my ex-fiance won't give my savings back

[Stats804]

I'm from Pennsylvania. My fiance and I were living together in a condo we rented from her friend for 10 months. Her name is the only one on the lease. I had contributed $1000 to our wedding savings, which were in an account in her name only. She admitted to cheating on me one weekend (June 9-10), and asked me to stay and work it out. I had none of it, and moved out. She later lost her job, and I told her she can pay me $500 now and $500 when she got a job. She has over $4000 in the account, plus she's collecting unemployment that equals my regular paycheck ($350/wk). I'm going on vacation next week, and I asked for all of it now, so we can cut all ties now, and I need my money back, and I knew she still had all this money. All of a sudden, by asking for it back now, she explodes on me, claiming I required 60 days notice to her friend before moving out (my name is not on the lease), so I owe her two months living expenses. That was never an option discussed ever before! That is not right - she broke OUR agreement by cheating; I had every right to leave without further financial obligation. Now she is withholding all my money, claiming I owe her $800 (I paid $400/month) so she only owes me $200. I can just as easily claim she owes me $1200 since my $200 bi-weekly share paid for her June utility bills. Any attempt to get my money back is met with a "prove it's your money" statement. What can I do?

 

[JETX]

1) You say, "I'm from Pennsylvania". That is great, but where was the dispute?? Or should we assume PA?

2) Though you name may not have been 'on the lease', was there ANY agreement (written or verbal) that you would be responsible for any portion of the rent, or bills, or utilities, or anything else?

3) Was there any agreement made, written or verbal, as to the ownership of the money you deposited to her account? She can easily claim it was a gift, while you now claim it was a loan.

4) Was there any written agreement that she would return the $1000 to you??

5) Your post says that you rented "from her friend for 10 months". Was that the term of the lease, or how long you lived there?? If not the term, what was the term of the lease??

And finally, (6) If you were to have to go to court to try to recover your $1000.00, what can you show to support your claim that it was a loan and that she is obligated to repay you??

 

[Stats804]

My replies to your questions:

1) yes - Montgomery County, PA, is where we lived. she's still there; I moved to Lehigh County, PA.

2) before we moved in together we figured our living expenses totaled approx. $950/mo. (rent = 780, cable = 30, phone = 40, electric = 100). due to our significant salary difference, we also agreed (verbally) that she would contribute $600/mo and me $400/mo to our joint checking account ($50 extra/mo) that we opened together to pay these bills. I have archived emails to attest to this agreement.

3) my savings contributions were neither a gift nor a "loan". I worked extra part-time hours at my job in order to contribute to our wedding savings - I ended up contributing approx. $1200 in all, but I do not have deposit slips, etc., to back this.

4) the very day I moved out, we agreed verbally (I have two 'earwitnesses') that $1000 is the amount I'm entitled to get back. I have emails and chat transcripts (AOL IM logs) to back this as well. my question is, are such things admissible as evidence to make up for my lack of receipts? she fully acknowledges that $1000 is what she owes me, also backed by my email/IM evidence.

5) I'm not fully aware of the terms of the lease (I believe it's a year-to-year deal; we leased it from her friend who owns the condo) - all I know is, my name is nowhere on it, we lived there from August '00 until I moved out early June '01. she's still there, and like I said before, she's claiming that I required to give her friend 60 days notice before moving out. obviously that is ridiculous, and besides, by cheating on me she broke OUR agreement. I was fully within my rights to up and move, with no legal obligation toward rent.

6) as stated above I have witnesses, emails and chat transcripts that fully reveal that she knows she owes me my $1000, that that money was not a gift - it was put in a savings account we shared (though is in her name only). there was a definitive verbal agreement to our arrangement. her attitude the past couple days is that of a bully - she's teasing me about it, like "what are you gonna do?", basically daring me to take her to court. she's confident that my lack of deposit slip evidence is all she needs to win. she is not aware of my email/chat evidence, nor does she believe that I am fully willing to take her to court, and I'm thinking about suing her for $4000 - if we "shared" everything then I'm entitled to half of the entire savings, since she insists that I "share" in living expenses incurred since I moved out. plus emotional distress (aggravated hypertension, embarrassment, etc.). I've been pushed around long enough, and I want to make her pay for taking this ridiculous stand.

Thank you for your response.