As officials pursue to complete an order of the Court, an almost retired woman is crying out for justice and at the same time accusing her lawyer of misrepresenting her through the entire matter.
Glenford Roberts filed a divorce against Sandra Charles in 1995 and was successful, but the decision on Ancillary Relief according to Case 0076 of 1995 says that a property adjustment order was never declared.
The Judgment by High Court Denys Barrow SC said that the husband is content to accept a half-share of the house as his entitlement but in his written judgment the Judge refused to make the order.
“The exercise of that power is in every case a matter of discretion, and part of that discretion has to be to decided whether or not to make an order. Given the absence of the necessary information to which I am required to have regard in making a property adjustment order, I must refuse to make the order sought,” said the judgment which points out Glenford was award cost in the sum of EC$12,000 and half-share of the property which at the time was valued at EC$110,000.
Not happy with the conclusion of the High Court Judge, Sandra asked her lawyer to appeal the matter. Not acquainted with legal the process, Sandra said she never realised that the appeal time had lapsed, but continued to pay her lawyer a monthly arranged fee of EC$500 as he demanded EC$40,000 to appeal the matter.
“During the trial Glenford lied to the court and I had the proof, but my lawyer never presented that evidence, and then the lawyer allowed for the time to elapse. During all this time the lawyer for Glenford filed another a legal action demanding his money, and the only way he could have gotten it was to sell the property,” she said.
“I paid my lawyer for seven months and then realised that I was not getting proper representation. When I demanded the files so I can go to another lawyer he refused to hand them over, demanding his complete payment of EC$40,000. During that time, the lawyer for Glenford moved forward with his court proceeding demanding that Glenford receive half-share of the house and cost award,” she said.
“By the time I was able to change lawyers, there was now a judgment ordering that the house be sold so that Glenford can have his half-share and cost award, even if the judge refused to make the order for him to get that. I don’t know what his lawyer told the court, but right now I am very frustrated,” she said.
Sandra was able to have lawyer Michael Sylvester file a stay of execution to stop the court order, but he since passed away, and once again the matter changed hands, and again the property was put up for sale by the court.
“But his lawyer continued pursuing the matter and it has reached the point where I am now about to be thrown out of the house in pursuit of his compensation for a house he gave little to, and a marriage that lasted only two months,” said Sandra who continues to pay a monthly mortgage to the bank for the house.
“I tried many other lawyers but all are telling me that because of the error by my original lawyer, there is not much that can be done as the correct step was to appeal. But how Sylvester was able to able to do what he did,” she questions.
“That is why I am getting this story out there, I want people to know how a lawyer can mess up and in the end cause a hard-working person to lose every time. And you know what is the worst part, this man already has two houses, both of which are from former marriages,” said the distressed Sandra who is not far from retirement age.
By Linda Straker
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