My husband and I loaned a large sum of m...

Asked by DayleL on 14-07-2020 15:09:04
Question posted in the Divorce Law category relating to Gauteng

My husband and I loaned a large sum of money from my father to upgrade a cottage on my fathers property to live in. We have been paying the loan for almost 6 years now. We have been paying it back equally every month. He has charged interest as it was a policy that he cashed in, so basically paying it back as if it were a home loan from a bank. My husband and I are in the process of getting divorced. He is no longer going to contribute to the loan as I will be staying in the house. My husband is asking for his portion of the money back. The agreement was that once the house was sold we would get money back then. What legal right does he have to ask for the money at all and if he does have rights to the money (which doesn’t make sense to me) should it only be on sale of the house, as he is asking for it now? Unfortunately nothing is in writing.

Answer to the Question

Posted by Att. Patrick on 18-07-2020 01:00:19

Hi there,

I see that you haven't made a payment for the question, but I'm going to assist you a little. If you want to ask a follow-up question, please make the required payment.

If your father loaned you money to upgrade a cottage on your father's property, then legally your father is the owner of the cottage AND all of the upgrades to the cottage. 

So basically your father has loaned you money to enable you to spend that money on upgrading your father's house, and then you need to pay your father for that right. 

It all sounds a little bizarre. Your father should not be charging you that loan, or interest. 

If anything, your father should be charging you rental for the cottage. He must then spend his money on upgrading his cottage at his cost!

Att. Patrick

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow-up questions please make the required payment, then use the REPLY button and ask your further question. I would like to continue assisting you, but I need to concentrate on people who make payments for their questions.

If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on SA Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. SA Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not SA Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.