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• Reputation: 4209 Q&A: 121 4 6 1581 87 19 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 5 Russ Campbell, NWEBS

  4 0 There is no recognition of common law marriage in Washington State. The problem for you is that it is YOUR Master Card account that has the charges on it and unfortunately that is YOUR debt. A paper signed by him saying the debt is his would not be recognized by your credit card company or bank as they vetted you for the account and you are the owner of it. It seems that you are splitting amicably and his statement seems to recognize that and implies that he will be paying it off. It appears if you are to have any paper signed between you then you should have it written up as a loan between you two (you to him) with a repayment schedule in the agreement. Then if he does not pay up you can take him to court over the reneging of the loan. Unfortunately, as it stands the debt to the credit card company is your financial responsibility. In light of answers recently given to a question I posed I will refer you to resources mentioned in those answers (credit given to those persons posting the answers). Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Other - Finance & Legal 7 months ago | Report 2 comments by RacerX and Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 0 I disagree with your first statement - common law marriage may not be established in WA, but common law marriage started in other commonlaw marriage states IS recognized here by law. 2.5 years seems short for true commonlaw marriage though. RacerX commented 7 months ago | Report 0 0 You are correct, my statement was a little too overtly exclusive. Requirements for Common Law status is even more complicated than it might seem on the surface. See: http://www.unmarried.org/common-law-marriage-fact-sheet.html Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 7 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  3 0 Cancel the credit card. You can try to get him to sign a contract where he specifies that he will repay you for that amount, but maybe check with a lawyer first to make sure the contract will be valid in court. If he doesn't pay you back, you'll have to take him to court and it's better to have something solid. (What Russ said.) If he's not an authorized user of your account (like he ordered stuff online using your card) you should call the bank and tell them those charges weren't authorized. If this was the case he could potentially be charged with fraud, and you'd probably have to call the police too. You have every right to be upset about this - he has no right to be upset because he is the one who violated your trust by using a credit card that you are responsible for. asteria answered in Other - Finance & Legal 7 months ago | Report 5 comments by Kristin Bell, Black Beetles in Amber, and asteria… 0 0 Actually, it might be a bad idea to cancel the credit card, because they put it on your credit report as a closed account, but they don't say that YOU closed it, so it looks bad. Well, this is as far as I know, because I closed a couple of credit card accounts once and it had that effect. Kristin Bell commented 7 months ago | Report 0 0 "You can try to get him to sign a contract where he specifies that he will repay you for that amount" How much interest will that accrue while you wait to enforce the contract? You'll be responsible for all of it. Black Beetles in Amber commented 7 months ago | Report 0 0 Yes, if you are not canceling a card for fraud reasons it might ding your credit record a bit. It's usually the reduction in debt to overall credit limit that lowers your score. However letting someone have access to your credit card, rack up over $3,800 in debt, and then let them continue using the card is worse in my opinion. They might be able to cancel just the card the former partner has but still keep the account open, depending on how it was set up. asteria commented 7 months ago | Report 1 0 You can include interest in the contract, and also include lawyer's fees. The key things are to make sure the contract would hold up in court in Washington (or whatever state) and to get the other person's consent. As Russ said you're trying to establish a personal loan between the two. Of course the contract itself does not guarantee the former partner will pay, and the OP is legally responsible for the credit card charges and interest in any case. But if they can get the former partner to sign a legally enforceable contract, the OP could go to court and win a judgement against the former partner. asteria commented 7 months ago | Report 0 0 Asteria gives great advice. I'd only add that the contract should contain a statement whereby he acknowledges the debt, including the interest (at whatever rate your credit card charges - specify it). Then, if/when he breaches the agreement, you can bring the claim in small claims court for up to $5000 (in Washington), and obtain a judgment. You don't need a lawyer for small claims court - you actually can't have one represent you in small claims court. You may want to hire a lawyer to help you collect on the judgment, either through garnishment or a lien against his property. Good luck! Luckier commented 7 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 That's Theft in my mind. He's a thief first, an ex second. Don't mess around with promises, it IS his responsibility -- get cash. And soon. In 30 days that 3800 dollars becomes on its way to messing up your credit and adding interest, right? In 90 days that $3800 (or whatever's left) becomes official and can drag your 3 digit number down. If it were me, I might give him a Net 30 timeline to pay it all back, and if he didn't pay back the debt, it might be within one's rights (and intent of the law) to place a call to your card company and the authorities to inform them that all of those charges were unauthorized (i.e. theft/fraud). If asked something like 'why didn't you report it earlier?' the answer is simply "that was part of the fraud: the bad info was kept from me - the fact that everything wasn't okay and fine was part of the fraud." RacerX answered in Other - Finance & Legal 7 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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