Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

My father hasnt met his end of a promise

My father for several years had made me the ofer of $5,000.00 if i would quit smoking for 1 year. After many years of reminding me of the $5,000.00 check that was ''just waiting for me if I quit smoking for a year'' I finally after a very hard struggle and the longest year of my life I FINALLY DID IT!! Well long in short my father has decided that this 5thous. check is now yearly payments of 1,000 each. Not the deaL AND he has only given me 2,200 in three years. Let me point out that my father is by no means whatsoever unable to pay me in full.He has enough money to build himself a ''CASTLE'' for a home and im serious bout this look it up on Flicker dot com ''Hardluck Castle'' so he is lying bout the economy and being unable to pay me. I feel like taking him to court I earned it and hes able to pay what do I do legally and is it unmoral to have to do this,if i took him to court I see parents take their kids to court. I really need the money terribly and i dont ask my father for any money other than this balancew he owes and i feel in full ,not this yearly payment hes come up with. PLEASE HELP financially i need to do something


Asked on 5/04/09, 2:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

David Gibbs The Gibbs Law Firm, APC

Re: My father hasnt met his end of a promise

I took a moment and looked at the pictures - interesting place. That being said, frankly his financial situation is somewhat irrelevant to the issue. The legal issue is did you have an enforceable contract, and has he breached that agreement by failing to pay you. Oral contracts are not the easiest thing to prove in court - it comes down to your word versus your father's, unless you have witnesses to the agreement. So assuming you can prove that you had a contract in which he agreed to pay you $5,000 if you quit smoking, then the next hurdle is what were the terms of that agreement - how long did you have to stop, was payment to be in one lump-sum, or in installments, have you breached the agreement by smoking again, etc... You can see where I am going with this - there are a lot of unanswered (and potentially un-answerable) questions here. A judge will do his best to interpret what the intent of the parties is, and then rule based on that. The amount in controversy is so small that your best option is to first, send him a letter demanding that he live up to his end of the agreement, and pay you the balance of the money. When or if he fails to do so, go to small claims court, and file a lawsuit against him. That's about all you can do. A judge or commissioner in the small claims court will have to (a) determine if there truly was a contract, (b) have you lived up to your end of the bargain, and (c) he'll have to reasonably interpret from your oral agreement what the terms were, and if your father has breached them. There are no guarantees in litigation, so be prepared to somehow prove (aside from your word on the matter) that there was a contract, and what the terms were. Good luck.

*Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided is general and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.

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Answered on 5/04/09, 2:30 pm


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