A legal question. Serious answers only please.?

Question

I need some advice. My older sister has run up massive debts over the past few years and has ignored them completely. Because she is also a violent and abusive person, I have not spoken to her personally for the past 18 months. She is currently living with my elderly grandparents after being asked to move out of my mum's house, again because of her violent and abusive nature. Recently I have started receiving letters from various debt collection agencies addressed to my sister, but at my home address. This week I have also had two seperate debt collection agents call to my house looking for her. I am reluctant to tell them where she is living as my grandparents are both in their 80's and my grandfather in particular is in very bad health. I basic ally don't want to dump all of this on their doorstep. I have spoken to and written to my sister about this matter but she is ignoring both myself and the situation.

What can I do ? The last thing I need is for bailiffs to start turning up !

Hi,

Thank you to everybody who has answered so far. I thought I should add that my sister and I currently live at opposite ends of the country. She has actually never lived at my address, but is giving it out maliciously as her current address.

Answer 1

I wouldn't cause any more undue stress to yourself or give any to your grandparents. It sounds like your sister is a real piece fo work. I handle collections for a local agency and if you were to tell the debt collectors simply that she is giving out your address in hopes that you will pay the bill, that you have no idea where she is and request that they alter their records to reflect that - they have to. If they persist in the contact you can threaten charges of harassment, which should back them down, but likely would not truly get you anywhere.

Don't fret, you are not going to have a bailiff at your door. At most you are probably going to get more mail in regards to delinquent bills and possibly court papers addressed to your sister. Your only responsibility would be to contact the said agency and inform them of your knowledge to the situation and then forward the mail back to them.

Good luck and I hope that your sister can straighten her act up soon.

Answer 2

I had this problem with previous tennants when I was at uni. Tell them that your sister has moved away and you don't have a forwarding address. You are not liable for her debt and are not obligated to pay or hand over any goods to settle her debt. If more debt collectors do call round and demand they come in, refuse, and if necessary, call the police. I would also recommend speaking to a lawyer as the police can control the situation but they know very little on the laws relating to outstanding debt and can be fobbed off by the baliffs.
Either that or face telling them where your sister is, so long as she has moved out of your grandparents place.

Answer 3

You need to make sure the companies with which she has the debts know categorically that she does not live at your address (had she deliberately given it?) - however, although you can say you don't know where she is, if she is tracked down at your Grandparents' home you could get in trouble as they wont believe you didn't know she was there and you don't want any marks against your name. I completely understand that you don't want to put your Grandparents through unnecessary stress, but it can't be good for them having an abusive and violent girl under their roof and it really sounds like your sister needs to be taken in hand and made to face up to her responsibilities. Perhaps you could chat to your Grandparents and explain that you need to let the debt collectors know where she is, maybe suggest that they ask her to leave also - it may seem harsh but this girl seriously needs to take her life in hand and she has to stop hiding behind her family.

Good luck with it - you clearly care about your family very much and I am so sorry you are in this situation.

Answer 4

Hi there. I know that you are concerned about your sister and that you care a great deal about her. But its not your problem its hers. So i dont see why you should be worrying about her debts, if it was me and i am very close to both my sisters,i would go and confront her, saying that debt collectors have been at the door and numerous letters have came. Then see what she has to say, i would never dob my sisters in to anyone, so let her know the situation, it must be hard since you havent spoke for 18 months, but it also doesnt help matters that she is living with your grandparents, and they are elderly. Please dont tell the debt colloction agency about where she stays, as you are starting up another completely different ball game!!! best of luck. hope this helps.xxx

Answer 5

first of all, put an answering machine on your phone - the kind with tapes that you can save. If the collections agencies reveal ANY of her private information, that will end up rendering the debts invalid. Don't talk to them. It is SO against the law for them to discuss any of her business with anyone but her. As for the mail, write on the outside of the envelope "Forward to" and put your grandparents address on it and stick in back in the mailbox. It is her debt, her problem. Your grandparents should kick her out, but they probably won't. There's not much else you can do short of telling them how you feel. If a process server comes to your house, tell them the address where she is. Good luck! To sum it up, it's not your business and stay out of it directly.

Answer 6

You need to get yourself some good legal aid, as debt collection agencies are highly unprincipled. You sister is doing something illegal in giving her debtors your address, and could end up going to jail for falsifying information.

There is also the emotional family dimension. Is your sister caring for your grandparents? If not, is there another family member who can be asked to intervene to remove her from their house. Your sister needs help: she needs to contact (or be forced to contact) a counsellor who can help her with the underlying issues causing her behaviour, and, in the short term, a debt consolidation agency (most countries have these now) legitimated by the government. They will take over her debts, get the collection agencies to stop hounding your family, and set her a payment plan.

If that's a best case scenario, then you need to accept that someone - either you or your sister - is going to be held legally responsible for these debts. If you fear that it's going to be you, then, as I say, speak to a legal aid clinic. Debt is a massive contemporary problem, and you are almost certainly not alone in this situation. They will be able to tell you if you are legally responsible for her debts, and what will happen if collection agencies come calling.

As I say, this is a short-term solution. In the long term, you need to figure out a way to protect yourself and your family from your sister's damaging behaviour - and the best way to do that is to get her to face up to her problems.

Answer 7

Write to the credit reference agencies, Equifax & Experian, and ask them for a dis-asscoiation form. You can then dis-asscoiate her debts with you and your address. There is no need to tell the debt-collection agencies where your sister is, just that she does not live at your address. If you receive a card through advising that they will be calling ring the number on the card and say that you keep receiving mail for this person but she doesn't live there. They should take your address off their records and not bother you. Any post you are receiving to your address in her name you must not pass on to her but instead write "Not known at this address, return to sender" it will soon become apparent that she is not there.

Answer 8

From your patters of writing I am assuming you are British so anything I write will be based on American laws & customs. If you were in the USA, I would advise you to petition a magistrate or judge to issue an order of protection for your grandparents so that their rights could be protected. You would have to document your sister's transgressions and supply character statements so that the presiding official would have enough background information to make a sound decision. That decision would most likely be that your sister would have to relocate. As for the dunning calls and notices you're receiving, collection agencies are only interested in collecting money so that they can receive their commissions. They are calling you because they have linked your name with hers. Tell them firmly that you have no legal responsibility for your sister's actions and to cease calling you. PS - I'm not an attorney, I'm a retired Detective.

Answer 9

Return all the letters to the relevant companies and advise them of your sisters new address, stressing that she is staying there as a lodger.
Tell the Debt Collectors the same thing.
This will protect your grandparents from seizure of their goods.
Your sister needs to learn that she cannot hide behind other people to get out of paying her debts.
Tell your parents and grandparents what your intentions are, so that they are not taken by surprise.

Answer 10

Sorry to hear this - will be the last thing you need.
I recommend that as you have warned your sister and told the debt agencies that she is not there. To write a letter to them stating that she is not there and send by recorded delivery, tell them you will consult a solicitor if they insist on badgering you. If she lived at your property at all for a short period - tell them that she left, but make sure you do it by recorded delivery otherwise they will say they have not received it. Failing to adhere to this - I advise seeing a solicitor for advice or ask the grandparents to ask her to leave as this will save them getting this problem. If she has not lived at your address it sounds like she has used your address to put them off. Good luck and hope it gets sorted.