Vehicle Theft by Mother in Law

[kyweddleman]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Kentucky

Im going to start off with what happened to give background to my questions...
I got married in june to my girlfriend of 1 year, and soon after getting married i bought an 89 nissan truck, i cant afford insurance in my name because of previous traffic and dui offenses so i asked my mother in law, "JILL" to put the truck in her name for insurance to be cheaper. i had the truck for a few weeks and jill wanted to trade me her 94 jeep cherokee for my truck, the jeep was worth twice what i paid for the truck and i could use the extra room for my wife and kids so i took her offer and traded, leaving the jeep in her name as well so the insurance would stay cheap. a month after trading for the jeep i realized it was alot harder on gas than i had imagined and decided to trade it for a car that was easier on gas and began asking for the title to my jeep, jill always said she couldnt find the title and would have to go get a copy from the dmv when she got the time. fast forward one month, i still havent gotten the title from her after asking all this time and my wife and i end up having problems that resulted in us separating. I still dont have the title for my jeep and it is still in jills name, so when me and my wife separated she and jill tried to force me to trade them the jeep back for the truck, keep in mind jill had torn up the truck by driving it with an oil leak and continued to drive it until it leaked so bad she has to put oil in it everytime she drives it, which is the main reason for her wanting to trade back for my jeep. i refused to give up my jeep for the truck, and jill went to the local county attorney and tried to have them force me to return the jeep to her since it is in her name, the attorney told her there was nothing she could do except take me to civil court and try to take the jeep back from me since i have possesion of it. jill didnt like that idea so she went to the county my wife and i used to live in before separating and told them i had her jeep and refused to give it back, so that county attorney filed charges on me for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, which is a class d misdemeanor in ky, and now i have a warrant out for my arrest, because that county attorney didnt know the full story. So, my mother went to talk to that county attorney and see if he would drop the charges, she even showed him txt messages as proof that my mother in law was just trying to take my vehicle, and the attorney told her that he issued the warrant only because he doesnt have the time of day to get in his vehicle and check everyones mailbox who comes in asking to file charges, and that he does not have the power to revoke the warrant or drop the charges against me. I have tried having my local county attorney call the county attorney who filed charges and see if he could get the charges or warrant dropped and it did not help me out any, so my county attorney advised that i go turn myself in to the other county and wait in jail until the next court date, which then the charges may be dismissed. in the meantime i contacted Jill and asked her if i were to give her the jeep back for the truck i had traded her would she drop the charges against me, and she agreed that she would drop the charges, so i met her and gave her the keys to the jeep expecting the truck and the title to the truck. She took the jeep and kept the truck too, leaving me stranded with no vehicle and no ride, and still has not dropped the charges against me.

So, my question is, What can i do to get my jeep back even though she has possesion of it now and the title is in her name? I have no proof that i traded for the jeep other than testimony or sworn statements from all the members of my family and some of my friends. i also have a sworn and notarized statement from the man i bought the truck from saying that i did in fact buy the truck from him, and that i did ask him to put the truck in Jills name. I also have several txt messages from my wife saying that the jeep was still in her moms name and that she could legally take it from me anytime she wants, and other messages saying that they would be willing to meet up with me and trade the truck back for the jeep, but keep in mind these messages were sent to me while i still had possesion of the jeep.

I need to know what i can do to get the jeep back from her. I have read up a little on kentucky laws and from what i have read, Jill commited theft by deception over $500 but less than $10,000 when she decieved me to take the jeep back from me and keep the truck too just because both were in her name, which in kentucky is a Class D felony from what i have found online. Im wondering if i can go to my local county attorney and file charges against her for Theft by deception over $500? and also wondering how i can go about getting the charges dropped or dismissed against me in my former county since she lied to the county attorney there to get the warrant on me? if there is any way anyone can help me with legal advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long story but i wanted to give the whole story so i could get the most accurate information possible. Thank you for your time and i hope and pray someone can help me so i wont have to wait around and take this to court or sit in a jail cell for days or weeks waiting on a court date in my former county.

[flyingron]

If her name is on the title, it is her vehicle. You can't file charges, that is reserved to the state. You could make a complaint, but since she is the owner of the vehicle, she hasn't stolen anything. You can try a civil action if you can come up with something resembling some sort of contract (illicit as it may have been), but I'm not seeing it.


What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

[kyweddleman]

technically it was no longer her vehicle when i traded her my truck for it, and i had been asking her for the title for 2 months before she decieved me to get the vehicle from me, she refused to give up the title even after i had asked for it several times. there has to be something i can do, especially since i can prove that i did buy the truck she is also keeping, and i can prove through sworn statements that she traded vehicles with me, since we did trade in the presence of several of family members, and the family members who witnessed the trade are all honest law abiding citizens who have never broke the law, had a ticket or even a parking ticket before. i just dont see how it is legal for her to keep BOTH vehicles when i have signed notarized proof that i did at least buy the truck and asked to have it put in her name....so is there a way i can at least get the truck back without having to go through court? the reason i want to avoid court is because i have no money to take her to court, im a disabled american citizen and my only income is disability.

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and i did have possesion and ownership of the jeep for 2 months before she decieved me to get it back, i have proof via txt messages that she was trying to force me to trade back with her, that has to help me prove my argument in some way. i asked the local sheriff to retrieve my truck after she took the jeep back from me and they did call her and ask her to bring the truck to them so i could pick it up, and she told them i had gave it to her as a gift, and they believed her without asking for any proof of that or anything. they basically told me to **** off and take her to court.

[flyingron]

You refuse to understand, that if the vehicle is titled in her name, as far as the police and everybody else is concerend IT IS HERS. It's not yours, it's not theft.
It matters not what fraud you were trying to commit with the insurance companies nor whether you had possession of the vehicle or not.

At the best, you have a civil case to compel her to deliver the title to you, but even that is pretty weak given all the nonsense you yourself has introduced into the deal.

[kyweddleman]

its not that i refuse to understand that if the vehicle is titled in her name there isnt much i can do as far as the law is concerned, its that i refuse to just give up and let her take my vehicle from me that i worked hard to get and spent my hard earned money on, and im sure most people would feel the same way given my situation. some people in this world have it made and dont have to worry about paying their insurance because their rates are cheap enough as they are, but for people like me who have had a hard life and dont have the option of buying insurance for themself because the rates are ridiculous, things arent as simple as buying insurance in my name because i dont make nowhere near enough money to pay $1200 every 6 months for insurance just because of a mistake i made when i was 17 years old. people make mistakes but they shouldnt have to pay for them for the rest of their life, we are only human, its in our nature to make mistakes and learn from them and its not in our nature to just sit back and let other people just $hit on us.

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You fail to understand that it is not insurance fraud when the person whos name the vehicle is in is the one insuring the vehicle and someone else is driving it. there are people all over this country and world driving their own vehicles that may not be in theor name or insured in their name, if it werent for ridiculous laws and insurance rates, things like this wouldnt be happening in the first place. i have no problem admitting it is my fault for putting the vehcle in her name, im not putting the blame on anyone but myself for that, i was asking for advice on how to go about getting my vehicle back without paying outrageous court fees that i cant afford to get it back.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you lie to your insurance company to get a lower rate, that's fraud. Even if "everybody else is doing it".

If you believe you can make a case that your mother-in-law owes you money, you can sue her and prove your case in court.

[Disagreeable]

Redneck law and real law are two different creatures. You came to the fork in the road and hit the center median. Get your head out of the sand, forget about the crappy truck and old Jeep and worry about how to get the charges dismissed so you can pick up the pieces and stay out of prison.

[Trailboss]

Wow! I'd say you are pretty much beat! Possession is 9/10ths of the law, as they say. They have title (fulfilling all legal requirements)*and* the vehicle. In the eyes of the law, they are the legal owners. The very same mechanism that would have made *you* the legal owner, now makes *her* the legal owner. Basically, without some kind of admission of some kind, on her part, your beat.

Strangely...I have no sympathy for someone who does something so outrageously dumb....