Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia
I use to live with an ex. I bought a house & we both moved in. We split the bills. At some point the bills were split in which I paid the mortgage & took care of food, and he was just paying the side bills (comcast, electricity, water, his portion of phone bill, etc.). The first month we did this he was short on paying his portion so I ended up having to pay it to keep things from being disconnected. The next month he was supposed to pay his part, but before paying we temporarily split & we lent to live elsewhere. Before he left we hand wrote up an agreement that we both signed that said he would agree to pay his portion of bills from the current month & the previous month, he would be able to keep his cellphone & would pay his portion until the end of the 2 yr contract which was about 11 more months away (we had a family plan with multiple phones with at&t), etc. This was in May 2014. Since then he has paid no portion of the bills he owes (in which I had to cover for him) & he paid his portion of the phone only up to August 2014 then stopped. So I also had to cover his portion of the phone bill through the end of the contract in April 2015. He kept saying he was going to send his money to pay but never did. Then he begin saying that he has a different cellphone & thats my phonebill & he's not responsible for paying & so on (yet he still kept the phone & just returned it to me a few weeks ago after the contract ended). Which i figured he would eventually do aftwr the breakup & why we did the written agreement while he was cooperating with me. So finally I told him a few months ago that I will be taking him to court for the bills he didn't pay & the phone bill charges he didn't pay. What can I do as far as getting reimbursed for his portion of bills, is our signed handwritten agreement legally binding, can I also ask for court fees/costs soo if I take him to court & can I charge additional fees (like late or borrowing fees since I had to pay out of my pocket for him)? Thanks.
2 Answers from Attorneys
No, you can't add additional fees and Judges are often not sympathetic for people who make the choice to get into these situations by living together. You can try to sue in small claims, or save the time and money and view it as a lesson learned.
Since you have a document signed by the ex-boyfriend, you can maybe hold him liable for that portion of expenses he agreed to pay. You cannot make up additional charges and include those. If you win, then you will be able to recover court costs (filing fee plus costs to serve the boyfriend with the complaint) as those are tacked on to any judgment.
However, just because you have a document signed by him does not mean its a valid agreement. I have not seen the agreement so I cannot opine on it and there is no telling what a small claims judge will do. They do whatever the heck the want and let the losing party appeal.
I agree with Attorney Riddle that people who do this are ... well ... stupid. You do not commingle finances and arrangements with someone you are not married to absent valid partnership agreement drafted by an attorney. Most people do not have them and if you are going to be like most people then just follow the rule of not commingling. Because you will almost always end up in the situation in which you are in. Your ex was looking for someone he could sponge off of. You can try small claims, but if you don't win, then chalk it up to an expensive lesson. Just don't do it.
In the future, let people be responsible for their own cell phones. I don't understand about phone contracts either. All you need is a cheapie phone from Walmart with a pre-paid phone card - not expensive plans and contracts. If you want someone to share living expenses and you own the house, then do a landlord tenant contract BEFORE they move in and specify that the person is obligated to pay rent to you in a certain amount plus half the utilities. If they want cable or expensive channels like HBO, then make that part of the rent too. That way, if they do not pay, you can evict them.
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