Verbal agreement to contribute to holiday

[emkana]

When my daughter was with her boyfriend we said he could come on holiday with us. He verbally agreed to contribute a percentage of the cost, and the full amount in case of separation.
He has now split up with her but is not willing to pay. Is there any legal
obligation on him?

Oh yes and the most obvious - why didn’t you ask for his contribution at the time of booking

You said earlier it is transferable but your son wouldn't accept anyone Else.

Have you contacted the company and discussed this.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but if you had booked the holiday without him would your daughter have had a room to herself? Would that have costed you more than the per person rate iyswim

Basically what was the total cost for the holiday if you had only booked for three people rather than four?

(Hope you understand what I mean)

If you are staying with your son why is it costing so much?

Oh sorry I misunderstood the OP. It's two holidays

Agreeing to pay for another trip is not evidence that he agreed to pay for this one.

Also, did you personally speak to him at the time or is this what your daughter has told you he said?

If you can afford to still go drop it and write it off to experience. It’s shit and he dumped her horribly but you don’t have a leg to stand on in court and it will just cost you more money.

Who family is it he is visiting? And do you still have the booking details? Because I’d be tempted to cancel the seat and not tell him.

For your daughters sake move on and forget about this. Her ex and his parents are going to be dining out on stories of your desperate chasing of their money for years otherwise.

How do you even know what his parents earn a month?. Seriously weird. I don't even know what my inlaws of over a decade earn.

You have been premature to think that relationships between 19 year olds are built to last.

you could try small claims court, fill in the claim form and before you register it send a copy to both him and his DM so they have chance to settle. If you don't hear back send it in, they may counter claim but that's their right, they may prefer to write it off and cough up. Beyond that, chalk it up to experience.

How it it not transferable ?

I think you've taken him dumping her too personally.

@Rosalo it's in the terms and conditions

Surely there must be someone else that your son would be ok to travel with? Does your daughter or son have other friends they could take.

its not about the dumping, its about the debt.

If claiming, take your and DD's feelings out of it and be factual about the debt.

@mambanumber5 maybe I'll dine out on stories of their lack of morals and integrity?

You do sound a bit like you want to punish him for dumping your dd.

Of course you’re hurt for her! But you were a bit irresponsible and he’s 19!

I just think this one is a costly lesson!

It does seem a bit strange to have the conversation about levels of contribution depending on whether they split or not. To me that kind of suggests there were doubts over the relationship and the chances of them not being together were already there, so already things are looking shaky. Not sure why it was expected that he’d stump up in that case.

[misses point]

Have you asked them if they'll consider a name change? That might be the easy option if they'll agree.

You sound annoyed that you perceive they have money and are not making this right for you. And you are thinking about yourself with your "maybe I'll dine out"comment rather than your poor dd. A good few years ago (not much older than your dd) I split up with an ex not long before we were due to go on holiday. I had paid for it but it was always assumed he would pay his half. I never asked him for the money and took my mum instead - but still lost out on a few £100. I had the moral upper hand certainly but I also didn't have to prolong contact with him post break up when what I actually needed was a clean break.

I suspect you are prolonging your daughters upset. You'll get no where at court by the way as you have no evidence of your agreement. At best you have an agreement to agree and that won't be enforceable. Did you email him details of the cost before you incurred them? And even if I'm wrong on that you have a duty to mitigate.

Did you discuss what would happen to his ticket if they split up? Including the fact that you wouldn't entertain someone else coming to mitigate that cost.

What if they had broken up a week after the holiday? Was the agreement that he would make you good then? What about a year later?

And he is an adult. So his parents bank balance is not of your concern. The only other thing I would say is that if they are much wealthier And so minded it is very easy for them to play with you but ultimately it doesn't affect them. They'll be laughing at you and the lucky escape their son has had. Don't make your daughter be that person on the basis of a verbal contract that you can't prove- how awful for her.

There must be a reason why it is not transferable, it is typical in UK terms & conditions to allow transfer, perhaps with an admin charge. I would spend your energy fighting that cause as more likely to win.

I understand your anger over the dumping and potential loss of money but now you have had feedback what do you think you should have done to avoid those situation?

Cancel the flight and you’ll get a hefty amount back as it’s often a lot of tax.

Am still at the poster who thought dumping somebody by two word message was a sign of awkwardness rather than being a bastard

@Techway I find your question a tad patronising, sorry

@mambanumber5 you're mistaken to think dd is suffering from my actions. She wants nothing more than for him to be made to do the right thing in this at least.

I feel this has turned into an aibu thread which I didn't really want.
I posted here because I wanted clear legal advice - can I take him to the small claims court?

The short answer is no. You have no proof of an agreement.

You can't use the fact that his mother didn't deny it in a text message (or whatever) as proof that an agreement existed.

And you do seem quite emotional about it. Plus you've been quite snappy here when people have asked for clarification so if you do go to a small claims court, don't do that to a judge!

But really, I'd be shocked if you were successful.