Summons: what you need to do

[ashnee72]

Hi,

My husband & I have been issued with joint summons.

We utilized a construction company for the building of our house. The construction company has issued us with summons for the interim interest owed and extras on the house, a total amount of R40 000.00

We would like to submit a counter claim due to the fact that the house was not completed to the agreed specifications and the costs should be off setted as a result.

Please advise what should the next step be. We were issued with the summon on the 5 October 2015.

Your urgent assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Ashnee

[RoseNaidoo]

I received summons

Hi there

I received Summons last week Friday.
My lawyer is saying that I need to pay 15K upfront as it is expensive to defend against repossession of property.
However I was not aware that my soon to be ex was in arrears, and the house has been sold, there is a signed OTP and money sitting in attorneys trust account just waiting for the buyer to get balance of bond approval.
What are my options, already 7 days have passed and I needed to respond in 10 days from receipt.

Rose

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

First put in the notice to defend.
Having done that you reply to their claim. The non performance is a defence.
Then in the same reply, or seperate, you put in your claim.

[oops1]

Hi Guys
I urgently need some help I am been sued...
first of all got a summons today, its for "notice to respondent to show cause section 3(4) of the protection from harassment... Under the claims section of the summons or letter from the other lawyer they are suing me for R500 000, i certainly don't have that kind of money.
long story, but on a day in April 2015 i phoned someone a couple of times... didn't say a word.
Got over it and again in November freaked out and actually spoke to the person. now im being sued, they say i posted something on a social media site and called the person something bad. which i never did, and they have no proof or evidence to back up the claim.

what do i do???

[sakkie]

1. I don't think it is a summons.
2. I might be wrong but it is a Notice for you to show cause why the protection order should not be granted.
3. You should respond to the Notice in the given time frame if you feel that the Protection order should not be granted. I suggest you go see a lawyer asap.

[oops1]

thank you!!! seeing one today!!!

[smilingdassie]

Judgment without Summons?

Hi there

I was made aware only via a credit report that judgement in the high court had been given against me for an outstanding debt.
I did not receive a Summons.
Is this legal?

Hi Guys,
For many a summons remains a scary document to receive, but it need not be especially if you know what to do.

1. Firstly, don't paic, you don't necessarily need an attorney at this stage. You can do the first few steps yourself and thereby save some costs.
2. The summons will include a " Consent to judgement" option and a " notice of intention to defend option. The law allows you to defend a matter yourself. I'm not suggesting that you do, but you can do the first few steps yourself;
3. Now if you use the notice of intention to defend option on the summons itself, the plaintiff will immediately see that you unrepresented BUT if you use the template I have attached, they will immediately see that you mean business.
4. Simply fill out the attached document, make three copies, ffirst file 1 copy with the plaintiff's attorney first and get them to sign your second copy as proof of service, then , take the other copy to the clerk of courts and serve it on him. retain the third copy for your records

[Dave A]

I was made aware only via a credit report that judgement in the high court had been given against me for an outstanding debt.
I did not receive a Summons.
Is this legal?

The first point to note is there is a difference between "not receiving a summons" and "failing to serve a summons".

In order to get the default judgement, the plaintiff will have proven service of summons. The question is - to where? And why?

The most common valid, legal reason for you not having received the summons is that you are no longer at your nominated (or apparent) domicilium citandi et executandi.

[Anita Bester-Roos]

Hi Guys,
For many a summons remains a scary document to receive, but it need not be especially if you know what to do.

1. Firstly, don't paic, you don't necessarily need an attorney at this stage. You can do the first few steps yourself and thereby save some costs.
2. The summons will include a " Consent to judgement" option and a " notice of intention to defend option. The law allows you to defend a matter yourself. I'm not suggesting that you do, but you can do the first few steps yourself;
3. Now if you use the notice of intention to defend option on the summons itself, the plaintiff will immediately see that you unrepresented BUT if you use the template I have attached, they will immediately see that you mean business.
4. Simply fill out the attached document, make three copies, ffirst file 1 copy with the plaintiff's attorney first and get them to sign your second copy as proof of service, then , take the other copy to the clerk of courts and serve it on him. retain the third copy for your records

Hi Vanash. I am new to this forum do not know if I am even typing at the right place. Should my reasons for intent to defend be attached to the Notice of Intention to defend PDF document that you shared? Or is my counter to be discussed at a later stage?

[Anita Bester-Roos]

Hi Vanash, I am new to this forum. Thank you for the PDF document. Should I send an annexure with my reasons why I am defending myself like ex: counter argument at this stage or not?

[Citizen X]

Hi Vanash, I am new to this forum. Thank you for the PDF document. Should I send an annexure with my reasons why I am defending myself like ex: counter argument at this stage or not?

Hi Anita,

1. It depends whether you received a simple summons or a combined summons, with the simple summons, you serve and file the notice of intention to defend and then await the plaintiff's declaration. Once the declaration is served and filed on you, you then serve and file a plea
2. If it's combined summons, you have 20 days from the date on which you served and filed your notice of intention to defend to file your plea

[angelavermaak]

Summons given to Security Guard in Complex

Hi Vanash and Dave
Please assist me
about 3 years ago i was involved in a very minor motor vehicle accident, which i feel was never my fault.
the 2nd party involved in this accident never contacted me regarding,and i forgot it ever happened, however to my horror i arrived home with the summons on my kitchen table, im stil a student , can not afford an attorney and sure cant afford the alleged R19,000.00 in damages im being guilty of paying.
also the "birthday" period since the accident would be sunday and the summons was delivered to my house on friday.
please advise me on steps to take as i am super stressed regarding this and really feel I am being victimised.

Hi All,

One of our Residents received a Summons from our Security Guard, apparently given to the Guard and signed for by him, by the Sherrif's representative. Is this legal ? Please assist if you can.

[Citizen X]

Hi All,

One of our Residents received a Summons from our Security Guard, apparently given to the Guard and signed for by him, by the Sherrif's representative. Is this legal ? Please assist if you can.

Hi Angela,

A summons can be served at your place of residence, business or the address you nominated. The security guard in his/her capacity as guard of the residence is allowed to receive the summons and then hand it to the relevant resident, which he/she clearly did do. The security gaurd is employed at the residence of the defendant.


All process shall, subject to the provisions of this rule, be served upon the person affected thereby by delivery of a copy thereof in one or other of the following manners:

(a) To the said person personally or to his or her duly authorised agent: Provided that where such person is a minor or a person under legal disability, service shall be effected upon the guardian, tutor, curator or the like of such minor or person under disability;

(b) at the residence or place of business of the said person, guardian, tutor, curator or the like to some person apparently not less than 16 years of age and apparently residing or employed there: Provided that for the purpose of this paragraph, when a building, other than an hotel, boarding house, hostel or similar residential building, is occupied by more than one person or family, “residence” or “place of business” means that portion of the building occupied by the person upon whom service is to be effected;

(c) at the place of employment of the said person, guardian, tutor, curator or the like to some person apparently not less than 16 years of age and apparently in authority over him or her or, in the absence of such person in authority, to a person apparently not less than 16 years of age and apparently in charge at his or her place of employment;

(d) if the person so to be served has chosen a domicilium citandi, by delivering or leaving a copy thereof at the domicilium so chosen;

(e) in the case of a corporation or company, by delivering a copy to a responsible employee thereof at its registered office or its principal place of business within the court’s jurisdiction, or if there is no such employee willing to accept service, by affixing a copy to the main door of such office or place of business, or in any manner provided by law;

(f) if the plaintiff or his or her authorised agent has given instructions in writing to the sheriff to serve by registered post, the process shall be so served: Provided that a debt counsellor who makes a referral to court in terms of section 86(7)(c) or 86(8)(b) of the National Credit Act may cause the referral to be served by registered post or by hand.

(g) in the case of a Minister, Deputy Minister or Provincial Premier, in his or her official capacity, the State or provincial administration, at the Office of the State Attorney in Pretoria, or a branch of that Office which serves the area of jurisdiction of the court from which the process has been issued;

(h) to any agent or attorney who is duly authorised in writing to accept service on behalf of the person upon whom service is to be effected in any applicable manner prescribed in this rule;

(i) where a local authority or statutory body is to be served, on the town clerk or assistant town clerk or mayor of such local authority or the secretary or similar officer or member of the board or committee of such body, or in any manner provided by law; or

(j) where the person to be served with any document initiating application proceedings is already represented by an attorney of record such document may be served upon such attorney by the party initiating the proceedings:

[StaceyW]

Summons Received for School Fees Not Paid by Ex-husband

Hi There,

I'm looking for a little advice.

I've just had a summons to appear in the Magistrate's court delivered to me at my workplace. (wasn't necessary to sign for it, however the sherriff delivering was very quick to tell me if I don't appear in court that he'll be back to arrest me...)
My ex-husband hasn't paid our eldest daughter's school fees and the summons is from the school to me for collection of this debt. According to the documents received it has already been to the 'landros' court where I 'failed to appear'. I have never received any summons for that appearance, nor any telephone calls, letters, no communications whatsoever. The copy of the proof of registered letters sent, were all sent to my ex's parent's postal address for his attention.
There's a notice that they want a list of all my assets/liabilities, income and expenses.


The agreement between us is that he is responsible for the school fees in full.
When I called to ask what on earth is going on now, he says 'yeah well, I don't have a job and the last I heard from the school was to make an arrangement with them and that the costs would be put on hold until I find a job.'

Now I get this summons, when I was completely unaware of the fact that he hadn't paid anything.
My current husband and our new baby are now being affected.
I don't own any assets, the car is in my husband's name end we are renting a cottage atm. My husband is obviously quite upset, as, if I understand correctly, being married in community of property, they are going to be looking at his assets too?

What can I do??

[Dave A]

Is it a public or private school?

If it's a public school parents can be jointly and severably held accountable for the payment of school fees (despite any divorce agreement to the contrary), but there are certain requirements - see section 41 of the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996).

I have a staff member who ended up in exactly the same situation as you a few years ago. Based on her experience, it seems if you're earning above the exemption threshold you can squirm, but if your ex-spouse doesn't land a job anytime soon you're going to end up paying...