Its things like this unfortunate situation that keep me from handling any clients or cases relating to marriage, estates, or domestic disputes. When it comes to inflicting emotional harm and mental duress, families do it best.

I do agree that a Prenuptial Agreement is a good idea, in this case the vehicle at the heart of the matter would fall outside the property rights and property divisions set up within a standard Prenup.

The Camaro is not the property of hockeygirl and it never will be even if the car does eventually get into her physical custody. Without the title being legally transferred into her name, her father could reclaim the vehicle at any time and for any reason. His claim of retaining the title to "protect her" is invalid, and the ownership of said vehicle would not be affected by any possible dissolution of her planned marriage. In so many words, it doesn't matter what her future husband might or might not do, without legal ownership of the vehicle, she'd have no rights to it whatsoever.

As far as the rather sad events involving her father's joke/hoax concerning the shipment of the vehicle, she could possibly seek damages in civil litigation for promissory estoppel which I've defined below in an example from a legal text.

"When a person makes a false statement to another and the listener relies on what was told to him/her in good faith and to his/her disadvantage. In order to see that justice is done a court will treat the statement as a promise, and in a trial the judge will preclude the maker of the statement from denying it. Thus, the legal inability of the person who made the false statement to deny it makes it an enforceable promise called "promissory estoppel," or an "equitable estoppel." Example: Bernie Blowhard tells Arthur Artist that Blowhard has a contract to make a movie and wants Artist to paint the background scenery in return for a percentage of the profits. Artist paints, and Blowhard then admits he needed the scenery to try to get a movie deal which fell through and there are no profits to share. Artist sues and the judge finds that Blowhard cannot deny a contract with Artist and gives Artist judgment for the value of his work."

 

I am hoping also this was just a quick joke and you will have the real thing soon

 

Hey Hockeygirl,

Just wait, people only do this to goade you. I have a funky feeling you will get that car, not in pieces or stripped, but finished as a wedding present. Being positive here.

 

 

Agreed....seen it happen many, many times to people who were so "in" to each other.

It is really amazing what people will do to each other (and what they turn in to) when a separation or divorce is present.

 

My dad has had the car for well over 20 years and never done a thing to it, so I won't be holding my breath for him to ever do anything to it. I honestly believe that the only reason my dad wants to keep the title is so he has something over me all the time, and I won't allow that, like I said I would rather him sell the car than have to deal with that. I just have this feeling that everything would get done, interior, paint, engine, transmission, etc. and he would change his mind, especially after he does something like this.

As far as the divorce stuff, I understand all that, my dad tried to do some of that to my mom when they got divorced. Said he needed the appliances (dishwasher, washer and dryer, etc.) so my mom told him that was fine but she would be keeping all the cars so she could sell them to buy new ones, he caved pretty quick. My dad tried to tell my mom HE needed the appliances when she was the one with my sister and I (2 years old and 1 year old at the time). I guess he tries not to live in the real world or something.

 

Ahh - Love the legal language. My daughter is an attorney and my wife is a Spanish Interpreter. I don't understand half of what my daughter says and none of what my wife has to say. Some would say that is opportunity and good fortune.

Won't say anything negative about your father, because he is your father. Only hope he wakes up to what he has done, or has a better plan that will suprise you.

 

Love and hate have a lot in common, it’s a razor sharp divide between them sometimes.

Back in time some years ago when I lived in northwest Wisconsin, I got married to a wonderful tall skinny blond gal one spring day, we were together for not quite 6 months, when she ran off. It was nearly a year before our divorce court date though.

We had a lot on common but were best in bed, unfortunately she did not refine her bed activities to just our bed.

Everything I ever owned became community property.

Even things I bought after she left were community property for 3 years according to Wisconsin divorce laws at the time.

Things have changed since then.

The whole reason I live where I do now is because it seemed prudent to me to get out of rifle range of her. Not that she was any good with a long gun but,… I was.

One winters night late in 1987 I lay there in the snow in my Korean war surplus snow camo with my 30.06 in its snow camo looking at her doing a strip tease, half a mile away, through the picture window of the country place she had run off to before we were even legally separated.

She looked real good in cross hairs.

That was when I had an epiphany, shooting her, and going to prison, probably for the rest of my life, would not be the worst thing I could do to her. The worst thing I could possibly do would be to let her live her welfare collecting life, and in the long run, I was right. She has a half dozen kids all from different fathers.

Right after the divorce she would pickup a boyfriend of the evening and kick in the door at my house while I was away in Minneapolis working and take whatever she wanted.

I had a few grand worth of guns and a new 12” color TV that went the first time she did this. I reported it as a theft and was told that even though I got the guns in the divorce decree and had bought the TV months after she already left with everything on the list of ‘her’ stuff in the settlement, they were still considered community property and there was nothing I could really do about it.

Another time they took all the canned goods in the house. Then later they emptied the freezer and the next week took the freezer too.

About a year and a half later she tried to claim I had forced her to have sex one night and that was where the second kid came from. DNA testing was pretty new at the time, and real expensive, but simple blood tests were pretty conclusive. The kid had a real rare factor to his blood and there was no way my blood and hers mixed could have produced it.

Besides I had been living just a tad short of 300 miles away and had many witnesses to say I was always too broke {thanks to her} to have made a dash north to impregnate her.

Divorce can be a real bad time no matter how adult you might think you are.

 

I'm the kind of person that if I have to go through something as horrible as a divorce I would just want it to be over as quickly as possible, not drag it out just to try to cause the other as much pain as possible. John is the same way, we have both been cheated on (not with each other) and, having experienced that, would never do that to each other. Honestly the only thing we would fight over if we were to separate would be our 2 cats, since there are no children involved. I just don't see the point in drawing out something as painful as a divorce just because you want the other person to "suffer" it makes you suffer also, along with anyone else involved. People can just be so selfish, it amazes me.

 

Sorry to hear that your relationship with your dad is that bad. No offense, but this is not stuff I'd be sharing on a public forum.