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Questions Concerning Personal Property From the Result of A Breakup

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Hautkopf

Junior Member
This is a slightly complex situation but i will try my best to simplify it.
The basics first, I reside in WV, I have lived at the property i am currently residing for over a year. Now, My ex and me, split up about 3 months ago. About a month and a half ago, after our separation (Mind you we were not married), my ex smashed my car windshield. She admitted her guilt to the police, and the police urged me to resolve it between the two of us, (I assume to not deal with the paperwork). We came to an agreement that she would pay me the 380$ Required to fix my windshield and after she had paid me in full, she would pick up the rest of her things that she had left at my apartment after the breakup. She ended up attempting to change the agreement to paying in 100$ installments. Of which at this point she has not paid one. Her first payment was due Dec 1st. She claimed she could not pay due to Christmas. After continuing to argue with her, i came to decision to move forward with pressing charges for the damages to my car. However the responding officer has not returned any of my calls, im assuming he does not want to be bothered with it (its quite a small town, with a small police force). So i decided to just not even bother with getting my money from her, as im sure its going to be more of a hassle than i want to deal with and instead just sell anything she has left here that is of value to fix my windshield.

My questions are the following:
Am I legal able to sell these items as they have been at my home for over 2 months?
Is she legally able to demand the items back without paying me for the damage to my vehicle?
Should i attempt to bring a small claims case against her? If so, what would be the proper way to do so?

More info: Nothing was made in writing by myself or her, nothing signed, no legally binding paperwork. The police have the property damage case on file, it has been documented and she admitted to committing the act.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
This is a slightly complex situation but i will try my best to simplify it.
The basics first, I reside in WV, I have lived at the property i am currently residing for over a year. Now, My ex and me, split up about 3 months ago. About a month and a half ago, after our separation (Mind you we were not married), my ex smashed my car windshield. She admitted her guilt to the police, and the police urged me to resolve it between the two of us, (I assume to not deal with the paperwork). We came to an agreement that she would pay me the 380$ Required to fix my windshield and after she had paid me in full, she would pick up the rest of her things that she had left at my apartment after the breakup. She ended up attempting to change the agreement to paying in 100$ installments. Of which at this point she has not paid one. Her first payment was due Dec 1st. She claimed she could not pay due to Christmas. After continuing to argue with her, i came to decision to move forward with pressing charges for the damages to my car. However the responding officer has not returned any of my calls, im assuming he does not want to be bothered with it (its quite a small town, with a small police force). So i decided to just not even bother with getting my money from her, as im sure its going to be more of a hassle than i want to deal with and instead just sell anything she has left here that is of value to fix my windshield.

My questions are the following:
Am I legal able to sell these items as they have been at my home for over 2 months?
Is she legally able to demand the items back without paying me for the damage to my vehicle?
Should i attempt to bring a small claims case against her? If so, what would be the proper way to do so?

More info: Nothing was made in writing by myself or her, nothing signed, no legally binding paperwork. The police have the property damage case on file, it has been documented and she admitted to committing the act.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much
You absolutely, positively CANNOT sell her property to cover your windshield. You would need to sue her in small claims court, win a judgment against her, and get permission from the court to sell her belongings to cover the judgment. Legally you cannot even withhold her property from her until you can get said judgment...if she demands her property you legally must allow her to retrieve it.

Getting her arrested for breaking your windshield doesn't change any of that either. That just gets her arrested for committing a crime...assuming that it was a crime. (details lacking)

As far as the proper way to sue in small claims court...go down to your local small claims court and they will walk you through it.
 

quincy

Senior Member
... My questions are the following:
Am I legal able to sell these items as they have been at my home for over 2 months?
Is she legally able to demand the items back without paying me for the damage to my vehicle?
Should i attempt to bring a small claims case against her? If so, what would be the proper way to do so?

More info: Nothing was made in writing by myself or her, nothing signed, no legally binding paperwork. The police have the property damage case on file, it has been documented and she admitted to committing the act. ...
If you follow Zigner's advice, and decide to sue your ex-girlfriend over the damage to your vehicle, the following link from West Virginia University's Student Legal Services site is easy to understand, walking you through the process that needs to be followed:
http://campuslife.wvu.edu/r/download/103289

If you decide instead that you want to sell or dispose of your ex-girlfriend's personal property in order to cover the costs of a new windshield, you will need to notify your ex-girlfriend first of your intent. You will need to allow her time to pick up the items before the property will be considered abandoned and before you can do with the items what you want. The following is a link on "handling a tenant's abandoned property." It tells you what you need to do before selling or disposing of any items that belong to your ex-girlfriend: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/handling-tenants-abandoned-property-west-virginia.html

You would be wise in the future to have any agreements in writing, dated, and signed by you and the other party. Although oral agreements are legally binding, terms of the agreement can be fuzzy and are harder to prove when there is a dispute. The parties to the agreement may remember what was agreed to in entirely different ways. A judge is often left to decide whose story is more believable.

Good luck.
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
This is a slightly complex situation but i will try my best to simplify it.
The basics first, I reside in WV, I have lived at the property i am currently residing for over a year. Now, My ex and me, split up about 3 months ago. About a month and a half ago, after our separation (Mind you we were not married), my ex smashed my car windshield. She admitted her guilt to the police, and the police urged me to resolve it between the two of us, (I assume to not deal with the paperwork). We came to an agreement that she would pay me the 380$ Required to fix my windshield and after she had paid me in full, she would pick up the rest of her things that she had left at my apartment after the breakup. She ended up attempting to change the agreement to paying in 100$ installments. Of which at this point she has not paid one. Her first payment was due Dec 1st. She claimed she could not pay due to Christmas. After continuing to argue with her, i came to decision to move forward with pressing charges for the damages to my car. However the responding officer has not returned any of my calls, im assuming he does not want to be bothered with it (its quite a small town, with a small police force). So i decided to just not even bother with getting my money from her, as im sure its going to be more of a hassle than i want to deal with and instead just sell anything she has left here that is of value to fix my windshield.

My questions are the following:
Am I legal able to sell these items as they have been at my home for over 2 months?
Is she legally able to demand the items back without paying me for the damage to my vehicle?
Should i attempt to bring a small claims case against her? If so, what would be the proper way to do so?

More info: Nothing was made in writing by myself or her, nothing signed, no legally binding paperwork. The police have the property damage case on file, it has been documented and she admitted to committing the act.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much
Q1) No.
Q2) Yes.
Q3) Yes.
 

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