Am I legally responsible for money my ex girlfriend put into my house?

Question

My ex GF of two years helped pay to have my house repainted and replace the water heater. We broke up 3 years ago and now she tells me I am responsible for the money. She was never charged rent or utilities when living there. I sold the house about a year ago. There was never any signed agreement or contract of any kind. These items were paid for with credit cards in her name only!

Answer 1

Not that watching those court shows are a great way of getting legal information, but the judges in those shows always consider that maintenance of an abode that the person is residing in. No, you don't have to pay her back.

Answer 2

She would have a valid legal argument. She could easily say that she put them on a credit card to help you out, so that you could fix up the house. And that you were going to pay her back when the house sold. Your word against her word. She has credit card receipts. The fact is you benefited from this so th judge might find in her favor. Her not paying rent might help some.

Answer 3

No contract, no rent, no obligation unless of course you are being fair. Would two years rent have exceeded the cost of the point job and water heater? You could and should offer to pay that difference.

Answer 4

Because those were improvements to the house, she could sue you, for example in small claims court (heh heh, don't mention that to her). However, it seems unlikely that she could win. You could explain that her chipping in for those things were in place of contributing toward utilities and other expenses. Also, with no written agreement, and more than 3 years in the past, the statute of limitations may have already passed.

Answer 5

NO. Key factor: Nothing signed and in writing. another factor is her name is not under the mortgage & that she did not pay for rent and utility, that was my immediate thoughts after seeing your questions that you were dealing with someone who lived with you but helped pay for certain things like replacements and labor. But she never was charged rent or utility. THIS IS A CCLEAR CUT AND DRY------CASE CLOSED I assure you.

Answer 6

Legally, yes, as if you were married. Many states view cohabitation as "common law" marriage after one year.

Morally obligated as a well.

If you profited from the sale of the house, she technically could file a lien against you for the items in question.

Answer 7

Send her a bill for half the rent & utilities on a legal letter head(Crane Poole & Shmidt) for example.Then tell her that all future correspondence will be handled by your lawyers.She'll fuc% off in a hurry.

Answer 8

your situation is almost identical to what i went through with my ex-wife. for over a year i remodeled her condo and put in some fancy stuff and the condo was appraised at 30 thousand dollars more then the year before. one morning we both went to our jobs but when i got to work i couldn't stand the thought of going "home" that evening. i went back to her condo, stuffed my car with my stuff, withdrew half the money from checking and half the money from savings plus 2 thousand dollars, changed the passwords and went to a hotel. when we went to divorce court the judge ruled it was community property and she should be glad i didn't take ALL the money. it is too late for now. whoever has what they have at the time of the breakup usually keeps it.

Answer 9

Nope. If she wanted the money, she would have asked for it before you broke up.

Go on Judge Judy and you will win.

Answer 10

No. Maybe if she paid rent she would have a case, but she's got nothing. Let her take you to court.

It was just a dumbass move on her part.