Legal Question in Family Law in Utah

responsablitly of personal loan to ex-inlaw

My husband is setting threats to be sued from his ex brother in law. When he was married to the mans sister, she asked her brother to come visit them and pay for the deposit on the town house she was insistant to move into. My husband was against the move- but the brother wrote a check to the property manager. She then voulenterally left the home in May of last year (leaving her husband and two children) She also made an agreement with her brother to repay him with their tax return. That years tax return was with held cause of Her debts. Now her brother is try to get the full amount $700 from my husband, cause he is pissed he got full custody of the children. In the divorce decree between my husband and his ex, it says that debts are the responability of the person inccuring the debt. Shouldn't she be liable since she orchastrated the whole loan, from her relative. Or at the very least my husband only be liable for 1/2.


Asked on 2/21/07, 1:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Re: responsablitly of personal loan to ex-inlaw

Situations like this are not easily resolved by purely legal means. Since there is no agreement between the parties, a court would have to do what is fair. While your husband can argue that the debt was incurred by his ex, most of those debt agreements only concern debts incurred after separation. This debt was incurred during the marriage, and arguably were incurred by both of them. Your husband got a benefit from the loan, and apparently agreed to the loan since he moved in. As a sense of fairness it would be reasonable for your husband to offer the brother in law 50% of the debt in exchange for a written release for any other liability. Let the sister pay the balance.

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Answered on 2/21/07, 1:48 pm


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