I have a stepson that my husband and I loaned him $80k for a business deal that he ended up not being able to fulfill. It was set up as a contract between us including interest. He now says he can't pay us back. He has also quit talking to us. We have not done anything to him to be unkind, but he just stop communicating. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to address this problem?

My husband doesn't want to confront him in any way and wants to give him a year before talking to him about repaying the money. The son is 35 and I'm sure at some point he will get back on his feet, so I want to make sure he repays us before he goes out and buys a home or spends his money otherwise.

Is there any legal recourse? He doesn't own any property at the moment.

If he wrote up a contract with you all I am sure that there is something you can do. Try meeting with a lawyer or calling one to ask what can be done. That is the only answer I can think of.

I would contact him and let him know that if he doesn't start paying off some of the debt that you'll be forced to sue him. Even if it's only $20 bucks a month at least that shows good intention. If he says no then I'd get a lawyer.

If you wait too long the statue of limitation will go past, and there will be no legal recourse. You need to get a judgement, then you can wait for years and years to collect.

But in general you did not say what type of business, but I would have assumeed you understood that you may loose the money, since most new businesses go out of business within the first three years.

You have three choices.

1) sue him
2) give him time
3) take the debt as a tax loss

If you choose 1 there is still no guarantee of collecting if he has no assets. If you choose 3 you would need a lot of income to offset the loss.