<prompt> Human: My significant other decided to loan a good friend in need 1200. Hes never loaned anyone money before, and his friend is going through a nasty divorce and I guess was having some trouble making rent or something. This is not a decision that I would have made, having watched my parents get screwed over enough times loaning their family money and never seeing it again, but whats done is done and I have a couple of questions, thinking about worst case scenarios:First, his friend wrote him a promissory note saying that she will return the money. What exactly does a promissory note need to include to hold up in a court of law, or is this too flimsy to hold up in court? Second, if the friend hypothetically doesnt return the money, I believe this is too large an amount for small claims court, right? What kind of case would this be, and would it even be worth the hassle? Im not overly concerned because even if the friend doesnt return the money, Ive already written it off as a loss and can easily earn it back. However, I am interested in options that are available should this happen besides not loaning out money again.  <response>: Before you loan money to friends or family, write it off as a gift in your head.If you are okay with that, then proceed, and if they pay you back, great.If youre not okay with it, then you are heading down the road to a bitter and unpleasant situation which will leave nobody happy. 