Verbal Agreement

[ms_southpaw]

I live in Georgia. My husband of 16 yrs. who is a recovering alchoholic, sold my wedding ring set to an aquaintance for monthly installments. He told the "friend" the minimum pmt. would be $50.00 per month. (That's on a $1700 loan @24.97%.)Since he has sobered up, he now realizes the $50 pmt. would not pay the ring off for quite sometime, and the "friend" has informed him he cannot afford a larger pmt. My husband has offered to give the "friend" the money he has already paid and requested the ring back since he cannot make a larger payment. The "friend" now says the ring was stolen and also made the comment that he and his wife were moving out of the state. We are afraid they will split town and we will be out ring and money. This was all done verbally. any advice on how to either get the ring back or the cash to pay it off?

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I live in Georgia. My husband of 16 yrs. who is a recovering alchoholic, sold my wedding ring set to an aquaintance for monthly installments. He told the "friend" the minimum pmt. would be $50.00 per month. (That's on a $1700 loan @24.97%.)Since he has sobered up, he now realizes the $50 pmt. would not pay the ring off for quite sometime, and the "friend" has informed him he cannot afford a larger pmt. My husband has offered to give the "friend" the money he has already paid and requested the ring back since he cannot make a larger payment. The "friend" now says the ring was stolen and also made the comment that he and his wife were moving out of the state. We are afraid they will split town and we will be out ring and money. This was all done verbally. any advice on how to either get the ring back or the cash to pay it off?

My response:

There is virtually nothing you can do.

However, one good thing will come of this - - that is, you and your husband will never again enter into, or create, a contract unless it's in writing and get some collateral for the sake of security for the debt. A bit of an expensive lesson, though.

Good luck to you.

IAAL

 

[JETX]

One thing you might consider....

If the debtor has missed a scheduled payment, that would be breach of your verbal contract (if one existed). If he breached the contract, you could sue him in small claims court for that breach and you could ask the court for a Pre-judgment Writ of Execution to sieze the ring and hold it until your case is tried. Texas allows for this if the Defendant is about to remove property from the courts jurisdiction and you might be able to do it in Georgia (check with your courts).

However, you would then have to be prepared to show that the ring was legally yours and that there was a contract of sale to the Defendant and that he breached the contract. If you believe you can show the court, I would consider going for it..... very little expense and time to try to protect yourself.