Woman liable for husband’s debts as her signature on guarantee was not proven to be forged

Plaintiff seeks summary judgment against the defendant in the sum of €216,000 with interest from September 2014 - the plaintiff sues on foot of a contract of guarantee allegedly signed by the defendant in July 2010 - under that contract, the defendant guaranteed the present and future indebtedness of her husband with the plaintiff - it is alleged that in March 2011, the husband entered into a credit agreement with the plaintiff for €216,000 - that the husband defaulted on the repayments due under the credit agreement and the defendant was asked to pay the sum due under the contract of guarantee - when the defendant did not pay this, the present proceedings issued - the defendant states that the signature on the guarantee is not her own and retained a handwriting expert who said that the signature was hers - the expert is of the opinion that the defendant did not sign a credit agreement in March 2011 - the defendant also said that the plaintiff should not be able to enforce the agreement on the basis that the plaintiff failed to ensure she had independent legal advice - there is no duty on a bank to ensure that a competent adult has independent legal advice prior to entering into a contract of guarantee - even if her signature was forged on the credit agreement, it does not affect her liability to the plaintiff under the guarantee - plaintiff is entitled to sum of €216,000 against the defendant - plaintiff did not set out applicable rates of interest - no sum for interest for the plaintiff pursuant to the contract of guarantee.