Mom lied

[Litigator22]

A belief based on what? Remember, the assets are supposedly in a trust in Idaho. . . . because the creditor is not a resident of Idaho and Idaho statute prohibits assignment of trust interests to persons out of state. (?)

Pardon me for correcting you, but are much mistaken. Idaho has NO laws (statutory or case law) that prohibit assignment of trust interests to persons out of state"! Nor are there any such laws in any other state as they would be in direct conflict with the "Contracts Clause " of the United States Constitution, i. e., impairing the obligation of contracts.

Apparently you have confused Section 68-210 of the Idaho Code that forbids "Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors" (ABC) * to non-residents with the rights of a judgment creditor to reach assets of the judgment debtor that are held in trust -either by way of levy and attachment or a voluntary assignment by the beneficiary creditor.

[*] For anyone interested an "Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors" is an alternative to a Chapter 7 liquidation in bankruptcy.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

So, tell me this: What were the exact terms of that "oral promise"? Did she tell you she'd pay it forever? Or for 12 months? Or for some other time period?

What, exactly was contained in the demurrer? What was the reasoning behind it?

If the mom got a high-priced lawyer before, what makes you believe she won't get one again?

You can't use your judgment against the daughter as an enforcement tool against mom. There just is no way around that.

I was thinking of suing her for breach of implied agreement or breach of oral contract for the unpaid rent. She agreed to pay the rent if her daughter could not in a phone call I had with her prior to her daughter moving in. I told her that her daughters credit score wasn't good enough for me to take the chance because I wasn't sure if she could handle the rent payments. Her mother assured me that she would pay the rent in the event the daughter didn't. The daughter sent me a check once. The other 15 months the rent came from the mother. The note was sent to me because during the same phone call I asked her to send me something in writing and that was what I received. It wasn't what I wanted, but the mother was steadily paying the rent so I didn't think too deeply about the signed note she s sent. The payments show a past performance to the extent that she knew the rent amount and when it had to be paid. I also have texts that I saved of her telling me she sent me the checks, etc, asking for the mailing address to send the checks when she didn't pay directly from her bank, etc. Since we never discussed damages, only rent, I wouldn't hold the mother to the entire $60k, only the unpaid rent of $13k. If she paid that I would subtract the amount from the total of the judgment against her daughter. At least, I think that's the best route to go. The demurrer the lawyer filed said that my first claim didn't have a contact signed by the mother- we didn't even go into the oral agreement or the note she sent since it didn't get that far. The first claim was just to evict the daughter, but the damages and unpaid rent were lumped into it, so it made it very hard for me to handle without a lawyer.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

"litigator" is an advisor/member here. quincy was expressing that he tends to agree with litigator (the advisor/member).

Oh, ok. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

Jeez, my brain is so full. This case has given me whole new level of respect for the work attorneys have to do. I see why you guys charge so much! I think I have a plan of attack, but I'll run it all by a lawyer familiar with idaho trust laws and civil litigation before I file anything else- just in case.

The problem is whether the OP can reach those assets in the trust with a judgment against the daughter. The terms of the trust (which we don't know) and Idaho state law may make that rather difficult, if not impossible, to do. In order to collect on the alleged guarantee the mother provided (and I have some doubts about the sufficiency of that guarantee) the OP would need a judgment against the mother.

Couldn't I lien the trust until the parents kicked the bucket then collect on her inheritance (if it turns out i couldn't attach the judgment to the assets in the trust)?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Couldn't I lien the trust until the parents kicked the bucket then collect on her inheritance (if it turns out i couldn't attach the judgment to the assets in the trust)?

You likely can attach whatever distributions the daughter will get from the trust. The problem is that you might not be able to compel those distributions, so you might end up waiting a long time before you see any money from it.

 

[quincy]

Molly, I am curious: How on a month-to-month lease did your tenant ever amass a past due amount of $13,000? You said she lived in the apartment for a year and a half.

You will want to learn more about the “family trust.”

 

[Taxing Matters]

You will want to learn more about the “family trust.”

I agree. The details of the trust are important.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

Molly, I am curious: How on a month-to-month lease did your tenant ever amass a past due amount of $13,000? You said she lived in the apartment for a year and a half.

You will want to learn more about the “family trust.”

$2400/ month for the rent. She stopped paying in February. The mom then gave me a partial payment with the promise to pay the rest the next month. She paid another partial payment in march- and told me she'd mail me the rest- she didn't. It was then that the house was condemned because of the damage the daughter had done, but she stayed in the house illegally for another three months. I didn't get her out until July- almost 2 years after she moved in. The total came to $13000 -ish. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it was somewhere around there. Also, in california the rules for evicting a tenant change once they are there longer than a year. It becomes a little bit more difficult. The mom made all the payments on time for the first year. It didn't start to go wrong until the year was up. I think she was in the house from August 2016 to July 2018. Again, I'm going off of memory at the moment, but it was something like that.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

$2400/ month for the rent. She stopped paying in February. The mom then gave me a partial payment with the promise to pay the rest the next month. She paid another partial payment in march- and told me she'd mail me the rest- she didn't. It was then that the house was condemned because of the damage the daughter had done, but she stayed in the house illegally for another three months. I didn't get her out until July- almost 2 years after she moved in. The total came to $13000 -ish. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it was somewhere around there. Also, in california the rules for evicting a tenant change once they are there longer than a year. It becomes a little bit more difficult. The mom made all the payments on time for the first year. It didn't start to go wrong until the year was up. I think she was in the house from August 2016 to July 2018. Again, I'm going off of memory at the moment, but it was something like that.

I considered that I might have to take her deposit off the rent owed- since she obviously didn't get the deposit returned. However, CA law states that the deposit is for damages and can't be used for rent, so I kept the unpaid rent balance where it was and applied the deposit to the damages instead. My thinking is I'll be more likely to collect on the unpaid rent (moms debt- hopefully) then the damages (daughter debt).

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

OK, last question. What form do I use to file complaint in idaho? I can't find it anywhere on the self help website.

 

[quincy]

OK, last question. What form do I use to file complaint in idaho? I can't find it anywhere on the self help website.

For how much are you intending to sue? The small claims limit in Idaho is $5000. If you want to sue to collect on the $11,000+, you will need to file in District Court ... and should have an attorney helping you.

Thanks for answering my earlier questions, by the way.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

I guess I'm going to file in district court. $5k isn't enough. They put me back years financially. Its been really hard. Its especially wrong since I made it clear I wouldn't normally rent to the daughter, but she has kids and I knew they wouldn't be able to find a home unless someone showed compassion. Nice people finish last. Lesson learned.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

I guess I'm going to file in district court. $5k isn't enough. They put me back years financially. Its been really hard. Its especially wrong since I made it clear I wouldn't normally rent to the daughter, but she has kids and I knew they wouldn't be able to find a home unless someone showed compassion. Nice people finish last. Lesson learned.

I was going to find an example complaint and change the relevant info to fit my case. But I'm having a hard time finding a complaint for breach of oral contract to use as the example.

 

[mollym.sequoia@]

I was going to find an example complaint and change the relevant info to fit my case. But I'm having a hard time finding a complaint for breach of oral contract to use as the example.

I'll run it by a lawyer before I file it. But I'm going to do the legwork in order to keep costs down. I can only afford a lawyer to steer me in the right direction.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to Idaho’s Rules of Civil Procedure, with which you should become familiar (Civil Case Information Sheet, Court Forms in Appendix B):

https://isc.idaho.gov/ircp-new