Lawyers or paralegal needed

Question, my sister lent her husband's brother $1200 3 years ago and still hasn't gotten paid. Originally she was very patient, she told them to pay her back when they can and then they got pregnant and she didn't mention it for a year because she knew they had a lot going on. Now the baby is 2 and they are constantly posting pictures of their remodeleded house so it's clear they have extra money now. She has repeatedly begged for it back as she's in a bad financial situation now and coul really use the money. They made a verbal agreement a couple months to pay $100 a month and she paid that one month and the two months said they didn't have the money. Does anybody know what rights she has as far as getting the money back?

Pretty much none, because she didn't cover her ass with a written agreement. It's a he said-she said. She could try small claims court if she could prove she wrote them a check and has witnesses to the verbal agreement, but I wouldn't count on ever seeing that money again.

A verbal contract between family?

She may be able to get a judge to rule in her favor but the lawyer fees might cost her that much.

Should have gotten it in writing then notarized. She won't have a leg to stand on. All he has to say is she never gave him the money or it was a gift. She can't prove it otherwise. Money and people don't mix.

Unless she has a notarized, signed, written agreement, I don't think she's got much chance at all of getting the money back. (And even then it would probably be difficult...she would have to spend money to take it to court and it probably wouldn't be worth it.)

She should probably just chalk this one up to life experience and move on. It sucks, especially since she needs the money, but unfortunately, I don't think she has a leg to stand on.

Tell her next time either write up an IOU or don't lend a penny. It's smurf that his brother is being a douche bag, but it happens all the time. Good luck

Putting things in writing is always best since verbal agreements are hard to prove. If she has any texts, emails, etc that shows that they have talked about repayment, she should def keep those to help her prove it was a loan and not a gift. She has a right to get her money back. The process could be costly.

Quoting Rumple Foreskin™:" Pretty much none, because she didn't cover her ass with a written agreement. It's a he said-she said. ... [snip!] ... prove she wrote them a check and has witnesses to the verbal agreement, but I wouldn't count on ever seeing that money again."

Besides the verbal agreement to pay $100 a month, the rest is through email, so does that count as written?

Quoting Always♥Faithful:" Putting things in writing is always best since verbal agreements are hard to prove. If she has any texts, ... [snip!] ... keep those to help her prove it was a loan and not a gift. She has a right to get her money back. The process could be costly."

Yeah I don't think she actually wants to go to court but she wants them to know that she's serious and just like they pay their other bills, they need to pay this one.

Quoting BBBBB:" Besides the verbal agreement to pay $100 a month, the rest is through email, so does that count as written?"

Depends what is in the emails, if they acknowledge that it was a loan, that will help. Even better if it says how much the loan was and any terms on paying it back. ANYTHING in writing is better than nothing.

Quoting BBBBB:" Besides the verbal agreement to pay $100 a month, the rest is through email, so does that count as written?"

It's good that she has emails, but again, it will be very difficult for her to prove, and it will cost her money to go to court to try to get the money back. And without a written, signed agreement, she may not win anyway.

Quoting BBBBB:" Besides the verbal agreement to pay $100 a month, the rest is through email, so does that count as written?"

If she admits in the email that they owe the money and that she agrees to pay, I would think there is a better chance with that.

Having the email is definitely better than nothing, but how valuable it is depends on what the email actually says. Does it state the original amount or just that $100 should be paid every month? The more information, the better.