Thank you for your replies. My citation states I have 14 days to reply to the sheriff but I'm not entirely sure how to do it. Would I need to go to a solicitor do you think? I genuinely feel like the letter from the solicitor and the way it is worded has been sent to put me in my place and make me feel like there's no point in replying. I also feel somewhat that if 100% of the money was going to my creditors I wouldn't morally feel that was wrong but if the trustee is going to keep the majority of the money I would feel cheated. It states in my letter that in my original trust deed I paid back nearly £8,000 and my creditors only got 11p in the pound which I think is bad in itself without the company now getting the vast majority of another £6,000 on top.

You would really need a solicitor if you wanted to defend the action - there may be solicitors willing to do it for you on a no win no fee basis if necessary, or maybe your local CAB/law centre may have somebody who may be willing to represent you for free. Where do you live, if you don't mind me asking?

I live in Glasgow. I am going to go to the legal services agency today and see if they can help me because I feel like I want to at least reply to the action.

There are a few law centres in Glasgow, Govan Law Centre have a good reputation for work like this and I know there is one in Drumchapel too. Might be worth trying to find out which is closest to you and approaching them.

Thanks for the help Kevin. I have been pointed in the direction of a solicitor but unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be eligible for legal aid and I've been warned that it would cost a lot without legal aid so I'm not sure I'm going to be able to defend it. I contacted Govan law centre and they can't help because I don't live in their area. I may contact drum chapel law centre though so thank you for that.

Hi Pascal12

Hopefully Drumchapel Law Centre can assist.

In an ideal world, the Sheriff would toss this application by the trustee and the solicitor out the door for wasting everyone's time, but we can only hope he takes time to look into what is fairly obvious.

Mark

I agree Mark ,my ex trustee is still holding PPI interest due to me ,
The IPA wrote to me about my complaint (yawn ) to say a provisional decision was reached and awaiting the determination to be finalised .

Given it has taken two years to get to this point and still waiting , enough said .

Thanks Mark, appreciated. Wish it would work that way and the sheriff takes the time to look into it but I suspect unless I answer it they will just go with the ex trustee and his solicitors.

I fear you are probably right.

If Pascal had received the cheque directly and cashed it and used part or all of the funds would his ex trustee still be interested as the trustee would have no funds to finance any action?

Hi Toddytwo.

I don't think that the trustee has any funds to finance an action now. I can't see how they could use these funds unless the court had already allowed them to re-open the trust deed.

I guess if the payment had gone directly to Pascal12 then no action by the trustee would be likely, but this would be because they'd be unaware of the funds rather than not being able to use the funds.

Hi Toddytwo

I suspect TDA is correct. If there were no funds, then it's unlikely the Trustee would use his/her own money to raise the action.

I'm still at a loss as to how the Trustee can legally hold onto a cheque and even more dangerous, encash a cheque when he has no legal authority to do so. No matter how you look at it, the Trustee is no longer in office and has no authority whatsoever to hold onto or interact with the funds.

The position with the bank is also strange in that they have forwarded a cheque to the trustee who has no authority to accept it. I suspect the bank is passing the buck though as all responsibility passes to the Trustee if he was stupid enough to cash it.

It will be interesting to see how this one works out.

Mark

Hi everyone just to update I unfortunately was unable to defend the application for my trust deed to be reopened due to not being able to afford it. I have heard nothing at all since I received the application paperwork from the sheriff court. Not really sure what happens next or how I will find out what happened but as soon as I do I will update you all. Thanks for all your support in what's been a really horrible time.

Good luck pascal12, hope you get your money, ridiculous and by the looks of it possibly illegal withholding of funds that arent theirs,its companies like this that spoil the rest of the hard working efforts of others in this industry, i would have went straight to the police about this trustee,its clearly illegal to hold onto or at worse cash in a cheque that you have no legality to handle,other than to hope to get a legal procceedure to change in your favour in the future...this is utter nonesense..fingers crossed the sheriff has seen sense and thrown this nonsense out, and your greedy ex trustee has a massive legal bill...looking forward to your update.

Hi Pascal12

There's nothing to stop you calling & speaking with the Sheriff Clerk to see the outcome of the hearing as it directly involves you.

Mark