You are in Canada too I believe? Was it part of his probation order to pay restitution? I'm trying to get the full picture to offer a proper perspective. If I have it right, he was drunk, broke a lock to enter the school illegally. Was placed on probation for a year. Agreed to pay the repair cost for the door. (Jump in if I'm reading it wrong) If this is the case, the question is, in what format was a agreement put into place to pay the cost of the door. If the court ordered restitution as part of his probation, I would contact probation to alert them that your son is being harassed and threatened with destroyed credit and collections, because he/you refuse to pay the overinflated cost of the repairs. Make it clear that your son is responsible to pay the repair to the door. However, if all that was broken was a lock, that is the cost he owes. Period. If the school did other updates to the area of their own accord, coinciding with the time they fixed the lock, that is nothing to do with your son nor restitution. Nor can someone use a collection agency for a court ordered restitution. They could report to the young offender judge that restitution was not made. They could contact the probation officer if your son is still on probation. That would allow the original judge to mediate the cost (which really should have been clearly laid out in the court order for restitution, as a standard for courts usually), or even the probation officer to mediate it. I'm suspecting this was a promise type thing, as in I, the teen who was stupid and pulled this stunt, agree to pay the cost of repairing the lock that I destroyed. If this is the case, what exactly are they submitting to collections???? There cannot be any contract, even if they drew something up between your son and the principal or whoever, that is binding to a collection agency. They could of course pursue this in small claims court. That may be necessary actually, because your son owes the true repair cost. But no way should a school milk this situation for costs beyond what your son caused them to incur. If this was a verbal thing, or a signed agreement between son and school, here is what you need to do. Send a registered letter (requiring signature of party listed, no third party signatures for acceptance) to the person this was entered into with verbally or by a written "contract". State the facts, nothing more. My son, on such and such date, did illegally enter xyz building. In doing so, he did break the lock on the door at xyz location in xyz building. Following this event, my son verbally/in writing (whichever it is) did accept full responsability for the damaged lock and accepted that he must pay the cost of having the lock replaced. Since that time, a invoice dated xyz date, sent from xyz staff person, was sent to my son outlining the costs claimed by xyz school for restitution costs for the repair of the lock. The invoice outlined costs drastically out of line with the cost of the repair that my son is liable for, that being the replacement of the lock. As the father of this minor child, I hereby notify you that you are to not have contact on this matter with my minor son. As my dependent, I am responsible for legal matters regarding my son. All future correspondence should be in writing, addressed to me a xyz address. Please be advised, that I will not be permitting my son to pay for costs on the invoice provided to me, as they do not reflect solely the damage he caused. This invoice entails other measures done by the school, unrelated to my sons damage to the lock. Please also be advised, that threats to my son to have this invoice sent to collections and to affect a minor child's credit report, for non payment of a invoice far surpassing damage caused by my son, is unacceptable and I demand these types of tactics towards my son cease immediately. I remain committed to ensuring my son pay his restitution for the broken lock. If you submit a invoice reflective of that repair alone, I will ensure my son provides the payment as soon as possible. If this cannot be resolved by the provision of xyz school of a accurate invoice, I will accept a lack of adequate response as acknowledgement of xyz school that the school is no longer seeking restitution from my son for the damaged lock. If I have not received a suitable written invoice within 10 days of your receipt of this letter, I consider this matter closed and will not acknowledge future communication in any form, regarding this issue. Furthermore, a collection agency is not a viable legal avenue and further implications of involving such as a threat toward my son, will result in me retaining my own attorney to ensure that this type of action toward my son is stopped immediately. If you choose to not send a proper invoice, you of course may name me (as the parent of a minor child) in a small claims court motion. I would be more than happy to resolve the actual cost of a repaired lock (vs the inflated invoice provided to my son) with a small claims court judge, should xyz school continue to insist on restitution that extends beyond the damage incurred by sons transgression. I hope this matter can be easily and civilly resolved in the coming 10 days. Should it not be, I consider this matter between xyz school and my family to be closed. Sincerely, XYZ.