<p>If the payment completes, each party along the route receives the hash preimage and updates their channel balances, then the latest state of the channel between Alice and Bob includes the excess amount. At this point Alice is relying on Bob (or the destination of the payment) to either send the excess amount back or cooperatively settle the channel excluding the excess amount sent. If Bob refuses to do this then Alice cannot reclaim the excess amount. She can try to close the channel with a prior state but if Bob is alert to this he will broadcast a justice transaction. Lightning provides effective instant finality unlike delayed probabilistic finality onchain.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T16:38:47.353Z
So, it means there is no way to get Alice Excess amount back right?
Arjun Reddy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T16:42:00.047Z
Alice could ask Bob to send the excess amount back but he is unlikely to agree as he moved money to Carol in a channel between him and Carol assuming a route of Alice -> Bob -> Carol -> Destination. Or Alice could ask the destination to send the excess amount back. But yeah it is relying on others to send it back rather than anything built into the protocol.
Michael Folkson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T16:50:11.440Z
If the payment hasn't completed Alice can ask the destination to not accept the incoming payment https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/112342/is-it-possible-to-cancel-a-lightning-invoice
Michael Folkson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T16:31:48.287Z
2022-08-02T16:51:06.773Z
2022-08-02T16:51:06.773Z
Michael Folkson
<p>What happens if Alice sends excess amount by mistake in Lightning Channel, and Bob denies to send back excess and broadcast the last transaction to Blockchain?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T17:44:32.873Z
It's not clear to me how that would ever happen. Do you have a concrete scenario in mind?
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-02T18:10:20.053Z
@Murch yeah that's a catch, Alice needs to pay bob through Invoice right, Thank you got it :) I guess the above might not be possible
Arjun Reddy
<lightning-network><payment>
How to deal with this situation in Lightning Network?
Arjun Reddy
# How to deal with this situation in Lightning Network?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-02)

What happens if Alice sends excess amount by mistake in Lightning Channel, and Bob denies to send back excess and broadcast the last transaction to Blockchain?

**Tags:** lightning-network, payment

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It's not clear to me how that would ever happen. Do you have a concrete scenario in mind?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 yeah that's a catch, Alice needs to pay bob through Invoice right, Thank you got it :) I guess the above might not be possible  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-08-02. Score: 0

If the payment completes, each party along the route receives the hash preimage and updates their channel balances, then the latest state of the channel between Alice and Bob includes the excess amount. At this point Alice is relying on Bob (or the destination of the payment) to either send the excess amount back or cooperatively settle the channel excluding the excess amount sent. If Bob refuses to do this then Alice cannot reclaim the excess amount. She can try to close the channel with a prior state but if Bob is alert to this he will broadcast a justice transaction. Lightning provides effective instant finality unlike delayed probabilistic finality onchain.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So, it means there is no way to get Alice Excess amount back right?  
> **username_2**: Alice could ask Bob to send the excess amount back but he is unlikely to agree as he moved money to Carol in a channel between him and Carol assuming a route of Alice -> Bob -> Carol -> Destination. Or Alice could ask the destination to send the excess amount back. But yeah it is relying on others to send it back rather than anything built into the protocol.  
> **username_2**: If the payment hasn't completed Alice can ask the destination to not accept the incoming payment https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/112342/is-it-possible-to-cancel-a-lightning-invoice  

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