Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

I was previously engaged to a guy and he purchased a car for me as a gift from his friend. He said he purchased the car because he didnt want me making car payments. I told him that even though were enagaged I wanted the car in my name just incase something happened and we broke up. So the car was put in my name.......a while later, we broke up. Now he's telling me he wants the car back. My ex-fiance made up false documents to say that he had a payment arrangements with his friend and he stopped making payments on the vehicle and had it notarized with a date around the time of the purchase date of the car. He had his friend file paperwork for a civil case to try to sue me to return the car or make payments. My question is.....Is any of this legal? Does him or his friend, which was the previous owner have any rights to the car or to try to sue me because of a payment arrangement that they claim they made up?


Asked on 1/11/11, 12:22 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
JAY Nixon nixon law offices

Yes, unfortunately, as far as the court system is concerned, almost anything filed with a court is legal until proven otherwise. Court documents in lawsuits are generally accepted as accurate and can lead to a default judgment against you unless you contest them by appearing in court and filing a legal answer, followed up with a trial defense. Otherwise, the filing parties will automatically ge granted nearly anything they ask for, within the broad limits of what is legally allowed. While forgery is illegal and even imprisonable as a felony, the court has no way of knowing this unless you tell them, by taking all of these steps. In conjunction, if there truly was a forgery of your name, you should probably file a police complaint. You should certainly consult with a lawyer as soon as possible in order to see how your rights can be protected, or to try to get them to voluntarily withdraw the claim. My comments here are not legal advice, nor do they create an attorney client relationship between us. However, you always more than welcome to contact my office to discuss retaining me or to set up a free initial consultation at my office in Racine. I also travel outside of Racine for initial consultations, although that may not always be free.

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Answered on 1/16/11, 1:11 pm


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