Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Missouri
If I provide child care to someone and they refuse to sign my contract, but give me a verbal agreement to paying a certain amount each week, then tell me their child is staying home for two weeks, and I ask them to pay for both weeks, then they tell me they are actually laid off so they won't be needing me anymore, then I tell them if they pay me for the last two weeks they can collect their belongings from my home, and I do not here from them for 8 weeks, then when they finally come to collect their things I ask for the two weeks pay, they tell me they are contacting their attorney because I cannot hold their things for money, can they really sue me for their belongings and not have to pay what they owe me sense we only had a verbal agreement? (I do have proof of her acknowledging the verbal agreement.)
1 Answer from Attorneys
If you insist on them paying for your services, you are protected. However, since the debt does not relate directly to the debt, you are not protected from liability for retaining their stuff. It is hard to imagine that an attorney would take a case to try to get incidental objects back from a creditor. The attorney's fees would likely be greater than the value of the stuff they are trying to get back. That is unless the items you are holding are valuable.
Good Luck
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