Can FIL claim back money he gifted us?

[MarjorieWinklepicker]

FIL gave DH and I £14000 for a deposit on our house. He gave the same to SIL and her partner which they are using for IVF. This month was a gift and he signed a letter saying so.

DH and FIL have had a bit of a falling out for many reasons and he is now demanding his money back.

Is there any way he can actually do this? I wouldn't have accepted it if he could as we can't afford to pay it.

I wouldn't have thought so if it's in writing that it's a gift. I think you even have to prove that it wasn't.

FIL seems to believe that the letter he signed isn't worth the paper it's written on?

And also we did borrow some money from him before he gave us this gift so we could buy a car (right before Christmas and DH needs one to get to work as no bus route) but we have already repaid this loan. Could he show that as us paying him back for the gifted money? He keeps a record of everything!

No he can't.keep the letter safe and under no circumstances ay anything to him that might suggest you will pay him back

We have the letter here filed away.

DH had said to him before that if we were ever in the position to then we would possibly like to repay it, but we mean in like 10 years time not now. And we may never be in that position anyway.

Why did he say this-
DH had said to him before that if we were ever in the position to then we would possibly like to repay it"

Did he say it in an email? It might counter the letter saying the money was a gift if you're not careful.

H had said to him before that if we were ever in the position to then we would possibly like to repay it, but we mean in like 10 years time not now. And we may never be in that position anyway.

I think the "terms" would be too uncertain to be considered a loan, particularly alongside the presumption of a gift between parent and child. A mere falling out in the future isn't sufficient to change the original agreement.

It's either a loan or a gift in law, there isn't any in between. In the absence of certainty of terms, and an intention to create legal relations, his claim won't be going anywhere.