Civil family question - what's right, what are the chances?

Here's the situation:
Almost 2 years ago my now husband signed a paper saying he owed his then girlfriend, with whom he lived with for 5 years, some money. He signed it under intense duress of the breakup and under pressure from their counselor. He paid her every month for a little while. He now feels that the amount is totally unfair given all he paid for and did for her during the r'ship which was not deducted in the amount. He would concede to pay her half the amount.

He plans to speak to an attorney, but what is right in the eyes of the law? What are the chances he will not have to give the entire amount given that he signed the paper and started to pay her?

By the way, when she gave him the money, she did not tell him he would have to pay her back. She only wanted it back when they broke up.

Duress in the context of contract law is a common law defense, and if one is successful in proving that the contract is vitiated by duress, the contract may be rescinded, since it is then voidable.

Duress has been defined as a "threat of harm made to compel a person to do something against his or her will or judgment; esp., a wrongful threat made by one person to compel a manifestation of seeming assent by another person to a transaction without real volition." - Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004)

Duress in contract law falls into two broad categories:

Physical duress, and
Economic duress


very hard sell to a judge; she gave him the money; she has a right to ask for it back

I'd say he has almost no chance at all in court.

The "duress" you mention is not type of coercion that will let him off the hook. After he made the promise to repay, his actual payments to her confirmed and ratified his promise.

If he doesn't pay, she's got a decent case against him.

"Duress" means someone held a gun to his head, not "he felt pressured".

He signed the paper. He'll be held to it. He can speak to an attorney, but that'll be the answer.

Richard