verbal contracts

[heidi_moon]

On October 23 2001 I had signed over the title to my vehicle as a gift to my father. I did so because he did not have a car and was being evicted from his residence. We had a verbal agreement that he would pay me $3500 for the vehicle upon him getting a job. I had signed over the title to him to relieve myself of any liabilty in case he was involved in a vehicle accident. On December 11th my father passed away. On Dec. 26th I contacted the licensing dept. He never transfered the title. The licensing dept. cancelled my bill of sale and said they would send me a new title. I then went to retrieve my vehicle from his girlfriend on December 26th. When I contacted her she had hidden the vehicle and refused to give it back saying it was part of his estate. She was there when he picked up the car and new of the verbal agreement. She is being greedy because from what she has said she is the heir to his will. My question is, since this was a verbal agreement and I had signed the title over to him do I have any standing in court with legal claim, and if so where should I start?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This is a very good legal question and depends upon many factors. We need to clarify a few things.

1) If the car is the property of the estate then your late father's girlfriend must and should have surrendered the car to the estate. It is not her car to drive even though she may think that she is getting it.

2) This may not be a "gift" in the legal sense. A gift is when someone transfers an object to someone else without consideration or compensation.

3) It would seem that your signing over the vehicle to him was contingent upon him obtaining a job, which was expected during a reasonable time. Thus, while he could have taken legal title to the car, it is possible that you could reposses based upon breach of contract.

In this instance it seems that as title was never perfected and that your late father did not complete his end of the bargain, you are still the legal owner of the car. In this instance, you just don't need to go through the trouble of repossession.

What you may want to do is immediately send a letter to this person, certified return receipt notifying her that at this time you are currently the legal owner of the car and you have granted no permission for anyone to use this car. You should send her a copy of the title. She can contact you to discuss the matter. You may wish to deal with the executor of the estate.

The girlfriend also may not have any choice but to either give you back the car or have the estate cough up $3,500.00. She cannot have it both ways.

Let's look at one other thing though.... If you say that it was a "gift" then it may be called into question as to whether or not this was truly an agreement which your father had to pay back the money or whether it was an agreement that he could keep the car but would merely pay you if he could. This would not bode well in your favor but I'd find it likely that the courts will rule fairly when the facts in evidence are questionable and one party would be unjustly enriched.