So here I am stuck in a rut, but not with me, with my Mum and indirectly me. A while ago, my Mum found out that her boyfriend was a con artist. Long story cut short, the first debt that my Mum encountered as a result of her trust of him (before she left him) was a $20,000 debt as a result of my tuition fees to a private school. He had ran off on her, leaving the debt in her name (it was in his name as well, but he was uncontactable) and forcing her to take out a loan to pay the fees. She is still trying to pay the $500 a month off the loan now. She recently contacted me about a Telecom bill that was apparently taken out in her name, in another town that we had lived for a while whilst I went to university there. Her signature was forged (she found out now) by him and racked up a bill worth over $4000. We found out that we weren't even in the town at the time (Dec 07) when the account was created as we had moved there in Feb 08. Now the debt collectors are threatening legal action and now I'm stuck asking you guys if there's anything my Mum can do and what rights she has as a fraud victim. This guy has a history of fraud. Was arrested in the 80s for Fraud, he has ripped off friends of mine with their large projects and is apparently in Thailand at the moment, in deep shit with the Prince. I've told my Mum that she shouldn't pay for the bill, because it was not her that did it, and let them take her to court. She should represent herself and she can even draw up witnesses such as myself to prove that she isn't held accountable for this account. My Mum has recently had a hip replacement, and is due to go back into hospital this week, and is spending another week in rehab. She is very sick at the moment and if you guys could point me and my mother in the right direction would be great.
You're not going to get reliable legal advice from the average forum-goer here on LPA. My best suggestion is to go talk to a lawyer about this. It may cost you (or maybe it won't, depending on which law firm you talk to), but if you end up saving thousands of dollars the cost is merely a splash in the bucket.
Talk to a lawyer and ignore any legal advice you get here or anywhere else on the internet because it's probably wrong.
This. If you lived in the UK I could have used my legal search engine to help you It's hard to know what rights your mum has because I have no fucking clue about Australian legislation/cases/courts. Find a law firm ASAP, there may even be places that offer free legal advice. You should also write up a timetable of all the events with as much accurate information as possible when you go to see a lawyer, it will make things easier.
In America, we have free legal and medical clinics. It's usually where beginning doctors and lawyers get some experience by helping people out for free. If you have something like that where you live, that might be somewhere to start if you don't get anywhere with law firms.