Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Montana

You describe this as a loan, so you admit you are obligated to repay him. You don't define "right away," and you say you don't have a written agreement. You and he seem to have a decision to make: Whether to sit down and draft a repayment agreement, or to file suit in Small Claims Court.

Let's assume that you want to maintain a civil relationship. Sit down with pen and paper. Take the amount you owe him, look at your income and mandatory expenses, divide what's left into X payments, and write an agreement that you will pay X by the 5th of every month until your loan is repaid. It can be as simple as "Jane Smith agrees to pay William Jones $X by the 5th day of every month until Jane has repaid William's loan of $x,xxx.xx." Add any language about interest or not charging interest on the unpaid balance. You might prefer to do this with a mediator (a neutral party trained to help people resolve disputes). Also, consider ways to cut your expenses until you've paid off the loan, which can make the payoff quicker.