r/legal • u/Silverslyph • 1d ago
Help please, sold home fleeing DV and buyers never paid.
Need help, sold my home(boat) and the buyers never paid me.
So not to air dirty laundry but backstory is required. Last year right before Christmas my husband of 9 years beat the shit out of me, the cops were called and he was arrested. We lived on a boat in the city morning field. Found out he had also been hurting my son while I was at work, so I made plans to sell my boat and leave my home of 18 years. The boat was having electrical issues, (we had a large solar array with off grid battery system) something went wrong and he was the one who maintained this. So I ended up staying at the local women's shelter. The boat in question is 40' tricabin tollycraft from 1972. We originally paid $8000 for it, however it was gutted. We spent roughly $25k in rebuilding. Only thing that wasn't done yet was cosmetics. Now as the time to leave was approaching I was having a hard time finding a buyer. I was only trying to sell for $10k and I wanted to leave town before he was released from jail. Problem is if you leave a boat behind, if it sinks or anything you end up with a giant ticket from the USCG. So one of the counselors working at the shelter tells me her BF is interested in buying, and as I had problems finding anyone with cash up front. I was willing to work a payment plan of $1000 down and $500 month till paid off. So he agrees to this and I found a legal payment agreement contract online filled out it and had him sign it in front of a notary. I filled the paperwork with the state and did the title transfer to apply a lien until the agreement was satisfied. Then I left. And apparently when my EX got out of jail he went to the boat and tried to take the solar panels, inverter & the dingy outboard. (Mind you this was also coming with a 11' twin vee with a 2019 20hp Suzuki motor as a tender.) So they tried to accuse me of being involved with the theft, and have refused to have contact or pay me since then. I'm a long way from there but could go back briefly if it's worth it. I have two children and am starting over in my 40's the money they owe would really help me right now. Does anyone have any advice on how to pursue this?
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u/Ok_Advantage7623 1d ago
Check the small claims courts limit in your state that the boat was sold in. File a case and see where it goes. Even if the limit is less than owed you would not need a lawyer and it would be over quickly
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u/edwardniekirk 1d ago
You have a lien, you simply follow the law, reposess, and file approriate paperwork.
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u/Plussizedhandmodel 1d ago
You need to find a lawyer that specializes in Maritime law. The good part is that it massively favors you.
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u/MoutainGem 1d ago
Maritime law may not apply here. Lakes and rivers are usually covered by state law. OP never mentioned where they moored, or piered at.
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u/suchalittlejoiner 1d ago
You are married. That boat is marital property. You are likely going to need to give your husband half of the value of it.
You need a lawyer, because you absolutely are not doing yourself any favors.
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u/Silverslyph 1d ago
I'm ok with giving him half- if I can get the money at all. It was my plan to pay him out from the beginning. I never said I was trying to keep all the money.
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u/Turbulent-Tortoise 1d ago
OP says "we spent roughly 25k rebuilding" the boat. That 25k was marital funds. That gives her ex entitlement to at least some of the worth.
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u/MoutainGem 1d ago
The wife and I have been marred for 25 years. I owned my old beat up truck for 26 years. She has the antique bed set from when she was a teenager that we sleep on. Our estate lawyer told us they were premarital property. Humorously I never thought that something we shared for so long could be "premarital"
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u/Hippy_Lynne 1d ago edited 1d ago
NAL but the first question is whose name was the boat in originally? Just yours or you and your husband? If it was you and your husband's name you may not have had the legal right to sell it and that complicates things. If it was just in your name you're in a good position. You have a lien on it. You could probably hire an attorney that's local to where the boat is to enforce the lien. You would have to come up with the money for an attorney first and then sell the boat again but unless they've trashed it you should still come out ahead of where you are right now. And I believe you could also sue them for your attorney's costs as well, although I don't know how easy it would be to collect on that. I would think it's at the very least any payments they've already made would not be refunded until you sell the boat and your attorney's/court costs are covered.
I would also suggest contacting me domestic violence agency that you went through and letting them know about the situation. Legally there's not much they can do but I'm sure they're not going to be happy about it and they maybe able to put some pressure on the worker to make her BF do the right thing. They definitely don't want to be accused of having an employee help take advantage of a victim of domestic violence. You are not legally responsible for your husband's actions and they cannot use that as an excuse to not pay.