District Court orders $300 payment in dispute over separated couple’s rent contribution

The District Court, presided over by Judge Corey, entered judgment in favour of Erin Bellamy on October 4, 2026, and ordered Colin Bellamy to pay her $300. Erin had sought that amount as separation-related support, saying it was the unpaid balance of his promised contribution toward July rent.

The signed judgment found that the parties had agreed Colin would pay $900 in rent and that his payment fell $300 short. The order grants the remaining amount Erin requested; it is a judgment, not an agreed settlement.

The court’s stated basis for the award was the agreed contribution and the shortfall in payment. Its formal judgment does not identify a statutory provision, set out a legal test, or explain in detail how it assessed the parties’ competing accounts of their messages.

During the hearing, Judge Corey asked Erin whether the agreement was in writing. She said she had a saved exchange recording Colin’s promise to contribute $900 and her response that she would count on that amount. She also described a follow-up exchange concerning the $600 transfer and the remaining balance.

The court also asked both parties whose name appeared on the rental agreement. Neither could say. Erin said she had paid the rent but was unsure of the total monthly amount due to the landlord. When asked for the rental agreement, she said she would look for it; Colin said he did not have a copy.

The supplied transcript does not record a rental agreement being produced. The formal judgment nevertheless finds an agreement between the parties to pay $900, without explaining what significance, if any, the court attached to the missing lease information.

Erin maintained that Colin promised $900 toward July rent, transferred only $600, and left her to cover the rent. She said thanking him for the transfer did not amount to agreeing that the remaining $300 was forgiven.

Colin said he initially offered $900 but later told Erin that he could manage only $600. He argued that her reply thanking him indicated acceptance of that amount as settling his rent contribution, and asked the court to deny her claim for the balance.

When questioned about that understanding, Colin acknowledged that he had not obtained an explicit statement forgiving the remaining $300. He also said he could not be certain Erin understood the exchange as he did. Erin reiterated before the ruling that she had not agreed to give up the balance.

The dispute concerned a July rent contribution during the Bellamys’ separation. The parties agreed in their accounts that Colin transferred $600; their disagreement was whether that payment discharged the contribution he had initially offered.

The outcome resolves Erin’s request for the remaining $300. Its scope is limited to that payment: the judgment does not determine whose name was on the lease, establish the total rent owed to the landlord, or address any broader separation-related support obligations.