Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia
my bf co-signed for a car and now i dont want to share ownership with him
i purchased a car a month ago (i paid the downpymnt & monthly payments) and my boyfriend co-signed for it since i didn't have a license. he never gives me the car keys and he's always using the fact that i only have a permit as an excuse so i can't drive the car. he is listed as a co-buyer so i guess we both own the car. now i want to end the relationship and i dont want to share ownership of the car with him. what can i do???... i would really like to keep the car if there is a way to take his name off or he can keep it and put it all on his name if i can take my name off. either way i dont to share responsibility with him especially if the relationship is over because i know he wont give up the car. he has a reposession under his belt and his irresponsible and careless about his credit, and i dont want my credit to go bad if he decides to keep it. he says that i cannot do anything if he takes the car, and that i can't call the cops because the car is also in his name. i dont want to end up paying for a car that i cannot use while somebody else is having a free ride! help! what are my options? who do i talk to the bank or the dealer? can i make him sign an assignment of contract so he can assign all his rights on the car unto me?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: my bf co-signed for a car and now i dont want to share ownership with him
This is surely a twist on a type of question we see a lot here on LawGuru: Usually it is the co-signer,not the legal owner, who wants out.
Also, you have another problem: Since you don't have a driver's license, he would be acting irresponsibly (and subjecting himself to potentially unlimited legal liability for "negligent entrustment") if he were to give you the keys. Since it is your car, if I were you I would do whatever I had to do to get a driver's license, and then take back the car (getting keys made if you have to) and have the locks changed. Don't be so sure you can't call the cops (once you have a license). Ask the cops.
Re: my bf co-signed for a car and now i dont want to share ownership with him
I am surprised by how many questions there are
like this from different people. I don't know
why people buy something together with someone
else and at like it isn't serious.
It isn't entirely clear to me what names are
actually on the title. If both names are on the
title, then both of you own the car. That's the
whole point of buying a car together with
someone. That's what it means. The only thing that can change this is if one of you sells your
half to the other.
There is a slim, but unlikely, chance you
could convince a judge that he was acting like
a trustee for you or that somehow it was fraud.
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