Especially a $300 boat. I mean, I can see if someone refused to help pay for college (as was court ordered) and so the custodial parent had $40k in loans they took out to pay for college, and then the non-custodial parent “hid” their $100K yacht by “giving” it to their kid but effectively keeping possession . . .or even gave it for real. But that is not this case, at all.
Well, at this point your Mom knows you got a boat and you are concerned about her seizing it via a judgment. It sounds like you should just talk to her about it and explain that this was a) a gift b) a piece of crap $300 boat, and not one of the yachts your Dad may still own that she is presumably interested in and c) that you really are the owner and this is not some scam to hide assets from her
Tell her your concerns as well, which is that you intend to repair the boat and don’t want to put money into it just so the sheriff might show up and take it away one day because of some future judgment. At this point your mother knows about the boat’s existence and that you have it, so hiding it is pretty pointless IMHO. And you apparently still have a relationship with her since you had a conversation with her where you mentioned getting the boat. As such, I would simply plead your case with her honestly and upfront. If she chooses to have a judgment, make sure the boat is specifically left out of it and have her agree this was a gift to you. I don’t see the point of all the posturing and shady dealings on this.
Even if she gets a judgment she still has to enforce it. That can be hard to do, depending on location. For instance, if I get a judgment, I still have to file papers to seize a bank account or attach a salary.
As others said, anything transferred is suspect. Since you clearly know that your mother intends to attach your father’s property, this is problematic, even if no action is official yet.
She’s not going after the boat on purpose, she’s concerned the court will go after the boat. She just wants the money that’s owed to her by her deadbeat ex husband who has failed to pay the court ordered amount.
Right, but is the court really going after a $300 boat? Especially since the OP apparently paid $100 for the thing, and it appears that you could easily make the argument that it really was worth no more than $100?
Maybe not, I was just responding to the people who were all “Why would she want to repossess her son’s boat?”
I got the impression the OP was not aware of the pending judgment prior to the conversation with his Mom, so he really didn’t have prior knowledge. It would seem that the Mom is aware of it, has nothing against the OP, and the only concern is that someone might seize the boat in the course of enforcing the judgment. It would seem that the mother would intervene if that happened to prevent it, and if it’s a concern, draft up a notice that explains the boat is a gift not subject to a future judgment against the father, have the mother sign it, and have it notarized.
Even without the form, I’d say the risk is near zero. I can’t imagine the court chasing down every gift the father ever gave to his kids, especially when they are low dollar value, on the basis it was an elaborate trick to screw the mother out of money and hide assets from her.
Why would you need to get around the gift tax? You can give up to $13,000 to an individual per year and be exempted from any gift tax. You said it was worth $300, so unless your dad already gave you $12,900, this year, there was no reason to fake up a bill of sale for $100.