Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: My Brother-in-law will not make his half of the payments on a boat we own.

If you signed for the loan, you are responsible for payment, even if he does not continue to pay. Why not buy him out. Lesson learned.

Re: My Brother-in-law will not make his half of the payments on a boat we own.

This is primarily a contract-law question and does not seem to involve real property. Here are a few concepts and principles that may help you get this straightened out.

First, whatever you do should, in my view, lead toward resolving whatever the argument was about and improving your family relationship. Brothers should not be taking each other to court.

Next, liability for payments and ownership are sometimes separate concepts. There may be a bill of sale or purchase agreement reading one way and a fiancing agreement reading another. For example, you might co-own the boat but only one of you is a primary borrower/debtor and the other is either a guarantor or, perhaps, not "on" the fiancing at all. Deciding and explaining your rights and duties would therefore require that the attorney be able to review all the documents.

Next, there is a $500 statute of frauds on sales of goods. A co-buyer whose agreement to participate in the deal was entirely oral, with no signature on any written document, might be hard to hold to the bargain, and that would include his involvement as a guarantor. This may not be an issue, but it's worthy of mention.

If one of you ends up as the sole owner, which may be the way this has to work out, the other brother would be entitled to return (restitution, in legalese) of his money.

You could consider doing an informal mediation or even arbitration with someone you both trust in the role of mediator or arbitrator. It should be someone with legal training. There are lots of dispute-resolution people (mediators) in the phone book.