Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: do i own a vessel if was free and agreed by the owner verbal

A gift is complete when the property is offered by the donor, the donee accepts, and the donor surrenders possession of the fift to the donee.

Your particular case raises factual questions about whether the donor geve you actual or constructive possession.

There are three Civil Code sections relating to gifts:

CC 1146: "A gift is a transfer of personal property, made voluntarily and without consideration."

CC 1147: "A verbal gift is not valid, unless the means of obtaining possession and control of the thing are given, nor, if it is capable of delivery, unless there is an actual or symbolical delivery of the thing to the donee."

CC 1148: "A gift, other than a gift in view of impending death, cannot be revoked by the giver."

The outcome of your case in court would depend upon whether CC 1147 is satified by the facts. I think there is a pretty good chance it is, and further I would say that the possible need for DMV or Coast Guard paperwork is irrelevant, because the donor in making the gift has obliged himself to cooperate as to those details.

On the other hand, the matter is not at all clear-cut and there is a good chance (maybe less than 50%, but still significant) that a court would find no actual or constructive delivery and hence you would lose.

Thorough research of California cases on constructive delivery of gifts might shed further light on your chances in court, but I am not able to do that work as a freebie, at least not this week.

But I do hope this is helpful.

Re: do i own a vessel if was free and agreed by the owner verbal

Both answers are correct. I assume that the vessel is a house boat. If it has no motor so can not be moved by itself, you have a stonger argument that you did take possession. If you told him that you were going to clean the boat, by letting you go on board and cause physical changes to it, he has basically given you possession and he may be legally not allowed to argue you were not the new owner [estoppel]. If those are the facts, then I think you have a good case. Even if you do not get possession of the boat [you can not sue for possession in Small Claims Court because that is a suit for specific performance which SCC is not allowed to hear], you likely could win a suit for your damages of the value of the clean up and of the boat. If this just happened a few days ago, you could probably get your landlord to agree to ignore your notice of moving out.

Why would someone put up a "deposit" on something that is free? When did this "deposit" occur and was it made directly with the former boat owner? I assume that he wants to get rid of the boat and has no interest in having to pay money or spend time todetermine who gets the boat. If the man putting up the deposit also was going to get it as a gift, then the same code section Mr. Whipple refers to would apply to him, and it seems to me that you have a much better showing of possession than he does [but did he sign any type of agreement to "sell" the boat?]

Speak to the former owner and point out all the money he will have to spend to make a gift and that you are not willing to back down but the other guy mostly likely will. Once you get some more facts, it probably would be worthwhile to hire an attorney to write a sharp letter to the former owner, to show that you are serious about trying to get the boat. If you wanted to, I could do it for $100 per hour but hiring a local attorney at a higher rate would also be worth the additional costs if the boat really is valuable to you.

Good luck.

Re: do i own a vessel if was free and agreed by the owner verbal

I agree with Mr. Whipple, in that the real issue is whether or not this qualifies as delivery.

I believe that it does, but, again, would probably have to research the matter because a judge may disagree.

I do not think, from the facts, that the owner will give you the boat without a law suit. I am sorry you moved out first, but you should consult and retain a local attorney.