Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Failure to pay share of summer house

I organized and payed for a summer house relying on the fact that one of my friends agreed to go in on the house. He later could not pay his full amount and instead brought an additonal party in on the house, which i agreed to, and they split the share. However the new party has not paid his share ($250, which I have fronted) even though he has repeatedly said he would, both verbally and in correspondance. Will I prevail if I go to court?


Asked on 7/26/01, 4:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Trant Law Office of Robert R. Trant

Re: Failure to pay share of summer house

You may or may not prevail in court. Do you have a signed agreement or is this verbal agreement? Verbal agreements are much harder to prove because it becomes your word against their word. You could institute an action in Small Claims court to collect the $250.00. One thing to keep in mind is that even if the court finds in your favor and awards you the 250.00, you will still need to attempt to collect the debt. This will require extra time and expense to institute a seperate court action to satisfy the judgment. If the person does not have any major assets (home, auto, etc.) which could be attached, it may not be worth it to spend the time and money to collect $250.00. In the future, you should try get the money up front.

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Answered on 7/27/01, 9:49 am


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