[little momma]

A family member of mine says I owe them a specific amount of money. I do not remember the exact amount that was lent to me, so I asked her for copies of the checks that she says she has. Only because I have also made payments and would like to be sure on the correct amount before I pay her.she said that she has the copies of the checks but she said she does not have to give me anything, and is now threatening small claims court. Is this true that she does not have to give me anything to verify the dollar amounts? Can she take me to small claims court if she never sends me the checks?

[rosemcs]

She can take you to small claims court, but there is something odd here. If she really wanted her money back faster, what is the reason why she will not show you the checks? Is it b/c:
a) You told her you would not pay no matter what,
b) You are paying in such a slow manner, she feels she will never get her money back.

Why has she closed the door on communication with you?

You will have to prove to the judge what you paid in writing, or through your bank account statements.

Also, just because she takes you to court doesn't mean that she will win, if there is missing a written agreement, between both of you, for how much you were to pay back.

[little momma]

I am not sure on her reasoning for not showing me the checks. We have not been on good terms for awhile now. Not due to this, but to a benefit a group of us ran for my mom. Anyway, she sent me an email yesterday stating if I did not respond by Wednesday she would start action for small claims. That is when I asked her for copies, and she said no, I asked again. This is all through email. What is my next step if she continues to not provide me with the checks?

[rosemcs]

Find everything that you have in writing to support your payments. I would get a free consultation with an attorney (sometimes initial consultation is free). Are there other people in the group that can help you resolve this with her before she goes further?

[morgaine300]

Lesson learned: keep track of this kind of thing down to every last detail, not just the payments, but including conversations you've had, dates, what was discussed, etc.

If you've paid everything by checks, you should be able to get copies from the bank. How you get those will depend on the bank. They may all be scanned copies at this point. Your bank statements will not be good enough because it doesn't say who it was paid to, so you need copies of those checks. I would call the bank and work with them on it. (This likely will cost you some money.)

If you are only making another payment (versus paying it off), then you should make a payment, if it's not affecting that total. That is, let's say you owed $1000 and have been making $100 payments. You know you still owe at least $300 - it won't affect anything to make another $100 payment. Might shut her up. If it's questionable whether you still owe her anything else, that's different.

I'm no lawyer, but I suspect it's up to you to provide proof of payment. On the other hand, it may be her burden of proof as to you how much owe (since you've forgotten). BTW, how much you've paid thus far doesn't change the total owed - not sure how that'll help you "remember" the total due.

Why she's reluctant to show copies of what you've paid I don't know. Logical reasons are that she's trying to claim you've paid less than you have or that she's being a pain cause she's angry. But her attitude could be coming from either side. (Have you been good about making these payments?)

Don't let her scare you. Get copies of your checks. Hopefully you have an agreement of the total. A verbal agreement counts, but it'll be up to the judge/arbitrator to decide who's telling the truth - not remember yourself won't help. If you're making the payments as agreed and have your copies, I don't see what she can do to you. Is it really worth it for her to drag you to small claims?