Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Is Bill of Sale I gave my evil ex enforceable?

In April 2004 I bought a car to give to my boyfriend who cannot qualify for a car loan (cuz I'm stupid; okay he had a bad car accident, almost died, lost his job and I regretfully offered to help). In June 2005, I paid off the car loan in full. I gave him a signed Bill of Sale the terms of which he gets the car, I get zero money (cuz I have loogies for a brain). The next day we broke up because I received a surprise phone call from his girlfriend of 10 years. He was cheating on her and I didn't know he was juggling his time between me and her. The deceitful jerk now wants title to the car. Does he have grounds to force me to give him the car for free because of the Bill of Sale I signed? That would be so wrong and unjust if I have to suffer TWICE in the hands of a scammer con man!!! Is this just going to be a lesson learned?


Asked on 12/07/06, 11:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Is Bill of Sale I gave my evil ex enforceable?

It seems you didn't receive anything in exchange for the car. If that is the case, then any contract you and he might have formed would probably fail for lack of consideration.

The problem is that you may have already given him the car by the time you canceled the deal. A gift becomes the recipient's property immediately (or upon satisfaction of any conditions attached to the gift), at which time the giver loses all legal claims to it. I would need more facts before I could say whether what you said and did amounted to making a gift or not.

Even if you hadn't already made a gift of the car, equity would be on your ex's side if he had done something significant -- selling his own car, for example -- because he relied upon you to give him yours. I don't have enough facts to say whether this happened or not. If he hadn't changed his position in reliance on your promise before you gave him the news, then equity would favor you instead.

Offhand I don't how your delay in actually transferring title would affect any claim your ex might try to make, so hopefully another LawGuru attorney can address that issue.

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Answered on 12/19/06, 5:14 pm


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