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?

Nothing to stop anyone taking anything to a small claims court, that's what it's for.

With no hard evidence either way it will come down to credibility, witness evidence. You will present your case, this was discussed, this was what was agreed, this was the costs etc. You will call your witnesses to prove that. He will then defend it with whatever his position is, eg, I had no idea, it was a gift etc. Judge will then decide what is to happen.

Getting the papers from court might be enough to get an offer from them to avoid a court hearing, it might not.

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

Knock your self out, OP

moobar is correct. Just to repeat what I said earlier, the case will be decided on the balance of probabilities if he denies the existence of the verbal agreement. You don't need documentary proof, although obviously it would be easier to win if you had some.

But based on the circumstances, ie a teenager who just broke up with his girlfriend, I highly doubt a judge will make him fork out £1400 for their family holiday.

I believe you could try to take him to the small claims court. I think it very unlikely you'd win. You'd just be throwing more money after a slightly weird vendetta.

If you take him to court remember that his ace in the hole is that he will say that you are only doing this because you are mad at him breaking up with your DD.

But if he pays for the holiday. He could go. And he could act however he wants. He won't be accountable to you. He could bring a girl home and hook up in his bed.

If you thought enough of him to take him on holiday then you must have thought he was a good guy.

He dumped your daughter by text, not great but I think if he wasn't a bad guy before then it is probably awkwardness/bluntness.

The advice you had is...yes you can take this to court, you will have to show his commitment and you will need to show you have tried to mitigate losses.

agree with moobar and prh47bridge.

forget about the emotional boyfriend/girlfriend bit, keep to the basics that he said he would pay for a holiday, you booked it on his behalf in good faith following his promise to pay for his share of the trip, which he is now refusing to do.

A judge wouldn't order him to pay because of your DD's hurt feelings but you can put your argument plainly that you booked on his behalf with every expectation of being reimbursed. After all, why would you book a holiday for someone without their agreement? The texts between you and his DM are also your evidence in a claim. You have messaged that he owes you and she hasn't denied it, just refused to pay. That's an important distinction.

If you can back your anger off a bit and concede that he can still pay and go on the holiday, you leave him/his parents less room to counter. To the posters saying he'd cause trouble and bring someone back to the accommodation for sex, seriously? I doubt a 19yo on holiday with an exGF and her parents would cause trouble as some posters mention, he'd probably be shitting himself. He can't even deal with this as it is, he's got his mummy to do it for him.

You do seem very angry OP, but try to look past the way he's dumped your DD. They're young, it happens. A two word text or a flowery tearful speech would have the same result of them finishing. It could be a lot worse, at least she's not married to the guy.

His DM can not make agreements on his behalf. If OP takes him to court she can not use a promise his mother made.

@notasportymum thank you that's really helpful

Totally ludicrous to think he'd bring a girl back if he came on holiday. He really would not have the guts.

OP takes him to court she can not use a promise his mother made. its small claims court, the actual claim should be simple and factual. When it comes to countering, the other family can say what they like but when it comes down to one persons word against the other the OP has evidence that the young man has told his mother to act on his behalf and they haven't denied the debt, they've refused to pay it. If that's in writing it backs up the OPs argument.

Does the Op have proof that he has instructed his mother to act on his behalf

You say that. But what would he have to lose? It's his holiday. He could do what he wanted.

Does the Op have proof that he has instructed his mother to act on his behalf

I will say again - this is not the criminal courts. The case will be decided on the balance of probabilities. Proof obviously helps but lack of proof isn't necessarily fatal. If the OP can convince the judge that there was a verbal agreement on the balance of probabilities she will win.

I know that. But if all she's got is her word then the balance will more than likely fall against her.

She wants revenge. That plain.

He dumped her with two words in a text

I would see the money lost as an absolute bargain to get this loser out of her life before she marries him, she has kids.

Of course you can take it to the small claims court. It doesn’t mean you’d win though. I’ve been to small claims (business reasons). Someone made a claim against me, we both sat in front of judge, they lost because they were lying and had no written proof. Judge threw it out. Judge then said we could claim for expenses we had lost having to go to court- eg time off work etc. This is the danger here for you OP - if you lose, which you are likely to without any written proof or agreement he could then claim expenses from you. I’m afraid that any financial agreements need to be signed and in writing for anyone to take them seriously. All he has to say is “I thought it was a gift!” What then? You have no proof whatsoever it was not a gift. I’m all for retribution of shitty behaviour but in this case I really don’t think you have a leg to stand on and the worst is- he might then try to claim expenses from you for having to take time to go to small claims. If you had it in writing I would definitely say go for it. But you don’t 😐

If the mother wanted him to be left alone maybe she'll want to spare him a court hearing?

And if you lose?

What's the worst financial hit I could have from it? Couple of hundred?

I have text messages from January in which dd says that he is planning to pay. Why would she have lied at a time when the relationship was strong still?

What's it matter? You don't have a leg to stand on. Move on!

You know that for definite how?

You know that for definite how?