration of the proceeding. Some firms will do a letter of demand at no cost, so it could be inexpensive. Or if proceeding is commenced and defended the costs could blow out.