Since none of us know this person, we can't judge whether she's going to pay the money back or not. But as she's cooling her friendship towards you, that seems to be an ominous sign. However, only you, who knows this person well, can judge her as a person well enough to know if you are really going to see that money, or if when she gets the settlement she takes off for greener pastures and doesn't leave a forwarding address.
About five years ago I lent $5,000 to my best friend. She didn't ask for it... I offered. She owned a saddle shop in a small town, and her boyfriend of 7 years who opened the shop with her began stealing money from the accounts, had a girlfriend "on the side" and eventually took off to Wyoming, leaving my friend facing creditors and being harassed by the bank. It was breaking her down, and she was too great a friend to stand by and watch that happen. I casually asked her how much it would take to at least get out of the current crisis and when she said the amount I wrote her a check, and she refused to take it. I said to her, "You are my best friend, and if you go down then I go down with you. If I can help save you, then I save myself. Whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same."
It was my own money, that I'd saved from working for my husband, so it was not like I was taking money from *our* account. My husband said it was my money and do what I wanted with it, and he believed in my friend, too, and had faith she'd pay me back.
She paid off some immediate loans, then sold her house to pay off the rest of the debts and paid me back in full. I never had her sign a paper or note or anything, because I knew the "measure and mettle" of this woman.
