Judgement in a collections civil case abroad

[eeaman01]

I've searched and read threads dealing with civil cases and their disclosure on the AN form. However, I can't see anything similar and all threads refer to UK cases.

A plaintiff was owed money and filed a "contract/collections" civil case abroad (outside of the UK) in February 2006. The defendant wasn't aware because he was no longer in the country where the case was filed. Not replying to the summons, the defendant was marked "non-appearing" and a judge issued a disposition of "judgement without trial" in June 2006.

The defendant only became aware of the case after the judgement was made and started complying with it by making payments. Once the debt was fully paid, the plaintiff eventually filed a "satisfaction of judgement" with the court in August 2008, which shows on the court record.

The defendant is now an applicant for British citizenship.

Simplifying the above, this case is roughly equivalent to defaulting on a loan abroad and the creditor suing in regular civil court (not in a small-claims court) to obtain a legal judgement ordering the debtor to pay.

NB: This judgement does not appear on any credit reports abroad or in the UK.

Does this judgement need to be disclosed on the AN form in Section 3?

If yes, then how to correctly fill out the form? All relevant AN form field names appear to assume a criminal case - they use terms such as "nature of offence", "sentence given", etc. In a civil case, there is no "offence" to speak of, since a civil case is simply a civil dipute between two parties and no "sentences" are served, only judgements. Should this judgement maybe be explained on page 13 then, instead of using the inappropriate "first sentence" area on page 9?

[CR001]

No, you don't have to declare it, I certainly didn't declare my debt in my home country and was approved for BC. Just make sure you have no CCJs in the UK.

You need to declare any CRIMINAL convictions, for traffic offences or more serious offences.


Hope this helps.

Thanks

Char

[eeaman01]

I don't mean any offence but I don't believe what you say can be strictly true. Quoting directly from form AN, question 3.6:

"Do you have any criminal convictions in the UK or any other country (including traffic offences) or any civil judgements made against you?"

Maybe the version of the form you filled out was an older one, or maybe you were just lucky in your case. I don't want to rely on luck.

It appears very logical to conclude from the wording of the question that civil judgements have to be disclosed, possibly all. My question therefore is whether the case I describe falls under the category of those that do have to be disclosed. Because I have tried studying the caseworker instructions and other materials but couldn't conclude a clear answer.

Anyone else?