Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Indiana

A friend loaned me $10K one year ago. It has been a tough year and I have not been able to pay anything yet. There was no formal signed agreement but we did exchange emails that do speak of the loan and trying to get it paid. I am very close to being able to pay him off but he has lost trust and has gone to his attorney to collect the debt. All this will do is add 40 percent to the debt. What can I expect out of this action, just mor edebt? Or is there a way to not pay those fees?


Asked on 9/24/10, 4:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Aaron Butler Aaron J. Butler, Attorney at Law

Ordinarily, a party collecting a debt pays the attorney fees, unless there is an express provision otherwise in the contract. Even then, generally the fees must be "reasonable" -- and $4,000.00 is a lot of money to spend to collect $10,000.00.

If you have no written agreement that he can collect reasonable attorney fees from you, then he isn't going to get those fees paid by you. He can get the $10,000.00 (if it's there to collect from you) but then he'll have to pay attorney fees himself.

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Answered on 9/30/10, 4:39 pm


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