Edgewater, MD asked in Contracts for Maryland

Q: I am the only one on contract- if something happens to me does wife still have to pay upkeep bills?

wyndam says she does they have lied to me all the time

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: Wyndam, as in the hotel? If her name is on the hotel registry as a guest in the room, then the hotel contract probably provides that she is personally liable for the room charges regardless of whether you are the only one who booked and paid for the room to begin with. That’s a matter of contract language.

Even in the absence of formal contract language binding someone to the debt incurred, the law would allow the hotel to sue your wife for the fair market value of the room rental based upon a cause of action known as “unjust enrichment.” If someone knowingly receives a benefit from another who expects to be paid for that benefit—such as lodging at a hotel— then the law will hold the person receiving the benefit liable for the fair value of that benefit. That would have to be established in a court of law. I suppose your wife could argue that she was merely a guest of yours, invited to stay with you for free, and was unaware that the hotel would be expecting payment from her. But if you two checked in together as husband and wife, I think that argument would not impress a judge who heard it.

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