Verbal Agreements and Debts

Good Morning,

“I only have a verbal agreement, and they are denying the debt, please help me.”

It is often the case between friends and family that money is loaned on a verbal agreement.
At the time both parties act in good faith but due to circumstances difficulties arise where a breakdown in a relationship or financial difficulties results in a person denying the agreement. I have had clients in this position both with family and friends.

Whilst an oral agreement can be enforced, there may be difficulties in establishing the agreement to the satisfaction of the court. When you go to court you can never be sure of the outcome or how the case will proceed to lead to legal costs, emotional costs and time costs in running your case. To establish the agreement there is a requirement for physical evidence. Physical evidence that I have used to assist my clients includes the following:

1. Bank records;
2. Messages using an electronic application such as Facebook, SMS, WeChat, Whatsapp;
3. Emails;
4. Telephone records; and
5. Diary notes

Without such evidence it becomes is it just one person’s word against another and a battle to convince the court regarding your credibility over the other’s.

I always recommend a deed of agreement including interest and a final repayment date. A lender is always at liberty to forgive interest and extend the length of a loan. When money is loaned over a property I recommend a trust deed and unregistered mortgage safeguarded by a caveat. Fortunately, many clients have followed my advice and have been able to recover their money especially in the case of marriage breakdown when arguments arise over whether a loan was a gift or not.

I have successfully represented my clients both in the Family and civil courts to establish a verbal contract. I have also been able to settle many cases through a thorough forensic analysis to discover other corroborating evidence to bring the debtor to pay.

If either you or someone you know is thinking of lending to a close friend or relative or needs to recover money from a verbal agreement please contact me.

Have a wonderful day,

Jeffrey
0419 233 670
[email protected]
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Ps. I am available to discuss matters either in my office or by Zoom conference, and provide notary services which must be in person.

早上好

“我只有口头协议，他们拒绝还债，请帮帮我.”

朋友和家人之间通常是通过口头协议借钱的。

当时双方都信任对方，但由于情况出现困难，关系破裂或经济困难从而导致一方否认协议。我接触的很多客户就和家人和朋友处于这种状况。

虽然可以执行一项口头协议，但在建立能令法院认可的协议方面就可能存在问题。当你上法庭时，你永远无法确定结果，也无法确定案件将如何进行，从而会产生诉讼成本、情感成本和办案时间成本。为了确认协议，需要物证。我用来帮助客户的物证包括：

1.银行记录；
2.使用Facebook、短信、微信、Whatsapp等电子应用的信息；
3.电子邮件；
4.电话记录
5.日记笔记

如果没有这样的证据，那就变成了一个人对另一个人的诋毁，而不是一场说服法庭相信你对另一个人的信任质疑的战斗。

我总是建议建立一份协议书，内容包括利息和最终还款日期。放贷人总是可以免除利息和延长贷款期限。当钱是贷款用于购买一处房产的话，我建议做一个信托契约和未登记的抵押担保的警告。幸运的是，许多客户都听从了我的建议，从而能够收回他们的钱，特别是在婚姻破裂的情况下，当出现关于贷款是否是作为礼物而争论时。

我已经成功地代表我的客户在家庭和民事法庭上确认了口头合同。我还通过完全适用于法庭的分析以及收集及其的合作证据，解决了许多案件，促使债务人还款。