Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington

Can a gift be changed or taken away?

I met my boyfriend on 1/03 and on

Christmas of 2004 he surprise me

with a brand new car Infinity FX35

as my Chritsmas gift. I have been

driving the car since then. He lease

the car and the lease is in his name.

the Finance company holds the tittle.

In 8/06 we broke up because he was

cheating. He wrote a note saying

that if I would move from the house

he would have the car paid off and

transfer the car to my name. So far

he hasn't than that. He is still

making the monthly payments and

paying the insurance.

Now, he said that he is tired of

making the payments and he no

longer wants to pay the car off. He

wants me to (read below his own

words:Three available options:

1. Work out a deal with Infiniti so

that you still have a vehicle to drive

(as do I) and the payments are

significantly reduced.

2. You take over the lease and the

insurance.

3. I stop making payments that I

cannot afford and the vehicle is

repossessed.

4. I take back possession of the

vehicle (which is legally mine) and

take care of this myself with Infiniti.

I don't agree in getting a lesser value car. Can he legally do that. Please advise.


Asked on 2/15/08, 1:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
James J. White, attorney Law Offices of Smith & White, PLLC

Re: Can a gift be changed or taken away?

First of all, find the note where he said he'd pay off the car in exchange for you moving out. That is effectively a contract offer that you accepted presumably by moving out. It gets more complicated from there. You'll want to sit down with an attorney and go over some details.

At your service,

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Answered on 2/15/08, 1:42 pm


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