Child Suing a Parent for Loss of Personal Property

[yodalover]

My boyfriend has visitation of his 17 yr old son.

His son had stuff at his house. The item of contention was a guitar and amp.

Anyway, the son left it at my boyfriend's house.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, my bf was evicted from his house due to forclosure. He moved out what he could at the time, but he coudn't move everything at once.

By the time he could arrange to get back to his house to retrieve the majority of his belonings, he found everything had been vandalized or stolen.

The guitar and amp were among the items stolen. He had no insurance on the contents of the house.

The son is now treatening to sue his father because he says his father is 'refusing to return what is rightfully his.. the guitar' and he wants a new guitar and amp or $150.00 to replace it himself.

The son even went so far as to have his mother sign up for Judge Judy.

The sad thing in this whole situation is that my bf feels bad about the theft of the guitar and we've been working on figuring out a way to replace it. And now the son pops this small claims court bombshell on us. He never asked for the guitar until the small claims/judge judy revelation.

What's worse, we just got a new (used) car and my bf was going to give his son his old car, which has newly repaired brakes and is worth about $900.00. Now with this small claims thing for the guitar, we're not going to be able to give him the car... we're going to have to sell it so we can pay for the legal proceedings. They weren't thinking things through too well... the car itself would have been worth more than a stupid cheap guitar would be any day.

So, can the son legally sue for replacement of the guitar? He willingly left it at my bf's house. It was stolen. my bf lost a lot more than a stupid guitar. It just seems so trivial. It'd be like me suing my mother because she took my bike away from me and grounded me.

I think this all came about because the mother and son percieve that I have money and therefore my bf must now have money too. He does, because he is employed, but he has to pay a car payment, insurance, child support etc which leaves little left for extras. I pay all rent, utilities, etc.

the most frustrating thing is that my bf wanted to get him a replacement guitar... we had talked about it prior to this and he was considering it for christmas.

Can we just buy him a guitar now and stop the court proceedings? I dont' think anything has been officially filed yet... they just contacted Judge Judy... which is a tv show and not legally binding.

ugh. sorry if this is rambling a bit... it's just sooo frustrating.

[Xena]

My boyfriend has visitation of his 17 yr old son.

His son had stuff at his house. The item of contention was a guitar and amp.

Anyway, the son left it at my boyfriend's house.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, my bf was evicted from his house due to forclosure. He moved out what he could at the time, but he coudn't move everything at once.

By the time he could arrange to get back to his house to retrieve the majority of his belonings, he found everything had been vandalized or stolen.

The guitar and amp were among the items stolen. He had no insurance on the contents of the house.

The son is now treatening to sue his father because he says his father is 'refusing to return what is rightfully his.. the guitar' and he wants a new guitar and amp or $150.00 to replace it himself.

The son even went so far as to have his mother sign up for Judge Judy.

The sad thing in this whole situation is that my bf feels bad about the theft of the guitar and we've been working on figuring out a way to replace it. And now the son pops this small claims court bombshell on us. He never asked for the guitar until the small claims/judge judy revelation.

What's worse, we just got a new (used) car and my bf was going to give his son his old car, which has newly repaired brakes and is worth about $900.00. Now with this small claims thing for the guitar, we're not going to be able to give him the car... we're going to have to sell it so we can pay for the legal proceedings. They weren't thinking things through too well... the car itself would have been worth more than a stupid cheap guitar would be any day.

So, can the son legally sue for replacement of the guitar? He willingly left it at my bf's house. It was stolen. my bf lost a lot more than a stupid guitar. It just seems so trivial. It'd be like me suing my mother because she took my bike away from me and grounded me.

I think this all came about because the mother and son percieve that I have money and therefore my bf must now have money too. He does, because he is employed, but he has to pay a car payment, insurance, child support etc which leaves little left for extras. I pay all rent, utilities, etc.

the most frustrating thing is that my bf wanted to get him a replacement guitar... we had talked about it prior to this and he was considering it for christmas.

Can we just buy him a guitar now and stop the court proceedings? I dont' think anything has been officially filed yet... they just contacted Judge Judy... which is a tv show and not legally binding.

ugh. sorry if this is rambling a bit... it's just sooo frustrating.

Your BF's son is still a minor. Minors cannot file any type of lawsuit. Now, it is possible that the son's mother can file on the son's behalf, but until the mother does, your BF shouldn't get too worried.

Maybe your BF can have a heart to heart with his son and explain to him that he feels bad, but replacing the guitar at this point is beyond his financial abilty. Maybe he can work something out to where he can find a good used guitar as a Christmas present.

Although Judge Judy is a TV show, my understanding is that the rulings are legal and binding. Even if the case is accepted for the show, it will be a long long time before anything would be done. For one, the Hollywood writers are onstrike and alot of TV shows will be unable to shoot new episodes at least until the strike is over. In other words, by the time your BF could be heard by Judge Judy, he probably will have already been able to replace the guitar.

[yodalover]

thanks for the reply.

The sad thing is the mother ALREADY authorized the judge judy and the small claims stuff...

And judge judy's secretary wanted to fly my bf out to wherever they tape the show NEXT WEEK!!!

He is declining.

We just can't believe it is happening. The biggest thing we wonder is if we do come up with a guitar and amp, will that negate/cancel any lawsuit?