Can I Be Forced To Pay Back Mistakenly Paid Money

[koiman]

My girlfriend lived with me in my flat for a while. She used to pay me £400 per month via standing order into my old bank account towards the bills. There was no written agreement or rent book.
When she left she failed to stop the standing order even though I told her to(finally doing so in 2014), she has now contacted me to say that she wants the money back and will go legal on me if I don't repay it. I'm currently in an insolvency agreement and cannot afford to pay her. Can I be forced to pay her ?

[ummmm]

My friend recently applied for a passport but put in the wrong bank details. The bank said they could do nothing about it but rely on the recipient to do the moral thing.

[Smowball]

But you knew the money was going into your account. Why did you not return it?

[jackthehat]

Regardless of the moral right and/or wrongs involved, I'd suggest that you let her 'go legal' on you.
She'll have quite a lot to establish to the satisfaction of the courts that she is indeed entitled to have this money returned by you.
What is the sum involved?

[olichant]

Putting the insolvency bit aside - yes, you're legally obliged to repay money paid to you by mistake. The only exception is when a defence of bona fide "change of position" applies - if someone receives money and spends it genuinely unaware that there's been a mistake, then they don't have to give it back - but otherwise they do. It'd be very hard to argue that this defence applies where you knew the payments were being made and that they shouldn't have been.

She therefore is one of your general creditors I'm afraid, and whoever is dealing with the insolvency arrangements (sorry to hear you're having difficulties) needs to know about it.

[JJ109]

You told her to stop it. Therefore you knew that the money was not intended for you. Therefore you should not have spent it. You will not be able to argue that you have "changed your position" as a result of a mistake of fact, as you indeed had prior knowledge.

Therefore YES you must return it.

If you cannot then she can take legal action against you. She does not have to take regard to your insolvency arrangement that you have with other creditors as presumably she did not enter into that arrangement as an equal creditor. AND as you are preferring to pay them in preference to your debt to her, this is an ACT of Bankruptcy and she could cause problems with your voluntary arrangement if she so wanted.
I THINK - but I am so out of touch with the law that I may be wrong.

[olichant]

The one point I should have added, is that depending on how far back the payments go, a full claim might become time-barred. This is actually a slightly unclear area of law (in the context of "restitution", which is different to normal contract) but 6 years normally applies - but there'd be a debate about when that 6 year period starts. This is a tricky area of law, and you'd need to take proper advice if you seriously wanted to resist a claim.

[andy-hughes]

I would suggest that without any form of contract in writing, it will be difficult for her to prove that you owe her the money, and I believe the responsibility of proof will be hers rather than yours.

Given your situation, and I am sure you will concede your moral obligation here, why not try and agree some terms with her when your insolvency is in place, so you can pay an affordable amount to her to clear the balance.

Your insolvency person should be able to advise you properly on your legal position, I think you already know your moral position.

[ummmm]

You can't get blood out of a stone.

[jackthehat]

Ask yourself 'who' can do the forcing.
Your ex-girlfriend can't; she can badger, demand, plead, etc. but if you haven't got it you haven't got it.
She can go to (small claims) Court to prove her case but they would probably want to know why she didn't cancel her own standing order in the first place. It is up to the individual to mitigate their own losses...
Don't panic. The ball is in her court.......just wait to see what she decides to do next.

[Smowball]

How much money are we talking about here?

[RandyMarsh]

How much did she overpay?

[fiction-factory]

Looks as if the amount has been £400 a month since some time in 2014. So it sounds as if it could be at least 2 years' worth= £9600

[Neveracrossword]

FF, I think the girlfriend STOPPED paying, cancelled the standing order, in 2014.

[fiction-factory]

Okay thanks. I thought koiman might have meant she had been telling her to sop the SO but stopped telling her in 2014. I wonder why she is only now asking for it back