Location: This occured in King County, Washington. I now live in Idaho and my father has relocated to a different county, but same state.
My dad and mom had a 525 college fund for me but they divorced in 2016 and did not allocate how that money was meant to be used. In 2021 there was roughly 18k. My husband and I were renting from him at that time while I was in university and the verbal agreement was that this college fund would go towards my living expenses (rent to him mostly) and tuition due to the degree requiring a full time internship for the last 12 months. When this time came, my father still required us to pay rent and would not give me access, instead telling to to take out federal loans that he would pay back when I finished college. Instead he evicted us with no notice and we are no longer in contact.
We do not have any written agreements, and he was careful not to admit anything over text, but I do have several texts that either imply or support that he would use the 525 plan for my living needs/tuition but also after the fact, after things blew up, a message saying that ‘it was always my money to use however i see fit’.
I understand that as the owner of the account, he can set any beneficiary he would like to and use it however he would like with vary tax responsibilties, but is there any legal claim to the money due to the agreement we had? I have assumed not since then.