inlawhater
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois.
My wife has borrowed a lot of money from her parents and now they want ME to pay them back. I have no problem with this, at the moment, as we're still married, we manage our money together, and she isn't working. However, due to some rather shady (and unkept) promises by the in-laws, we live with them. We have a daughter that is three years old, and the in-laws are each smoking three packs a day in the house, without opening any windows, which is causing a hell of a lot of problems with my daughter's (and my) asthma.
We moved in because my wife attempted suicide (which she blames on her mother's constant nagging,) and the in-laws offered to let us life here free so they could keep an eye on my wife and daughter while my wife went through counseling and I worked. They promised to smoke outside or inside a closed room when it was too cold to stand outside.
They have not lived up to their end of the bargain and are asking that we pay rent as well as pay back the money we owe them before we can even buy food for ourselves. I won't eat their food because it often has cigarette ashes cooked in it, even though "it won't hurt ya" is the response I get when I complain.
We've threatened to leave but they have said that not a single item of ours that was bought with their money (they have no idea what was bought with that money so they won't let anything leave the house - not even clothes) until they are paid in full. I'm kinda okay with that since it all stinks like mad anyway.
There is no documentation that says we owe them money. Nothing in writing, only a verbal back and forth that consists mostly of "you know I get all of your paycheck, right," and "nothing is leaving this house until we're paid."
My understanding is that a lender can either posses a lien on an item, or the item itself, but not both. My in-laws think they can have money for a television and actually own the television itself until they are paid in full. They won't even let us watch what we want because "it's [their] TV, dammit." My understanding also is that my in-laws can't hold personal property in lieu of payment, without something written saying who owes who what, and what the debt is for.
I know it was a bad idea to move in here, but it is what my wife wanted when she was recovering from her suicide attempt and my judgement was way off because my God my wife just tried to kill herself and the week after her attempt I lost my job for leaving to take my wife to the hospital that day (which in and of itself is illegal, as i understand it.)
So, my question is, can my in-laws legally hold our property if we move out before we've paid them off entirely? Can I assert ownership of our things if we're paying the in-laws for them? Can we move the hell out of here and take our things with us, if we continue to pay my in-laws? Are we obligated to pay them at all?
My mother-in-law is also saying that she wants ME to sign paperwork saying that *I* owe her $25,000 (which is way more than our debt) in the event of a successful suicide attempt by my wife. I refuse. My wife has told me that her mother is again the one who is making her wish she was dead and every time the in-laws talk about money I find my wife with a bottle of pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other (yes, literally - i have to get up every time she comes back from a conversation with her mother and I have to constantly move her medicines around the house so she can't find the lot of them.)
My wife, my daughter and I are all suffering medically by living here; there is nothing in writing that we (or I) owe them any money, all the credit cards and charge cards are in my mother-in-law's name; what can I do to save my family?
Thank you.
My wife has borrowed a lot of money from her parents and now they want ME to pay them back. I have no problem with this, at the moment, as we're still married, we manage our money together, and she isn't working. However, due to some rather shady (and unkept) promises by the in-laws, we live with them. We have a daughter that is three years old, and the in-laws are each smoking three packs a day in the house, without opening any windows, which is causing a hell of a lot of problems with my daughter's (and my) asthma.
We moved in because my wife attempted suicide (which she blames on her mother's constant nagging,) and the in-laws offered to let us life here free so they could keep an eye on my wife and daughter while my wife went through counseling and I worked. They promised to smoke outside or inside a closed room when it was too cold to stand outside.
They have not lived up to their end of the bargain and are asking that we pay rent as well as pay back the money we owe them before we can even buy food for ourselves. I won't eat their food because it often has cigarette ashes cooked in it, even though "it won't hurt ya" is the response I get when I complain.
We've threatened to leave but they have said that not a single item of ours that was bought with their money (they have no idea what was bought with that money so they won't let anything leave the house - not even clothes) until they are paid in full. I'm kinda okay with that since it all stinks like mad anyway.
There is no documentation that says we owe them money. Nothing in writing, only a verbal back and forth that consists mostly of "you know I get all of your paycheck, right," and "nothing is leaving this house until we're paid."
My understanding is that a lender can either posses a lien on an item, or the item itself, but not both. My in-laws think they can have money for a television and actually own the television itself until they are paid in full. They won't even let us watch what we want because "it's [their] TV, dammit." My understanding also is that my in-laws can't hold personal property in lieu of payment, without something written saying who owes who what, and what the debt is for.
I know it was a bad idea to move in here, but it is what my wife wanted when she was recovering from her suicide attempt and my judgement was way off because my God my wife just tried to kill herself and the week after her attempt I lost my job for leaving to take my wife to the hospital that day (which in and of itself is illegal, as i understand it.)
So, my question is, can my in-laws legally hold our property if we move out before we've paid them off entirely? Can I assert ownership of our things if we're paying the in-laws for them? Can we move the hell out of here and take our things with us, if we continue to pay my in-laws? Are we obligated to pay them at all?
My mother-in-law is also saying that she wants ME to sign paperwork saying that *I* owe her $25,000 (which is way more than our debt) in the event of a successful suicide attempt by my wife. I refuse. My wife has told me that her mother is again the one who is making her wish she was dead and every time the in-laws talk about money I find my wife with a bottle of pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other (yes, literally - i have to get up every time she comes back from a conversation with her mother and I have to constantly move her medicines around the house so she can't find the lot of them.)
My wife, my daughter and I are all suffering medically by living here; there is nothing in writing that we (or I) owe them any money, all the credit cards and charge cards are in my mother-in-law's name; what can I do to save my family?
Thank you.