Getting Screwed By Own Father!

[grle4lif]

This is a very long and complexed situation in many ways but I will do my best to sum it up!
A little over 3 years ago my father aproached me and my husband about the possibility of moving into the basement of his house. After some consideration and alot of discussion we decided we would move in with hopes of jump starting our future and the promise that one day the house would be passed along to us/me!
The basment would first need some remodeling before we could move in, so a loan was taken out which would then be repaid by my husband and myself over a five year period of time. In doing this the agreement made between my father with us was that we would not have to pay "rent" or utilities, but strictly the loan payment. After the loan was paid off the agreement was that we would no longer hold any finacial resposability to my father in order to continue to reside in the residence as far as rent, etc.
After about 2 years of living here, my husband and I entered some finacial hardship and were struggling to pay all the bills. It wasnt until about 2 months ago though that we were unable to make the loan payment at which time my husband approached my father and asked him if he could make the payment for at least the next payment and possibly the one following that. At the time my father agreed and was informed that we would pay him back and catch up as soon as we could which was probably not gonna be until June when would be recieving a tax refund.
Well this morning when I woke up I found a notice taped to my door from the court house signed by my father reading... Faliure to pay Rent - Landlord's Complaint for Repossesion of Rented Property!
So basically im absolutly at a loss for what to do next because of a couple different things... One i didnt realize we were technically renting from him like i said before. We moved in and put the work and money into this place with the intention of getting something in return later on down the line; like the house! And its not just the money that was put towards repayment of the loan either but thousands of dollars in work outside in the backyard as well as all the money for the appliances in the house that came directly out of our pocket! Reason two is that there was never anything put down on paper in writing...ever! The agreement between my husband and myself with my father was completely verbal, so I can prove nothing! I have nothing saying that this was an investment into a house which was suppose to be mine one day!
The biggest reason I dont know what to do or where to go next is because this is my father that I am now gonna have to go up against! I just cant believe of all the people to have to face in a court room and its gonna be my own flesh and blood, and I am gonna be fighting for a roof over mine and my families head! I grew up in this house and my daughter has for the majority of her life as well and now I am being thrown out of my own home by my own father!
I am in desperate need of some advice on how I can proceed and what my rights are in a situation such as this one, although I hope nobody has ever been through this! So if anybody can think of something that mite be helpful and want to throw it my way, it would be much appreciated and is desperatly needed!

 

[army judge]

This is a very long and complexed situation in many ways but I will do my best to sum it up!
A little over 3 years ago my father aproached me and my husband about the possibility of moving into the basement of his house. After some consideration and alot of discussion we decided we would move in with hopes of jump starting our future and the promise that one day the house would be passed along to us/me!
The basment would first need some remodeling before we could move in, so a loan was taken out which would then be repaid by my husband and myself over a five year period of time. In doing this the agreement made between my father with us was that we would not have to pay "rent" or utilities, but strictly the loan payment. After the loan was paid off the agreement was that we would no longer hold any finacial resposability to my father in order to continue to reside in the residence as far as rent, etc.
After about 2 years of living here, my husband and I entered some finacial hardship and were struggling to pay all the bills. It wasnt until about 2 months ago though that we were unable to make the loan payment at which time my husband approached my father and asked him if he could make the payment for at least the next payment and possibly the one following that. At the time my father agreed and was informed that we would pay him back and catch up as soon as we could which was probably not gonna be until June when would be recieving a tax refund.
Well this morning when I woke up I found a notice taped to my door from the court house signed by my father reading... Faliure to pay Rent - Landlord's Complaint for Repossesion of Rented Property!
So basically im absolutly at a loss for what to do next because of a couple different things... One i didnt realize we were technically renting from him like i said before. We moved in and put the work and money into this place with the intention of getting something in return later on down the line; like the house! And its not just the money that was put towards repayment of the loan either but thousands of dollars in work outside in the backyard as well as all the money for the appliances in the house that came directly out of our pocket! Reason two is that there was never anything put down on paper in writing...ever! The agreement between my husband and myself with my father was completely verbal, so I can prove nothing! I have nothing saying that this was an investment into a house which was suppose to be mine one day!
The biggest reason I dont know what to do or where to go next is because this is my father that I am now gonna have to go up against! I just cant believe of all the people to have to face in a court room and its gonna be my own flesh and blood, and I am gonna be fighting for a roof over mine and my families head! I grew up in this house and my daughter has for the majority of her life as well and now I am being thrown out of my own home by my own father!
I am in desperate need of some advice on how I can proceed and what my rights are in a situation such as this one, although I hope nobody has ever been through this! So if anybody can think of something that mite be helpful and want to throw it my way, it would be much appreciated and is desperatly needed!

He is evicting you to get you out of his house.
It isn't fair, but it is legal.
You are a tenant at will (or by month, through operation of law).
There need not be an express written lease, because the law implies one.
The law allows no oral agreements, as regards property related transactions/arrangements.

You can try to cure the default, if he is suing you for non-payment of rent.
You do that by paying in full, all of the rent he is seeking.
But, from what you describe, it seems he simply is suing to have you removed from his home.
He doesn't want your money, he just seems to want you out.

I agree, this is a sad situation.
My heart goes out to you.
I don't know what to tell you, that will help you legally.
He has an absolute right to ask the court to evict.
He has about a 99% chance of being successful in court.
I suggest you begin seeking alternate living arrangements in anticipation of your ultimate eviction.
Again, I am sorry for your predicament.
Perhaps you can try talking and trying to reason with your father.
I hope his heart will soften enough to at least allow you more time to get relocated.

 

[Duranie]

Do you have any sort of written agreement here of this arrangement? Technically this is still Dad's house and he can evict you. You can go to court and see if you can talk to an attorney about a defense but the bottom line is, Dad may be able to eventually evict you. Seems you will have a hard time proving this agreement if its not on paper.

Do you have receipts for the work you did on the property? You can certainly counter sue him for that but it might exceed small claims so you might have a civil case against him.

 

[grle4lif]

I was pretty much afraid of that! I was stupid in the sense that I trusted my family and was nieve enough to think that I would never actually need something to be in writing stating the agreement made, but I was wrong and have deffinatly learned my lesson!
So in planning to vacate I was wondering what I am allowed to do legally as far as removal of the major appliances that were bought by us and are being used in the home at this time... Things such as a washer and dryer, refridgerator, stove, etc.? And do you have any idea of what kinda time frame am I working with as far as when we would possibly have to vacate by?

 

[grle4lif]

I do have recipts for the majority of the work done to the property over the past couple of years as well as the contract that was drawn up with the contracter to do the work on the house to make it into an actual apartment! Infact the contract was in my name and was between the contracter and myself because i paid for it!

 

[army judge]

I was pretty much afraid of that! I was stupid in the sense that I trusted my family and was nieve enough to think that I would never actually need something to be in writing stating the agreement made, but I was wrong and have deffinatly learned my lesson!
So in planning to vacate I was wondering what I am allowed to do legally as far as removal of the major appliances that were bought by us and are being used in the home at this time... Things such as a washer and dryer, refridgerator, stove, etc.? And do you have any idea of what kinda time frame am I working with as far as when we would possibly have to vacate by?

First of all, NOTHING changes UNTIL and UNLESS the court evicts you.

This can take about 30 days, give or take a week.

You don't have to leave UNTIL after the court has ordered your eviction, however.

And, even after the court evicts you (assuming it does), you usually have another 72 hours to get out; before the sheriff will dispossess you.

The judge will make that very clear to you when that time arrives.

As long as you have receipts for the appliances, you can take those with you when you leave.

So, if you don't have receipts, go get copies from the stores where you bought them.

Most stores keep very good records.

Therefore, when you leave, there should be no conflict with you taking YOUR property, including the appliances.

When the day comes and you are leaving, you can call the police and ask them to stand by to keep the peace, while you are leaving.

That way, there won't be any fights about you taking the appliances and such.

But, get those receipts out, or get duplicates!

 

[grle4lif]

Well I deffinatly have all the recipts for those, they are filed away somewhere but I will be going through and collecting anything that has to do with the property! There is a court date on the notice for one week from today that I suppose will be to go infront of a judge to get the official eviction...is there any way I can fight my case in court? The amount stated on the document that we owe is even wrong!

 

[grle4lif]

What about the contract that I have with the company that remodeled the basement? That is in my name as well...can that help me at all?

 

[army judge]

What about the contract that I have with the company that remodeled the basement? That is in my name as well...can that help me at all?

Are you fighting to stay in the home?

If you are, yes, all you have to do is pay what he is asking.

You can cure the default in court if you have the funds to pay him.

Ask the court that you be allowed to cure the default.

You can't argue or dispute the amount owed at that hearing.

You must have proof that he is charging you too much to dispute his charges.

You don't, so this hearing isn't the place for that.

Once you pay, if you decide to do that, the eviction will not go forward.

But, you'll then have to bring your own action to recover any overages he charged you and the cost of the remodeling effort in the basement.

But, won't living there be very uncomfortable?

Why not talk to him first?

You've got nothing to lose.

But, be prepared to pay in full, if you are even thinking about staying there.

No partial payments are accepted.

It has to be the entire amount he alleges you owe.

The judge might allow you to argue offsets (the value of what you've done, including the remodeling), but don't bet on it!

 

[grle4lif]

I am absolutly fighting to stay in the house! This is my childhood home where I grew up and I moved back in and dumped all the money and hard work into because it increased the value on a home that was suppoose to be passed onto me later down the line! I love this house in many different ways and dont want to have to pick up and leave for reasons that I am not even clear on! I designed the layout of this place and picked everything out myself! I spent countless hours and tons of hard work trying to make this place really nice and my thanks is to get thrown to the curb... I am in shock over this and am definitaly confused as to why he is doing this because he never spoke a word of warning! It was a long shot and I knew that, but I was hoping there might be something I could do

 

[grle4lif]

Im not sure what good talking to him will do at this point, but like you said i really have nothing to lose! If I was to talk to him and we were to settle things would he be able to "drop" the case so we wouuld not have to go to court or do we have to go at this point no matter what? And if there is no written agreement how is it that he can say an actual amount is even owed or a set amount that was suppose to be paid on such and such a date? He dosnt have a record or proof of any kind of payments ever being made either...so how can he prove that we ever agreed to pay him anything even if he does want us out? Im not saying we dont owe him any money but what im trying to get at is...dosnt he have to have some kind of evidence as well that what he is saying is true? Proof of the agreement that has been broken and an actual dollar amount in some way before he can make a claim that I owe him any money at all?

 

[army judge]

As I said before, try talking.

It can only help.

No, he can't just drop it.

He and you must now go to court.

You will have to be patient and wait.

The court is the venue to address these issues.

If you are unsure how to proceed in court, you can consult with, and possibly hire an attorney.

Most attorneys will provide a free initial consultation and tell you what they will charge for a matter such as this.

 

[grle4lif]

At this point I am quit certain that talking face to face is out of the question...it would almost deffinitaly not go well! My husband might be able to but that is if he is willing to even talk to him at this point! We are both pretty pissed off at the situation! Regardless, I have decided to write a letter to express my feelings about what i happening and to also have the chance to ask some questions that I will hopefully get an answer to in the form of a letter as well. Another reason for doing this is so that I can make a copy of the letter to keep for my records so that I will be able to prove everything that is discussed about the situation/agreement from here on out!

And if I was to consult a lawyer, what kind would I want to possibly talk to?

 

[army judge]

At this point I am quit certain that talking face to face is out of the question...it would almost deffinitaly not go well! My husband might be able to but that is if he is willing to even talk to him at this point! We are both pretty pissed off at the situation! Regardless, I have decided to write a letter to express my feelings about what i happening and to also have the chance to ask some questions that I will hopefully get an answer to in the form of a letter as well. Another reason for doing this is so that I can make a copy of the letter to keep for my records so that I will be able to prove everything that is discussed about the situation/agreement from here on out!

And if I was to consult a lawyer, what kind would I want to possibly talk to?

You don't need a specialist.

Most general practitioners could advise, assist, and guide you.

You have a good argument on the equity side.

You could walk away owing nothing, or with him being ordered to pay you.

A local lawyer is your best hope.

They know your area's judges and court system.