I deposited £104k in my daughters bank account 2 years ago…

Hello,

OK that is good that you have representation.

I do appreciate that civil actions can be expensive hense preference for a criminal case.

It is difficult to say whether there is a criminal offence without sight of ALL the evidence.

Any possible offence would be deception i.e making false statements such as buying a house together to induce you to make payment to her when she had no intention of buying a house.

However in honesty a criminal case is very difficult as it has to be proven beyond any reasonable doubt that she intended to defraud you and that could be difficult.

In contrast the civil case is far more simple. The judge just has to determine whether the funds were a gift or not. The burden of proof is not beyond reasonable doubt but on the balance of probabilities i.e what is more likely than not. Is it more likely it was a gift or not.

The starting point is that it is your word against your daughters. Therefore the court look for evidence to collaborate what you are saying. In your case I presume it was a big chuck of your savings. If so why would someone just give someone such a significant amount. You mention you have text messages etc as regards ***** ***** house so that supports what you are saying.

I presume your daughter has no evidence supporting it being a gift i.e text massages from you suggesting as such.

So once all of this evidence is available then the judge will decide what is more likely.

In answer to your question I do not believe a criminal charge would be easy to bring.

A civil claim in my view is the most appropriate way forward.

Thank you.

Marcus.

Hello,

I do kind of agree with you - but at the criminal standard of proof the message is not conclusive.

Further the civil court would order the repayment of the funds. The criminal court would not. If convicted she would be sentenced.

The only observation is that if criminal proceedings were mentioned then she may pay the funds back.

In honesty you have nothing to lose by speaking to the police. They in turn will take advice from the CPS. The CPS will only advise to bring charges if they were confident of a conviction. The worse they can say is they are not prepared to assist you.

As I say though maybe the threat of criminal proceedings maybe sufficient.

Thank you.

Marcus.