17 Year Old Wants Cellphone From Cancelled Plan

[aka123]

I am 23 and Rebecca is 17. Rebecca lost her parents and therefore ended up living with her uncle and his fiance (my mother) for about a year. Now since she is only 17 she was on a cellphone plan that her mom had gotten her. Now that she passed away she couldn't keep the plan as she was underage and needed to get on a new one. So I offered to put her on my plan and get her started. Now almost a year later she decided that she didn't like living with us and she packed her stuff and just left. She gave no notice or anything and it really hurt our family and all the things we did for her, when she just turned her back and walked out. So I told her that if she wanted to leave then she would have to give back her phone and I would cancel the plan and keep the phone. Now she is claiming that she is going to call the cops (in which they can't enforce anything as it is civil and not criminal) and take me to court becuase that is "her" phone. She states she has the receipt that she paid for it and will do anything to get it back. Now the way I look at it, the whole contract is under my name and in order for her to recieve that phone, she had to have my permission and my authority, so basically that is still my phone! Everything is signed and initialed under my name and the only thing she has is a receipt that she paid for the phone. Does she have any claim to file against me in court?

To be honest wouldn't that be like a boyfriend and girlfriend purchasing a car. The boyfriend puts it under his name because the grilfriend may have bad credit or bad history, but she makes ALL the payments. When they break up, no matter who made what payments, the car is legally his because it is all under his name. Is this not correct?

 

[jacksgal]

Let her keep the phone just cancel her portion of plan! the phone is useless without a plan to activate it

 

[aka123]

I understand that the phone is useless if their is no plan but you can use that phone if for some reason a different one doesn't work or gets damaged. Plus if she got a new contract she should have gotten a new phone with that. I just basically want to know if she has a claim on me if all she wants back is the phone? I know the right thing to do would be to give her the phone back, but legally/technically is it mine or hers?

 

[jacksgal]

Is it worth the hassel? Thats real question

 

[aka123]

Actually to me it is. And I know it is hard to explain over a computer and online but there are so many times we tried to help her out and so many times we turned upside down to help her, which is great we love her. But for her to turn her back and just walk out and leave us all hanging when we would have given the shirt off our back for her. It is just a big, big mess and I am to stubborn to help her anymore even if it means giving her a useless phone. I apologize for the confusion as I am sure it is not all clear to you as to what happened, but I appreciate your replies. I just need to know legally who has ownership of the phone? ... Thanks again in advance for your time and patience.

 

[jacksgal]

Your right I dont understand and dont think I want to its petty. However if you did not buy phone and she has reciept its hers not yours!

 

[presutin]

You are not going to like this posting, but here it goes. Being on the plan (unless the plan offered a free phone) is one issue. Her having her own phone (which she paid for it) and using your plan is another issue. What you need to keep separate is the fact that you are trying to penalize her for "using" and "discarding" you after all you have done for her. If she paid for the phone, the phone is hers. You cannot demand that she return the phone, and contrary to other postings, yes, the phone can be used if she signs up to her own plan with either the same carrier or a different one. Since this seems to be a huge deal with you, in order for you to even score, you can ask her to reimburse you for the fee that you had to pay on a monthly basis for her to have access to the family plan you paid for.

 

[aka123]

No I am not upset with any postings I just thank you for taking the time to explain. I appreciate it!