Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Arizona

My fiancee lives with me. She has a 23-year old son who owes her a lot of money. He does not live with us. To pay off the debt, he gave his mother (my fiancee) his ATV, but he never signed the title. My fiancee now has someone who wants to buy the ATV so she can recoup some of the money owed to her by her son, but he refuses to sign the title. The ATV is sitting in my garage, where it has been since my fiancee's son gave it to her to pay off the debt. Since he will not sign the title, I feel I have no obligation to continue to store the ATV. My question: Can I give him a few days to come and get the ATV out of my garage, after which if it is still there, can I (1) sell the ATV without his permission or (2) put the ATV in the street and give it to the first person who wants it?


Asked on 12/10/09, 12:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joan Bundy Joan Bundy Law

Since it has a title that is not in your name (at least not yet), you cannot sell it since you do not legally own it. But you can charge him for reasonable storage costs this whole time. Going forward you can continue to charge him "rent" for the ATV or have it towed and placed at a third-party storage facility and send him a bill for that. You could threaten to put it in the street and give it to the first person who wants it, which might scare him into at least coming and getting the thing off your hands.

Good luck!

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Answered on 12/20/09, 9:03 pm


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