<prompt> Human: We are in the USA, North Carolina to be specific. Me and my SO are buying a house together. Im able to pay a much larger down-payment than she is, about 25k more. So she would owe me about 12.5k to make us even. We plan to have the house completely paid off in about 4-5 years. But in that time period, she will need to focus on paying the bank in order for us to keep interest at a minimum.So she wont be able to start paying me back for about 4 or 5 years from now, which I am okay with. Weve been together 6 years and I feel like our relationship will still be good 4-5 years from now. But I know things can change. Nobody expects their long-term relationship to break up but it happens. Its possible that in that time, we have a nasty break up and she hates me 4-5 years from now and decides not to pay me back. In which case, I need to have the right documentationpaperwork to get my 12.5k back.She says she is totally cool with signing whatever papers need to be signed to ensure I get paid back. She is trustworthy and I believe she has every intent to pay me back. But do I need a lawyer for this? Can we draw up our own document? Would it be legally binding without a lawyer or notary? Anyone have any templates of a document for this situation I could use?Thanks in advance!  <response>: You need a lawyer. This is a terrible, terrible idea. rlegaladvice 