Another Ex Partner owes me money thread

cdarcher87

Hi all,

I was hoping someone could help me. Myself and my ex partner took a credit card in my name and we have since split up, sold our house etc. The credit card paid for a lot of furniture for the house (a lot of which she has kept) and a holiday. She is now not acknowledging any communication about it since the sale of the house, and it's over 3K so can't afford to let it go.

Do I have a case to take to small claims? Things i think are i my favour is the fact that up until now she has made a regular payment to me each month to pay half the minimum balance with the reference "credit card", and i have a message from her several months ago agreeing she would help me pay it off.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

gettingtheresometime

You could try it , writing her a letter before action letter first.


It will cost you £185 to make the claim which if successful can be added to the amount owed.

AylesburyDuck

Morally, she should pay you, legally, wobbly i would have thought seeing as the card is in your sole name.
You could try taking it to the small claims court but frankly unless you had some kind of written agreement between yourselves or you can prove that she had agreed to pay some of it back with you then i cant see you have a leg to stand on.

cdarcher87

Thanks for the response. I had read elsewhere that as long as there is not proof that it was a gift (surely the fact she's been paying me back until now constitutes the items not being a gift) then i have a chance to win the legal case?

Unfortunately morals aren't coming in to play here...

AylesburyDuck

cdarcher87 wrote: »

Thanks for the response. I had read elsewhere that as long as there is not proof that it was a gift (surely the fact she's been paying me back until now constitutes the items not being a gift) then i have a chance to win the legal case?

Unfortunately morals aren't coming in to play here...

She could easily say she was helping you out with your bill but why should she now you've split, morally wrong, but unless you have utter proof or even better her signature on a written agreement its your word against hers. Probably not what you wanted to hear but the onus is on you proving that she owes you the money. Not her having to prove she doesnt!

unholyangel

AylesburyDuck wrote: »

She could easily say she was helping you out with your bill but why should she now you've split, morally wrong, but unless you have utter proof or even better her signature on a written agreement its your word against hers. Probably not what you wanted to hear but the onus is on you proving that she owes you the money. Not her having to prove she doesnt!

I'd be inclined to agree, if not for the fact she still has the furniture and small claims works on balance of probability.

OP has the purchase receipt, a history of her paying half the minimum etc. And sure she could claim she was only doing that because they were together but from what OP has said, she continued making payments well beyond their split date until they had sold the house (likely a few months at least) - probably because, as a co-owner of the house, OP could have let himself in and removed the furniture if she had stopped payments on splitting. She's waited until he couldn't get the furniture before stopping payments.

Even if OP can't prove she agreed to pay him for the furniture, he has enough to prove its his. Sure getting the furniture back and selling it on will still leave the OP out of pocket, but if he can sell it for at least whatever his ex would have paid (if she had kept to repayments), then he's no worse off. While she'll have to replace £3000 worth of furniture.

cdarcher87

unholyangel wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree, if not for the fact she still has the furniture and small claims works on balance of probability.

OP has the purchase receipt, a history of her paying half the minimum etc. And sure she could claim she was only doing that because they were together but from what OP has said, she continued making payments well beyond their split date until they had sold the house (likely a few months at least) - probably because, as a co-owner of the house, OP could have let himself in and removed the furniture if she had stopped payments on splitting. She's waited until he couldn't get the furniture before stopping payments.

Even if OP can't prove she agreed to pay him for the furniture, he has enough to prove its his. Sure getting the furniture back and selling it on will still leave the OP out of pocket, but if he can sell it for at least whatever his ex would have paid (if she had kept to repayments), then he's no worse off. While she'll have to replace £3000 worth of furniture.

This is right, she continued making payments whilst we were split for about 6 months and as you say now i can't get any furniture back as the house is sold, she's gone AWOL.

I think the most realistic option is getting the furniture back through the courts then? I'd like to think the idea of me taking all that furniture (which in total will come to a lot more than the amount i'm asking her to pay if bought new) will mean she will give up and do the right thing but we will see!

AylesburyDuck

unholyangel wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree, if not for the fact she still has the furniture and small claims works on balance of probability.

OP has the purchase receipt, a history of her paying half the minimum etc. And sure she could claim she was only doing that because they were together but from what OP has said, she continued making payments well beyond their split date until they had sold the house (likely a few months at least) - probably because, as a co-owner of the house, OP could have let himself in and removed the furniture if she had stopped payments on splitting. She's waited until he couldn't get the furniture before stopping payments.

Even if OP can't prove she agreed to pay him for the furniture, he has enough to prove its his. Sure getting the furniture back and selling it on will still leave the OP out of pocket, but if he can sell it for at least whatever his ex would have paid (if she had kept to repayments), then he's no worse off. While she'll have to replace £3000 worth of furniture.

I agree, getting the furniture back is probably the best option and one that the courts maybe couldnt dispute as they were paid for by him, my answer was in response to his original question of getting the money back his ex owed him.