Hi,
I guess my question is a bit different from the usual.
I have only recently discovered that my sister has entered an IVA which started in Sept. 2008. She and my mother live together, and before the IVA, my mother owned 67% of the property outright in her own name, my sister the rest on a mortgage.
She had £56K of store and credit card debts, her mortgage and various unsecured personal loans on top.
What concerns me, is the way my mother, 86 at the time, was blackmailed by the people arranging the IVA into signing over her portion of the house (a half share of which should have been my inheritance) to my sister in entirety, telling her her daughter (who has a young son) would be sent to prison for the debts if she did not comply. My mother's health has deteriorated considerably since that time, due to the stress. I was not involved, or informed about any of this at the time.
My mother has received absolutely nothing in return for her share of the house (approx. £160,000), and I have been disinherited, since my sister is now sole legal owner, and will undoubtedly use the remaining house value to max out her credit as soon as she is clear of the IVA.
I understand that the creditors would have had absolutely no legal claim over my mother's portion of the house value, as the debt's were all created by my sister for her own benefit. They insisted on her voluntary signing over of the deed's of the house, before allowing my sister to enter the IVA.
So I am asking if this is acceptable, legitimate behaviour, and if not, what, if any, recourse do I now have to claim the pressurising of my mother to hand over her life savings (as invested in the house) to cover her daughter's debts, was illegal and unethical? Can that arrangement be nullified because of undue pressure exerted by the IVA practitioners on a frail, 86 year old lady whose obvious weakness was understandable concern for her daughter and grandson?
