Dear Jeanne & Leonard:
Three years ago, my son and his wife borrowed $50,000 from my mother to open a restaurant. This was all done legally, with a note signed by both of them, and the terms of the loan required them to pay a certain amount monthly. Well, the restaurant failed, and they’ve never made a single payment to Mom. Moreover, after the restaurant closed, my son decided he wanted nothing more to do with family, so neither my mother nor my husband and I have heard from him or his wife for over two years. Does my mother have to go to an attorney in order to collect on this note? She’s in her 80s and living on Social Security, so she could really use those payments.
— Sandy B.
Dear Sandy B.:
We’ll bet your son hasn’t tried telling Visa he wants nothing more to do with them and then walking away from his bill.
As reluctant as your mother may be to go after her grandson, yes, she is going to have to sic an attorney on him if she hopes to get her money back. And she should run, not walk, to the lawyer’s office. Because in many states, debts cease to be valid after a certain number of years unless the lender makes an attempt to collect. So go get ‘im!
Dear Jeanne & Leonard:
When I went with my 18-year-old granddaughter to see her brother play soccer, I was pleased to see that he was wearing the cross I’d given him. But when I mentioned this to my granddaughter, she told me he was wearing a “better one” — a gift his mother (my daughter) had given him when the cross I gave him broke. She also said that my grandson “loves” his new cross. I was crushed. Apparently my daughter and her family thought I’d given my grandson a cheap piece of junk. Shouldn’t they have given me the opportunity, when the cross broke, to take it back to the store where I bought it and either exchange it for a new one or get my money back? Also, am I right to think my granddaughter was terribly rude when she told me her brother now had a “better” cross? By the way, my grandson picked out the cross I gave him.
— D.G., Dallas, Texas
Dear D.G.:
Well, apparently your granddaughter is not angling for you to give her a gift.
Seriously, you’re right that your family should have told you that the cross broke and given you an opportunity to resolve the problem. And you’re right as well that your granddaughter was terribly rude. It’s never acceptable to speak disparagingly of a gift. If this girl is old enough to cast her vote for president (and she is), she’s old enough to know not to unfavorably compare one person’s gift to another’s. In fact, she should have known by the time she was old enough to cast her vote for student council.
