My dad gave me a boat a couple weeks ago. It needs a bunch of work and we (bf and I) took it and started work on. A couple weeks in i called my mom and she said “why is he giving you stuff. Dammit im planning a judgement against him for child support.”
The boat needs an overhall and is really worthless until we started doing work on it.
Now im worried it will be taken away from us once she files this judgement.
Is it better to not register it until after this blows over so they dont know where it is, or can they not take it from me?
What if i put all that money into it? Will they just take it and tell me im sol?
Sounds like you have some family issues. I would personally worry more about those more than the boat itself. People will tell you to talk to a lawyer but I doubt it is worth it and bringing lawyers into an interpersonal family mess of that type is questionable at best. Did he actually give you the boat or is he just protecting it for himself? If he gave it to you, I don’t think they can take it. It is his until you transfer the registration however because that is recorded.
If you want some bad advice, I will give you some.
Call your father and tell him that you are thrilled that someone just offered you $10,000 for the boat cash to take it off your hands tonight. If he wants any of the money or balks in any other way, he didn’t truly give it to you. Have a good laugh after you tell him the truth then figure out how to deal with the real situation at hand.
Fraudulent conveyance. It’s generally against the rules to transfer assets in to avoid a judgement. That would (potentially, check local laws) render the transfer void and the fraudulent act can be held against the conveyor in distribution of the marital assets.
A gift transfer to a near relative just before a judgement is rendered is obviously suspect.
The thing is, he didn’t know my mother is planning a judgement. Its not filed yet. She is working on the paperwork now.
I told him about it after he gave me this boat because he has other boats that I wanted to warn him about.
My parents have been divorced for 15 years. My mom is money hungry and my dad lost his job a year ago and got behind on payments.
He had the boat for sale for $300.00 for about 6 months now but only offer was to take it for free so he asked if I wanted it. Lol
As far as taking it if there’s a judgment, I heard that they can collect items sold within 90 days up until 2 years (heard both) before the judgement was filed… shrug I just don’t want to risk all of my money wasted because after putting 1000 into the boat, someone takes it. That’s not fair
I’m not a lawyer, I know nothing about this issue at all, but…do you have receipts for the materials you’ve purchased to improve the boat? It seems that a reasonable judge would look at those and you could produce some knowledgeable person to tell the judge what the impact of those improvements was to the value of the boat. That is, receipts would provide written evidence that the improvements happened AFTER you took possession of the boat, and that he didn’t give you a $5000 boat (or whatever it’s worth when you’re done), but a $300 or less boat. Even better if your dad has some sort of record of how often and long he had the thing up for sale (classified ads? Craigslist postings?) without being able to find a buyer.
What kind of boat is this? Is this just a small two or three person rowboat type thing (you said he was trying to sell it for $300)?
Anyways, if their divorce was 15 years ago and she’s just trying to sue him for back alimony, I don’t think this could possibly come into play. If it does, perhaps you could just give him a few dollars ($100?) for it so that you and him can legally claim that you purchased it from him and it doesn’t appear that you he was trying to make himself look like he has less money.
Now, if this was a $50,000 boat that he handed you while claiming he couldn’t swing the alimony, it would probably be different.
I don’t think she can just file an enforceable judgement. She would have to sue him first, go tomcourt, and then have judge issue the judgement. Even at that time, they’re going to give him a chance to pay what he owes before they start siezing assets.
Or has she already won a judgement from the court? Is the money owed for child support or for spousal support?
Are you still a minor, and as someone else asked - are there other children involved?
Its a 1985 sea ray seville bowrider and a 1985 single axle trailer.
Engine is apart right now (outdrive) and unsure if it works. All interier wood needs to be replaced. All controls need to be replaced as well as seats. We had to rewire the trailer as well as replace the chains.
Its certanly a project…
I’m 22. She got child support for me until I was 21. My sister is 19 almost 20. Same goes for her,
He is behind about 10,000 and they were in court in april. They had an agreement for payment for the areers (sp).
I’m not sure why she’s trying to file a judgement… maybe he’s not paying or his company isn’t paying…? I’m unsure.
And for the sale, I put a small dollar amount on the bill of sale I wrote up so I could get around the gift tax tha way I just pay tax on 100.00 and I’m good
Is that the minimum where you are? Around here, we can put them as 1¢. That’s what people do who gift titles for cars and stuff. It’s less to get around the tax, and more because it’s really difficult to transfer ownership otherwise.
If you gave your father reasonably equivalent value for the boat then I do not believe it would be seen as a fraudulent transfer and thus they would not try to pursue your property–instead the assumption is that moving the property out of his ownership he received a fair value for it so he personally should still be able to satisfy his debts to the creditor.
Now, the way courts assign value to things is probably different than how ordinary people do, and I’d be interesting in hearing specifics in that regard. An ordinary Joe may conclude after multiple attempts at selling a run down boat for $300 on Craigslist, where the best offer was to “take it off your hands for free” that the boat’s market value was negligible. However there may be some formal thing like the equivalent of a Kelley’s Blue Book for boats and the court may go by that with various adjustments for condition of the boat.
I was just about to mention that it’s good that not only did money change hands (or so says the paper work) but also that dad attempted to sell it for three months and chances are the neighbors can back him up on that.
You might want to take some pictures of it, especially if they can include anything that identifies the boat. You might find out that if the boat does come into play it might be a year or two down the road and by that time the boat might look considerably nicer.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the father gave his child a boat and the mother wants to seize the boat for overdue child support.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to skip all the paperwork and let the child keep the boat?
The kid would be getting the money (in theory) twice and mom would still be out the money. Mom has (again, in theory) already given the kid money and is awaiting repayment from dad.
tha way I just pay tax on 100.00 and I’m good