Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Personal loans

Also, no one can "take" your condo in summary fashion. I get many questions like this. He would have to go to court and PROVE that the money is actually owed. Since he has only a verbal agreement, he would have to convince the court that the contract was real. Assuming that he actually won the lawsuit, he would then have a court judgment, which is only a sort of hunting license to go try to find money that he can claim. It might be possible for him to eventually foreclose on your condo, but that is a sififcult and involved process. There is far more to it than someone simply deciding to "take" your condo. The immediate question is winning or losing any lawsuit, if any. The end result is far down the road. The issue you should be worried about is how to defeat any lawsuit, if he brings one, rather than what might happen 10 steps down the road.

I emphasize this strongly because so many people ask very similar questions. I do not mean to jump on your question, but to respond to it strongly because so many people have the same way of thinking about the situation and NEED to hear this. Creditors will call up and say "we're going to take your house" or "we're going to garnish your wages." They can't do NUTHIN without going through multiple steps and convincing the judge that you actually owe the money. And even then, there are a number of difficult steps required even AFTER winning a lawsuit, which, frankly, most lawyers don't know how to carry through on.

There is one exception: If you sign an official loan document with a "confession of judgment" provision in it, the creditor might be able to jump over all of the lawsuit. However, even then, the "confession of judgment" provision needs to be drafted exactly right, and many times they are not done right and are invalid. However, hint: DON'T sign a loan with a "confession of judgment" provision in it.

Re: Personal loans

Based on what you have indicated, the verbal agreement to pay monthly installments would be your best response to any legal action he brings. You might try and get him to agree to a written installment payback to avoid the costs of litigation. This could be in the form of a promissory note.

Re: Personal loans

Before your exhusband to be starts any action to enforce a verbal agreement that would appear to be well within(and therefore unenforceable) the Virginia Statute of Frauds which is codified at Va. Code 11-2, he would be well advised to check out Section 11-2(9) which spells out that contracts which involve the lending of money or credit in the aggregate amount of $25,000.00

or more require a writing(contract) as evidence of such agreements if they are to be enforced.

In this case, your former partner in romance may well want to acknowledge your agreement to make monthly installments on an agreement that would appear to be otherwise unenforceable based upon the requirements of the aforementioned Statute of Frauds.