Extended Family Dispute Case Study 

Family mediation, the claimants sued the defendant (their former sister in law) for £70,000 for a series of loans given to her for her to complete her studies; the claim was instigated as they claimed no monies had been repaid in accordance to the repayment schedules. 

The defendant claimed that only £20,000 had been borrowed which had been repaid, and any other money that had been borrowed was on the request of the claimant’s brother, used for his purposes and to benefit him, and therefore she owed them nothing.

This was a typical example of a highly charged family dispute whereby emotions were fuelling the core dispute. The borrowing of £20,000 was clearly evidenced and had appeared to have been paid back in unequal and erratic instalments totalling £6,000, some of which had been paid back out of a joint account of the defendant and her ex husband.

The claimant claimed they should not have come out of a joint account they should have solely come from the defendant, however there was paperwork evidencing that the claimant’s brother had agreed for these payments to come out of the joint account. 

When breaking down the defendant’s education costs, it appeared that the most that she could have put towards her studies was £40,000, £20,000 which had been borrowed and £6,000 repaid, another £20,000 which she claimed she had funded herself.