Breaking Up Over Debt and Other Financial Disputes | Judge George
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What's up, guys? Cyber Monday is here, and my book, Breaking Free from Broke, is on sale now for just 12 bucks. So go to ramseysolutions.com slash store to get it today. You are about to enter the camel courtroom. The people are real. The cases are realer. The rulings are not legally binding. This is George Judy. Gavel, gavel, gavel.

Court is now in session, and today we're looking at money fights and financial disputes that blew up the Reddit financial world. And let me tell you, there was no shortage of content. Some of these quarrels are incredibly relatable, and some of them are wilding out Nick Cannon style. Plus, I'll weigh in on the hairiest case this courtroom has ever seen. So who's really guilty? Well, I'll be the George of that.

And as we kick it off, click the like and subscribe buttons. No contest from me. And if you want to avoid jury duty in my courtroom, share this video with your favorite partner in crime and you will be honorably dismissed. All right, bailiff, who's up first? It's Mr. Swipe and Drive and Ms. Fed Up. And here's what they have to say. My girlfriend and I have very different approaches to money. She's financially responsible with no debt,

All right, here's the deal. Is your girlfriend right? Yeah.

I think she's right. It's in her rights to have values around money. And if those values don't align with your values, this relationship is likely not going to work out. And she's made it very clear that she values a debt-free life. Now, if you were gung-ho about getting rid of your debt, I'd say she should move forward in the relationship. You don't have to have it all paid off immediately before she moves forward. But I think she's in her rights to go...

I don't want to live a life encumbered by debt and stupidity and misbehavior just so that you can have a certain lifestyle and look a certain way. So because you're not a fully grown adult yet, I'm going to give you the baby gavel and say, hey, guilty of financial recklessness and being a man child. Get out of my courtroom. Only adults in here.

Okay, next up on the docket, stay-at-home mom and the controller. My wife and I argue every time we talk about finances. She's a stay-at-home mom, and I set up a spending account for her, but she often dips into our joint account or uses a credit card.

There's a lot more details we need here in my courtroom. We'd have some more discussion, but here's the deal. You've set up a relationship that is largely transactional. You give her the spending money like she's a child who gets an allowance, and you run the house.

She goes beyond the bounds of that, and now it's a blow-up fight. So here's the deal. I don't know what's going on with the spending. I don't know if you're not giving her enough. She may have a spending addiction, for all I know. But here's what I do know. You've got to get on the same page, and that means having a hard conversation about why we're doing all of this in the first place. And that's where the budget can become the bad guy.

You guys need to sit down together, make a spending plan and go, here's what we agree on. All right. We're going to spend no more than this in these categories. And that's how we're going to hit our money goals. So instead of giving her spending money, just give her a line item in the budget for fun. And the rest becomes adulthood. We got to get out of debt. We got to get our savings in place. So the court finds this whole thing to be hogwash. All right. Next up, we have defendant Jermaine.

That's embarrassing. But either way,

Not a money question, so get it out of my courtroom. But I do want to weigh in. Are you the jerk for not letting your fiancé's kids... Yeah, you're a jerk. That's her kids, man. Like, this is your family too now. And if you're not on board with that, don't get married to someone with kids if you can't handle that. Golly, get that out of my courtroom. That's a load of codswallop. That's what that is. Next case is from plaintiff Groggy Girl. Quote, him...

All money I make should be spent immediately because YOLO sets money on fire. Me, emergency fund, retirement, payoff mortgage. Him, oh shoot, massive unplanned expense and no line of credit? Can I borrow $25,000 for six months?

Me, yes, if I get to take over your finances after I loan it to you. So he now has a budget, retirement, and an emergency fund. And he doesn't even really notice all the things he's no longer wasting money on because a lot of them were truly a waste. It's been six or seven years. The downside is I need to actively manage it for him because some people just don't have what it takes to manage money.

Okay. Why are you with this person? You didn't sign up to be the- Did you birth this person? Is this your child that you gave birth to? 'Cause if not, why are you being their mommy? You're not a baby, you're a man! If they can't manage money on their own, and they can't learn how to manage money, you need to end this relationship. You want a mommy? Move back home. I didn't think I'd have to use the baby gavel again, but here we are. Guilty of being a man-child. You guys are exhausting, now I know why Judge Judy is like this.

It's ridiculous. You're a moron. So is your mother. All right, next up, we've got Lachland881. Me, why are these all conversations that are fake?

Me, I like chips. Wife, chips are a waste of money. Me, doesn't get chips. Me, shopping for clothes is a waste of money. Wife, still shopping for clothes. It's a highly efficient system. Let's stop with these fake conversations, guys. That's exhausting. But here's the deal. Clothes are a necessity. Now, there's a very fine line between necessity and I have a shopping addiction. Just like there is between we need food for the house and me likey the snacks.

And so you should budget for these things and have a line item for clothing and say, "Hey, we have $100 to spend on clothes every month."

That's it. You want to buy $300 worth of clothes? Save up your three months worth and have a little shopping spree. You want your snacks? We're going to add a little snack line item category. You go over $20 worth of snacks, you're out of bounds. The budget will be the bad guy for you instead of each other. Give the budget a name. Call it Kevin because nobody likes anyone named Kevin. Do you like a guy named Kevin? You don't even like a dog named Kevin. Actually, I do. All dogs named Kevin are awesome. I take that back.

Kevin is a great guy. So the court finds, as long as it's in the budget, treat yo self with some chips. Here's the next one from Tim the Toolman Taylor. Her. Why do you need another tool for $200? It actually costs $400. Me. Do we want to pay $200 to a handyman for the next project? Case closed.

First of all, rude. No one closes a case in my courtroom but me, bucko. Here's the deal, all right? I think guys are just as guilty as the girls for justifying things they don't actually need to buy. Boom. Everyone's roasted. Oh!

- Oh man, the building is on fire. - If you need a tool, see if you can borrow it from a neighbor, you can rent it from Home Depot, and don't tell me that it's worth it 'cause you're gonna use it 17 times, then do the boy math on how it's gonna be worth it. If you're not using this thing regularly, then don't buy it. Now I get, there are some cases where if I can get a pressure washer for a hundred bucks and do it myself, then I can avoid paying someone a hundred bucks to pressure wash once. I understand that, but really think about this. Are you going to be the one

out there pressure washing every single month? Or is it worth going, all right, I'm going to delegate this to someone else because I truly don't have the skills or time or energy to do it. So the court finds this to be squishy. All right, this next case is where things get a little hairy. AJLetch14 says, "My dog is very anxious and she will chew anything and can get her mouth on." His words.

This is well known in our apartment. I do my best to leave doors closed and lids on garbage cans, but accidents happen. Just now, I walk into the living room to see four $20 bills ripped in half right next to my dog's bed. She had gotten into an open paper bag that my roommate was keeping on the ground next to his desk in a shared space, pulled out an unknown amount of money, and swallowed some of it.

My roommate seems to want me to pay him back the money that my dog ate, but I don't wanna pay him back because he was so irresponsible with his money, leaving it in a place where it could easily be found by my dog. Am I the jerk for not paying back my roommate the money that my dog ate? Dude. All right, let's talk about this. The whole thing is very odd.

I gotta know what your roommate's doing, because I think you might want a different roommate altogether if they're a drug dealer. I don't know who else gets paid with cash in a paper bag. Very sketchy. Now, what your dog does is on you as the dog owner. If my dog...

Bites the kid, gets out of the house, bites the kid. Who's responsible? I'm going to be responsible. So I do think you have to take accountability for what your dog did. Now, the roommate also needs to own up that they should have done a better job protecting their cash, putting it somewhere where the dog couldn't get it and you couldn't get it.

Maybe in a little safe, maybe in a wallet tucked away in a drawer somewhere. So I do think you should pay him back, but I do think there should be a clear boundary line about what happens next and what's going to happen in the future. And I hope that means potentially finding a new roommate who's not a future convicted criminal. The court finds...

You're an idiot. Pay the roommate back. It's 80 bucks. It's 80 bucks. What are you gonna do? And teach your dog not to eat money. Doesn't know the value of a hard day's work. Next case comes from PropQuest. We are debating whether we should sell our house to buy a new one or rent it out and buy a new one. I'm trying to do the math to convince him, but to him, it's not really financials. Even if it is financially beneficial, he would likely still want to sell. What it sounds like here...

is that you really want to be a landlord and he doesn't. He's not interested. He doesn't want the risk. He doesn't want the hassle factor. And that's something you guys have to get a line on. And you can ask people who have rentals and see what their real experience is like. Is it all fun and games? No. Can it be a real blessing? Sure. But if you're talking about having two mortgages, I'm saying no. If this house is paid off and you want to buy this next one and then you're going to use this other paid off house as a rental, no.

That's fine. Just know what you're getting into, but you got to be aligned. And if you're not aligned, I would err on his side and go, let's just sell it and we'll figure that part out later. The court finds you to be kind of wrong. Sorry. Hey, not my rules, the jury. This whole thing is rigged. All right, we've got a couple more cases to go, but first a quick recess. And while we're on break, let's talk about a ruling that's definitely in your favor. And that's sponsor online bank, Laurel Road. Here's the deal.

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in the description. I used it myself to save five bucks. That's how frugal I am. All right, back to the fake courtroom with real judgment. Next up, we have the new parents. My husband and I welcomed our first baby three months ago, and it's been tough. We've always split household chores 50/50, but lately he's been doing them poorly. I've had to redo tasks like cleaning bottles and pump parts, and he's ruined clothes and let milk spoil.

After many talks, I decided to cancel our streaming services, PlayStation Plus, and theme park passes to hire a housekeeper, thinking it would ease the burden. He blew up, saying I had no right to make that decision. Am I the jerk for hiring a housekeeper without asking?

I think I'm just gonna go on this one. This, I don't wanna get in the middle of your business, but you asked me for my opinion, I'm gonna give it to you. I think you're both doing things slightly poorly here. You passive aggressively, without talking about it, went and added an expense to the budget,

You're going through a lot of stress. So I understand. I might do the same. And on his part, this is weaponized incompetence, okay? He can make the mistake once, but after that, he doesn't get a pass. He needs to learn how to clean properly, how to not let the milk spoil and be an adult and be a dad and be a good husband. That's part of it. Now, I think you should have the conversation with him and go, listen, clearly you're not up to the task. So here's the deal. We need to budget for this. And right now we don't have the margin to hire a housekeeper.

What expenses could we cut in order to make this happen? What sacrifices are you gonna make? Here's the sacrifices I'm gonna make to afford this expense of 160 bucks a month, whatever it is. You gotta figure that out in the budget. But passive aggressively just doing all this, it's only gonna cause more conflict in the long run. So the court finds you to be more favorable than him, but still not totally right.

Okay, that's red flag.

I didn't think I'd be unemployed for as long as I was. Now details are coming out and it's going to cost me well over $3,000 to be in her wedding. I still have debt collectors calling me and there is no way I can justify paying that kind of money for a wedding. The bachelorette party and wedding are next summer and I don't want to wait too long to say anything if I'm going to. A large part of me wants to let her know how I feel about it all, but I don't want to ruin her wedding day and experience.

One, should I offer to be in the bridal party but not go to the bachelorette party/do maid of honor things? Number two, is it okay for me to not go at all? And three, should I suck it up and deal with it since I already agreed? Here's where you're in the wrong. If we're gonna just take some personal accountability.

While you were unemployed in a very precarious financial situation, you made a commitment and agreed to do something that you really couldn't do. It just felt good to say yes in the moment because you don't want to let your friends down. Understand that, but also know that you shouldn't have said yes in the first place. Is it okay for you to offer to be in the bridal party but not go to the bachelorette party? I think we do have to make some compromises here and say, here's what I can and can't do. The better time to set the boundary was earlier. The next best time is now. Is

Is it okay for me to not go at all? Yes, there's nothing morally holding you to going other than you committing to go and now saying, hey, I thought I could make this work. I didn't think I'd be unemployed for this long. It's not going to work out. Number three, should I suck it up and deal with it since I already agreed? No, that's going to really set you back financially, and it's going to cause you to be resentful toward this friend and to the whole situation. You got to put your own mask on first.

And so this is going to be a hard conversation with this friend going, listen, you know I love you. And when I said yes to this, I was in a tough situation and I thought I'd be out of it a lot sooner. So here's what I can do instead.

I am going to show up to this party if I can. I'm going to do the things that don't cost me a lot of money, and I'm going to support you in every way I can. That's what I would do if I was in your shoes. And if the friend is really a friend, they're going to go, oh, totally understand. Love you, sis. I'll see you at the whatever party. Not fun, but you got to own up. I'd rather choose guilt over resentment every single time. The court finds you to be...

Not attending this wedding. I just saved you $3,000. There's a money hack right there. Oh, he's good. All right, if there's one main thing we've learned from today's cases, it's that communication is the key to winning at money and relationships. And for you married folks, you do that by setting financial and life goals together so you're both on the same page from the start. Whether it's budgeting, saving, big purchases, make sure that you're aiming for the same target and you're aligned on how you're going to get there.

Next, do a regular money check-in to review your finances and check in on your progress. This keeps money talk way less tense and way more routine. And part of that is using a shared budget. This is the playbook for your finances. And I'll drop a link to my favorite budgeting app in the show notes. You can both be logged in and have full transparency about everything. And next up, stay empathetic.

Okay? Money is stressful. It can cause tension. And that's why you want to work as a team to solve your problems rather than blame each other and make one person the villain. All right, if you like these rulings on money arguments, you're going to love the first time we did this and took your cases to court. It's full of hot takes and even hotter debates. So watch this video up next or click the link in the description. Court is officially adjourned.