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Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Granted

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  • 06-20-2019, 10:41 AM
    bmilne1957
    Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Granted
    My question involves a marriage in the state of: Florida

    The divorce property division was agreed upon by my wife and I outside of the courts stating we will each keep what we have in our possession. The agreement was she gets the house and everything that goes with it and I get the boat and everything that goes with it. The boat has been in my possession and slip fees have been paid by me for a year prior of the divorce and continue to do so to date. I do have and have had possession of the boat which is a Soveral 48 foot sailboat prior to the divorce. I signed the house over to her already. I separated my finances from her a year before the divorce due to her getting us over $60k in debt. It was her spending and lying to me about it that caused the problem.

    I informed her she needed to be at the DMV with me per the DMV to transfer the title over to me solely. I had talked with her about it and stated we could take care of it in a month when I returned home from work. She moved to Ohio and did so without informing me or transferring the title to me solely. I hired US Coastguard documentation service ($400 so far) since the transfer could be done in the mail at the Coastguard level.

    All paperwork was prepared and sent to her a few months back but she is refusing to fill it out, notarize and return the paperwork to the documentation agency. She claims she has done it and emailed and mailed the information to the agency but the agency never received the email or mail she claims to have sent. She has been asked to resend the paperwork by me and the agency but she will not comply with the request.

    The agency has spoken with her several times trying to aid in the process. She refuses to speak to me and seldom answers my email requests about completing the documentation. Prior I had offered to fly her back to Florida to transfer at the DMV but she refused to do so.

    What can I do to get the papers signed and notarized by her and sent to the title company if she will not do so voluntarily? I want to leave the area and can not do so without the title being solely in my name.

    Thank you.
  • 06-20-2019, 10:48 AM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    All of the signing over of things should have all been done at one time.

    Was the property division part of the divorce decree that was granted by the court?
  • 06-20-2019, 11:29 AM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    Quote:

    Quoting bmilne1957
    View Post


    What can I do to get the papers signed and notarized by her and sent to the title company if she will not do so voluntarily?

    You take her back to court to enforce the decree.

    You should have had her sign over the boat at the same time you signed over the house.

    If the boat is not addressed in the decree, you may have to buy her signature from her.
  • 06-20-2019, 01:17 PM
    latigo
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    You say that a property division was agreed upon "outside of the courts". Fine! Now please tell us what happened "inside of the courts"!

    Does the final decree incorporate the mentioned agreed marital property division?

    Are you in possession of any writing signed by your former wife in which she agrees to sign over to you her ownership in the boat? And wherein the boat is specifically identified?
  • 06-20-2019, 01:58 PM
    flyingron
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    Is their financing in place on the boat? What you did to hide assets a year before the divorce is immaterial.
  • 06-20-2019, 04:38 PM
    bmilne1957
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    It just states we each keep what is in our possession at the time, so yes. I should have all done at once. Made any number of mistakes on this one. My credit score dropped last month and my credit report still had one of her CC where I was a signer only. Once that was taken care of my credit score went back up.

    I was not hiding assets - it's a 48' foot sailboat and her name is on the title - that's the problem friend. She got the house and everything with it and I got the boat and everything that goes with it which is covered in the divorce paperwork that we each keep what we have in our position at the time of the divorce. I picked up all boat costs and she took over house payments etc.

    What I did is after I found she had us $60k in debt; I stopped comingling my money with hers. That was a year before the divorce and all maintenance, slip fees came out of my earnings.

    Before any of you accuses me of any illegal actions make certain you have your facts straight; all of this but the first sentence is in the original post plus::wallbang: The boat title is free and clear
  • 06-20-2019, 04:42 PM
    flyingron
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    I never accused you of illegal actions. I just pointed out that separating your assets doesn't remove them from the marital estate. You, yourself, say you did this to keep the assets from her.
    You'd rather hurl insults rather than participate in a conversation to elicit what is necessary to advise you, so good luck.
  • 06-20-2019, 05:04 PM
    jk
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    Your statements regarding your agreement are not clear. If it states you get the boat, sue to enforce the agreement. If it isn’t clear it includes the boat, your only option still is to sue. Proving it may be more difficult, especially if she has a different view of what was in the divorce agreement.
  • 06-20-2019, 05:23 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    Quote:

    Quoting bmilne1957
    View Post
    which is covered in the divorce paperwork


    What divorce paperwork? A decree signed by the judge and filed with the court?

    Something else?
  • 06-20-2019, 05:32 PM
    llworking
    Re: Wife Refuses to Take Her Name Off of Boat Title That is in My Possession and Gran
    To recap:

    The only solution when someone refuses to do what is necessary to complete an agreement is to sue them. The problem is proving that they agreed to whatever you are suing for.

    If you have something in writing that backs up your claim that the boat is yours, then you are in a much better position than if you have nothing in writing that proves that the boat is yours.

    Yes, you should have refused to sign a quit claim for the house unless it happened at the same time that she signed a quit claim for the boat. However, your position is not entirely hopeless. If you sue her she would have to be willing to lie about your agreement and the judge would have to buy her lie. I suspect that you would come off more credible since you signed a quit claim deed for the house, assuming that the house had at least as much equity as the boat.

    Bottom line, you cannot force her to sign anything unless you sue her. It's also possible that she is not actually refusing to sign the paperwork but is just being lazy about it. If that is the case, then suing her might stop her being lazy about it.
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