Can I sue my sister in small claims?

[dianna]

Jurisdiction

New York

Hello! My question has to do with $2500 that my life partner and I loaned my sister almost one year ago to pay a med bill so she could continue getting cancer treatment. We wired her the money so there is proof we did this. We found out a couple of months later that she did not have cancer and instead used our money to travel to MS to gamble. She has a gambling problem. She's also a con-artist of sorts and she refuses to pay us back. I live in NYC and she lives in Indiana. I understand that I will need to travel to Indiana to file and then go back later for court date. Will the fact that the account we sent the money from is only in my partners name and we are not legally married yet? Will he have to be the one to file and do all the work on this or can I? He is willing to just forget the money but I am not. What I will have as proof of debt will be the wire transfer from the account that is not our shared account and in his name only. Will I have problems with this?

My sister is terrible. Not only did lie to get money from us, she stole basically everything from my dying mothers home. Anything that she could sell in a yard sale or eBay she took. She did this after not speaking or having anything to do with my mother for 20 years. I understand that I have to let her get away with the thefts but if I can get that $2500 back it would make me feel a little better.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

 

[army judge]

Will the fact that the account we sent the money from is only in my partners name and we are not legally married yet?

It doesn't matter how or where the money derived from, only that you sent it via wire to the recipient.

If you were the person wiring the money, YES, you can bring the lawsuit in the lovely state of Indiana.

Before you go to the trouble and expense of traveling from NY to IN, you need to know whether your sister has the resources to to repay you.

If you were to prevail on your small claims lawsuit, all you receive from the court is a judgment proclaiming Ms. Deadbeat Flat Broke owes you Ms. Kind Hearted Soul $2500.00.

You must then endeavor to collect on your judgment. The court doesn't assist you in that endeavor, nor does any arm of government, until and unless you locate her bank account or other assets against which can be levied to pay the judgment.

When faced with a judgment, many of these deadbeats file bankruptcy. Should your deadbeat do that, you're worse than when you began, because in addition to the $2,500 owed you, you've also spent at least another $1,500 to $2,000 on your two trips from NY to IN.

 

[adjusterjack]

My sister is terrible. Not only did lie to get money from us, she stole basically everything from my dying mothers home. Anything that she could sell in a yard sale or eBay she took. She did this after not speaking or having anything to do with my mother for 20 years. I understand that I have to let her get away with the thefts but if I can get that $2500 back it would make me feel a little better.

Knowing all that about your sister, why on earth would you give her $2500?

What I will have as proof of debt will be the wire transfer from the account

Nope, sorry, that's not proof of the debt. That's proof of the payment and that's all it is.

Do you have any documentation (not just sayso) that this was a loan and not a gift.

Emails? Texts? Letters?

Adding to what Army Judge wrote, deadbeats and crooks aren't likely to show up in court when sued. That could result in a default judgment which is likely uncollectible. Another thing about default judgments is that judges are going to want to see your evidence (not just sayso) before issuing one.

 

[zddoodah]

I understand that I will need to travel to Indiana to file and then go back later for court date.

I doubt you will need to travel to Indiana simply to file the complaint. You should be able to do that by mail (or maybe even online).

Will the fact that the account we sent the money from is only in my partners name and we are not legally married yet? Will he have to be the one to file and do all the work on this or can I?

You can do all the work, but your boyfriend should be the plaintiff. In theory, he could assign the claim to you, but some states don't allow assigned claims in small claims court (not sure about Indiana), and he'd still need to be a witness.

Do you have any documentation (not just sayso) that this was a loan and not a gift.

The OP's and his/her boyfriend's testimony would be all the evidence that's needed to make a prima facie case. The sister could allege, in her defense, that it was a gift and not a loan. If that happens, documentation of any sort would be helpful.

 

[army judge]

Do you have any documentation (not just sayso) that this was a loan and not a gift

I suspect Ms. Deadbeat Flat Broke and Ms. Kind Hearted Soul will struggle to produce any memorialization of the alleged $2500 transaction being a debt or a loan.

If either produces a memorialization of the transaction, that'll certainly be useful at trial.

 

[dianna]

Thanks guys. We (he) loaned her the money because she said they would not treat her cancer until she paid that amount. She texted my partner (behind my back) and asked for it with a promise to repay. He felt like he had to pay so she could get care. He most likely has that text and would let me print to take but he won't go to Indy to do this, he doesn't want me to do it but after all the crap she's done and stolen from my mom and me - this is really all I can do is put a judgement on her credit and try to collect. I know where she works (she works at my insurance company!) It's all frustrating but I feel like I really need to do this even if I never collect.

The kicker is - on top of the 2500 I paid her 1500 to bring my moms dogs up to NY. I couldn't get down there because of a broken arm. I had no choice. My mom was in bad shape and the dogs were just hanging at the house with the caretaker that I hired years ago for Mom. My sister offered to bring them up for 1000 and I said ok. She seemed to really want to help me out. Later she told me she needed another 500 to pay for dog fees in hotels so i gave her that too. So altogether she got 4K from us while also stealing everything my Mom owned. I am literally in therapy over this, it's very hard to accept. My sister left mad in 1994 and we never really heard from her again until she heard Mom was at the end. I was so desperate for help at the time I stupidly trusted her. I appreciate all of your advice.

 

[adjusterjack]

The texts will be helpful in court. But don't just print them out. Also take photos of the screens and leave the texts on the phone so you can show the phone to the judge if necessary.