What if he does not give me car I have title to? Help?
Jan 25th, 2010 by AutoInsGuy
G. K asked:
My ex-husband “gave” my daughter one of his cars last month. He signed and notarized the title into my name, and there is no lien on it. I have the keys as well. We are preparing to make a 600 mile trip to Pennsylvania to retrieve the car and bring it to Indiana. However, now he is “not guaranteeing” that the car will be at the location he said it would be. We only know his P.O. box because he has not seen his daughter in 5 years and is $30,000 behind in child support so he does not want us to know his whereabouts. If we arrive and the car is not where he says it will be, what recourse do we have. I have to register the car and put in on my insurance before we go to another state, but am also afraid to do this because once we get out there if there is no car to pick up this means he is driving it without my permission and it’s under my insurance. I’m so frustrated and so tired of being jerked around. I don’t care if he goes to jail. I just want the car for my daughter. Help!
Anne
First make sure it’s in your name with the title transferred. Call your local authorities and see if it is necessary to have them contact an officer of the authorities in his county. Legally, someone who is in possession of a vehicle registered to you without permission is in possession of a stolen vehicle. Best thing to do is make sure it’s registered with title to your name signed and dated in paper and then contact the authorities, period.
If you don’t get it back, report it stolen. If you husband gets caught with it in his property he will be arrested.
Tell him that. Then he would NOT want to be in possession of it.
Good Luck…
Do you have it in writing where he states that the car will be at a certain location at a certain time? If so, I would go ahead and insure the car and get everything set up for it. Then if it is not there when you get there call the police and have it reported stolen/missing. You can also take him to court and sue him for the car and the back payment of child support. He legaly has no right to even touch the car. He signed away every right to even touch the car when he signed over the title to you.
well if you got the keys and you got the tittle go get it copsd cant do anything to you if you dont find the car where he said report it stolen since its your car and you dontr know where it is you can do that
Register the car.
If you register the car, you now own it. That means you can threaten your ex with theft. It also means that you can list it as stolen; if he is driving it and gets a speeding ticket, or goes through a automated tollbooth, he will be arrested and jailed.
Tell him that you are registering the car. You need the vehicle identification number (if he plays stupid, tell him that it’s the metal strip visible under the windshied on the driver’s side) and that you expect him to be where he says. Before you leave, call the DMV at Pennsylvania, give them the VIN, and register it.
Then call your ex. Tell him that you have registered the car, and that if it is not at the agreed location, you will fill our a theft report. You probably know his social security number. If that is right, you can file a civil theft claim, where you sue in small claims court. That way you can garnish his wages (if he works). By the way, if you get a civil judgment, you can issue a subpoena to the postal service to get his address and send him a summons for child support.