I moved out of my parents’ house after graduating college, and it made my dad really angry. As a result, he took away the car he gave me and a bunch of other things he paid for (like my MacBook and AirPods). This was about three months ago. Since then, I’ve gotten back on my feet—I bought my own car, and I’m paying for everything except my phone bill (but I’m switching to a new phone and number this Friday).
When my dad took everything away, he also asked me to pay him $2,000 to “reimburse” him for my college tuition. At the time, I didn’t have that kind of money, so I’ve been making payments. I’ve already paid $1,250 of the $2,000 he asked for.
Yesterday, I got a text from him saying: “We need to finish the unfinished business that we have. I’m reaching out to you based on legal advice. We can finish this decently.” Now I’m confused. What have I done that requires legal action? Does he even have a case to sue me for my full college tuition?
Can I ask how old you are? Were you helping with bills, paying rent, or doing any jobs that you were expected to do? Did your leaving cause them any financial problems? Just curious.
You didn’t mention your location, but in general, you’re not required to pay someone back for gifts. Unless you had an agreement beforehand to repay him for your tuition, you probably don’t owe him anything.
If you did have an agreement to pay him back for tuition, then you might be responsible, but he can’t suddenly claim the money was a loan after the fact. You also aren’t obligated to keep talking to him. If you receive an official lawsuit notice (delivered by a process server, not him), you should talk to a lawyer.
Assuming you’re an adult your father does not have any say over who you date. If you believe he’s committing or going to commit a crime you can call the police.
If you get a lawsuit notice (from a process server, not your dad), you should talk to a lawyer.
To be clear, we’re only talking about $750 (the remaining amount of $2,000 after you’ve already paid $1,250). No attorney is going to get involved over that small amount of money. If your dad says he’s acting on “legal advice,” he’s probably either bluffing or just casually mentioned it to a lawyer friend. Most likely, he’s bluffing. There’s a 99.99999% chance you won’t face any legal action. And even if you did, it would just be a small claims case, which usually doesn’t involve lawyers anyway.