my ex-wife and i are on the title for each other's cars. i've been pleading with her for years for us to refinance so we can remove our names, but she's not a very cooperative person. now, i'm looking to trade my car in because a) i want a newer car for my kiddo and b) i don't want my kiddo to touch anything she's ever touched. problem is, she will not respond to my voicemails, e-mails or text messages. sadly, she's bffs with my sister (long story), but of course she won't help either except she alerted my parents that my ex has moved to australia. other than hiring smeggysmeg to find her, what is my recourse here? i asked toyota and they recommended calling the police and reporting the car stolen. at least that would get her attention. thanks.
Call the county clerk's office and see if a divorce decree is enough to remove your ex-wife from the title. If they say they need her signature, tell them you have difficulty getting in touch with her and see what your next move is. I know someone in Minnesota who was able to refinance his car even though his wife's name was also on it without her knowledge. I would not follow Toyota's advice. They are recommending that you break the law by filing a false police report. Did you have a divorce lawyer? I assume things like this have come up before in his line of work.
no divorce lawyer which was probably my first mistake (other than marrying the b****). from what the person at toyota said, there's no way around getting her signature. and is it really a false report if i don't know where the car is? for all i know it could have been stolen since she will never return my calls or e-mails.
Does the divorce decree discuss ownership of the vehicles? I am not sure if a divorce decree would supersede the car title laws.
it does, but toyota says that doesn't matter. that only helps you if something happens where the other person doesn't make their payments and it affects you negatively. my wife's had troubles with that when her ex was behind on her payments and it caused an issue when we were buying our house, but showing them her decree helped.
I'd still call the county clerk's office before doing anything. Also, if it is in the divorce decree, note the following: How do I sell a vehicle that is titled in my ex-spouse's name but awarded to me in the divorce decree? If the divorce decree awards the vehicle to you, give a certified copy to your county tax office and apply for a title. If the decree does not award the vehicle to you, a properly assigned title (a title where your ex-spouse signed the document over to you) will be required. http://www.txdmv.gov/vehicles/titles/faq.htm
SRSLY!?!?! They said this to you? Why would they recommend fraud? Good thing bobrek helped you already.
it's not really fraud if i don't know where the car is. i have no idea what the status of the car is.
county clerk tells me tax office even after i explain that i'm still paying on the car. tax office tell's me that there's nothing they can do since i'm still paying on the car. love running around in circles.
If it were me (and I am glad it is not), I would go up the tax office chain and try and speak with a supoervisor or two.
yeah, that's not a bad idea. i did end up with one supervisor after the first lady i spoke to thought you couldn't trade in a car if it wasn't paid off in the first place.
no doubt, luckily the supervisor stepped in, but her immediate response was it doesn't matter what the divorce says, if the car's not paid off, then there's nothing they can do.
If it were me, I'd stop paying a dime on the car and I'd walk. Let the bank have it back. You can repair your credit.
the problem is, that gets fixed for her since it's in the decree. my current wife (and as bad as i did my first time around i more than made up for with the next one) has had issues with her ex missing car payments and it initially affects her credit until she shows a copy of her decree. we nearly couldn't close on our house because of that.
so my pops in-law called the tax office and today's story is that they can do it, but since we still owe, i would have to pay taxes on it. does that sound even remotely correct?
