Me and my boyfriend bought a house in October 2004 with the verbal agreement being that we would both be liable for housenote,ins. taxes,utilties etc. and that if we ever broke up, we would still keep the house and be roomates or work it out however we could so that neither party would get screwed. We both agreed that neither party could afford this on our own and we would work out a fair agreement if things didn't work out between us. We had to make the loan in my name only because of his poor credit history. Also creditcards are all in my name and he agreed to pay half of everything. He has claimed the house interest on his taxes for all 3 years that we have lived here. The problem now is he left 06/28/07 while I was at work and refuses to pay the due utilty bills, creditcard bills or anything on the house or house insurance. We were flooded due to Hurricane Katrina and I also had to take out an SBA loan. So now the problem is between 1st mortgage and SBA loan, we owe more on the house than it is appraised at( approximately $35,000.00. )What can I do to make him hold up to his agreement when we purchased the house to begin with. He even agreed as soon as his credit was better, which will be by the end of 2008, he would be added to the mortgage. Other people knew of this agreement and I know that he wouldn't purger hisself in court. The creditcard bills are also maxed out. What can I do to remedy this situation legally and what are the chances of me winning? Or am I just screwed into paying $50,000.00 of his debt and mine together just to have the mortgage at what it's appraised for. Plus the agreement was even without the extra debt, that he would be obligated also. Only not I name until 2008 because of his poor credit. Please help, I don't know what to do. Thanks, Paula:

The fact that everything was a verbal agreement sort of puts you in the hot seat. Nothing, absolutely nothing in a transaction like this should be verbal. Always put everything in writing and have it notarized.