My husband & I are getting divorced. We've lived apart for the past 6 months, but I had thought perhaps we could reconcile. When the opportunity came up, my brother, husband & I agreed to buy a boat from a neighbor. Brother paid for the boat. Soon to be ex & I signed a piece of paper (NOT notarized) saying we would pay my brother back for our half of the amount. The title of the boat is in MY name alone. Now that we are getting a divorce, ex says he's going to sue me for "his" boat. I say technically it's my boat since it's in my name. What can and can't he do?
Regardless of how a piece of property is titled, in Ohio, any piece of property purchased during the marriage is usually a joint marital asset. So, at least one-half of the boat--if not two-thirds depending on how the purchase price was divided between you three--is a marital asset. However, it may be easier to think of your boat as a joint marital debt. Since you both owe your brother for the boat, the debt will have to be considered in the divorce as a joint marital debt. The court can award your half-interest in the boat to one of you, but, if there is any marital equity in the boat (one-half of the fair market value of the boat (taking out your brother's equity) minus your debt owed on the boat), whomever gets the boat usually will have to "buy out" the other spouse by paying him or her one-half of the equity. So, your husband may not want the boat once he realizes that he will have to pay your brother back, in addition to possible having to buy you out to be a joint owner of this boat.
In supplement to Melissa's answer, you state that your brother paid for the boat and you and your husband only intend to pay him part. This makes it sound like you have paid nothing to your brother towards the boat. If your husband wants the boat, your brother is the lienholder on the boat and should get 100% of the purchase price from your husband. In addition, since your brother would be 'holding the lien' on the boat, I would seek that he have to pay your brother interest at the statutory rate.
This hopefully will get your spouse to back away from the boat and go out to look for another.
A simple solution could also be, if you and your spouse have not paid anything, is to try to get him to agree to title the boat solely into your brother's name and take it out of the picture.
