• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Is there anything he can do?

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX and possibly LA

My brother-in-law is in Iraq currently, so I am typing this to see if there is any help for him in a situation that occured yesterday.

Backstory- BIL and his wife were married, he was stationed in TX (army). They have a bad marriage- she drinks & is abusive.

A few months ago, she went to his apartment (they were seperated) and she was drunk, she got angry and started to attack my BIL and destroy his apt. He called the cops, who came to the apt. She attacked the cops, so they tasered her and she was arrested and charged with 2 things- a misdemeanor for attacking my BIL (domestic abuse/violence) and a 3rd degree felony for attacking the cops (assault on a civil servant, something like that- its def. a felony). She is going to court for all of that business but looks like her jury trial isnt until March.

Meanwhile, about a month ago my BIL was deployed to Iraq. He is divorcing her, although I am not 100% sure what stage that is in, except that he did mention a couple of months ago (before deploying) it would NOT be finalized before he left for Iraq, which it wasnt.

While he was here (in LA), he left his truck @ his mother's house and left a key with my husband so that my husband could move it & perform maintenance on it occasionally. He mentioned he was worried that his estranged wife would come and take the truck (they own it together), I told him he might want to park it @ a storage facility rather than any of our homes (the woman knows where my house, his mother's house and his father's house is, they used to live here in LA) but he did not do that.

Yesterday, his mother called us to ask if we had moved the truck, because it was not at her home. It has been there the day before, so had been missing between 1-24 hrs. We had not moved the truck, and my husband contacted his father who said he had also not moved the truck.

My MIL called the police to tell them the car was missing and that the estranged wife may have it. The police called the wife, who said she had in fact taken the truck.

Now- the situation with my BIL & the wife is pretty nasty- she is angry that he wont get back together with her, angry that she is going through 2 trials (attacking my BIL, attacking the cops), and angry that she is almost positively going to lose her OT license once convicted of the felony, so she will not be able to work in the field she has worked in for basically her entire adult life.

She has her own vehicle, but she took this truck just to be spiteful. My BIL was worried she would do this because she is a nasty person, and so here we are.

We're all aware OUR hands are pretty tied when it comes to this situation- she apparently has every legal right to have possession of the car.

I'm asking for suggestions on what my BIL can do about this. He might be coming home for a break in February and will probably want to deal with this when he comes in.

#1- When he returns, if he can find out where the truck is, he can take it back, correct?

#2- There is a 2nd car (like I said, she has her own vehicle, also in both their names)- can he also take possession of this car as well?

#3- Would anything happen to him if he takes both cars and puts them into storage or somewhere she will not be able to locate them? He will return to Iraq after Feb for approximately 10-16 more months and its unknown now when he might get another break. But as he is active duty & deployed, would anyone be able to do anything to him for hiding the cars once he has left? (He is concerned that she will try & sell one or both of the vehicles or let someone else drive them or damage his vehicle in some way out of spite)

#4- Can he refi or get a new loan on the car without her signature? In other words, is there a way for him to take her off the note/title so that he is the ONLY owner? This is assuming he can find the truck when he comes in. She will not sign to do that voluntarily.

#5- If he can not locate the car, what is the best plan of action? She is now hiding a car that he alone is paying for (both note and insurance). Should he take the hit and stop paying the note and let them repossess the car? (And, if he does this, does it ruin BOTH of their credit, as they are both on the note/title?) Should he cancel the insurance on it? He wont be able to turn in the plate (and knows that he will take a fine from the DMV) but is wondering if that is something he should still do.

#6- She is on some sort of probation per the website that shows the status of her legal troubles. I was looking @ it yesterday and it says something to the effect of her requesting to modify the conditions of her probation for the case involving the police officer (the felony). I am not sure how she is on probation for that even though she has not had the jury trial, but its there. Would it be worth a call (my MIL, not me) to her probation officer to mention she left the state? My MIL isnt even sure if that is a condition of her probation but she is pretty angry with his estranged wife so she thought about doing that. The wife would have had to have come to LA from TX to hide the car, and she did tell the police that she in fact had taken the car. Should my MIL get some sort of police report from the cops that states that the wife admitted to coming & taking the car, I guess it would be used as evidence that she left the state (assuming that staying in TX was a condition of her probation).

Does anyone else have any suggestions for me to pass along to him in what to do about this situation or in regards to protecting himself from this crazy woman until he can finalize his divorce from her? I'm not sure what else she might try to get back at him, the truck was an obvious issue but I wouldnt put anything past her. We're hoping that any remedy to this could be handled when he comes to visit in Feb.

Thanks in advance!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
#1- When he returns, if he can find out where the truck is, he can take it back, correct?
Yes, if he can find it he can take it back.

#2- There is a 2nd car (like I said, she has her own vehicle, also in both their names)- can he also take possession of this car as well?
He could, but I would strongly advise against it. Right now she is the one who would be the "bad guy" in the eyes of the court. If he takes both cars then the court would likely consider both of them to be equally the "bad guys".

#3- Would anything happen to him if he takes both cars and puts them into storage or somewhere she will not be able to locate them? He will return to Iraq after Feb for approximately 10-16 more months and its unknown now when he might get another break. But as he is active duty & deployed, would anyone be able to do anything to him for hiding the cars once he has left? (He is concerned that she will try & sell one or both of the vehicles or let someone else drive them or damage his vehicle in some way out of spite)
Again, I do NOT recommend that he take both. Take his truck and put it in storage.

#4- Can he refi or get a new loan on the car without her signature? In other words, is there a way for him to take her off the note/title so that he is the ONLY owner? This is assuming he can find the truck when he comes in. She will not sign to do that voluntarily.
Probably not. It depends on how the titled is worded. You had best hope that he can not do so, because if he can, so can she.

#5- If he can not locate the car, what is the best plan of action? She is now hiding a car that he alone is paying for (both note and insurance). Should he take the hit and stop paying the note and let them repossess the car? (And, if he does this, does it ruin BOTH of their credit, as they are both on the note/title?) Should he cancel the insurance on it? He wont be able to turn in the plate (and knows that he will take a fine from the DMV) but is wondering if that is something he should still do.
I would not recommend tanking his credit. That isn't in his best interest. He absolutely should NOT cancel the insurance. He is equally liable if someone gets into a wreck while driving the car.

#6- She is on some sort of probation per the website that shows the status of her legal troubles. I was looking @ it yesterday and it says something to the effect of her requesting to modify the conditions of her probation for the case involving the police officer (the felony). I am not sure how she is on probation for that even though she has not had the jury trial, but its there. Would it be worth a call (my MIL, not me) to her probation officer to mention she left the state? My MIL isnt even sure if that is a condition of her probation but she is pretty angry with his estranged wife so she thought about doing that. The wife would have had to have come to LA from TX to hide the car, and she did tell the police that she in fact had taken the car. Should my MIL get some sort of police report from the cops that states that the wife admitted to coming & taking the car, I guess it would be used as evidence that she left the state (assuming that staying in TX was a condition of her probation).
You cannot be 100% certain that she didn't send someone else to pick up the car.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for me to pass along to him in what to do about this situation or in regards to protecting himself from this crazy woman until he can finalize his divorce from her? I'm not sure what else she might try to get back at him, the truck was an obvious issue but I wouldnt put anything past her. We're hoping that any remedy to this could be handled when he comes to visit in Feb.

Thanks in advance!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Do they have any children or other property in common? If not, there really isn't anything to protect himself against at this point, other than the car.
 
Yes, if he can find it he can take it back.



He could, but I would strongly advise against it. Right now she is the one who would be the "bad guy" in the eyes of the court. If he takes both cars then the court would likely consider both of them to be equally the "bad guys".



Again, I do NOT recommend that he take both. Take his truck and put it in storage.



Probably not. It depends on how the titled is worded. You had best hope that he can not do so, because if he can, so can she.



I would not recommend tanking his credit. That isn't in his best interest. He absolutely should NOT cancel the insurance. He is equally liable if someone gets into a wreck while driving the car.



You cannot be 100% certain that she didn't send someone else to pick up the car.



Do they have any children or other property in common? If not, there really isn't anything to protect himself against at this point, other than the car.
She is nearly twice his age, so no, there are no children. They dont have any other property or items owned jointly except for the cars as he was first deployed in Korea and now Iraq, he has never had time to purchase a home, etc, with her.

You are correct, I cant be 100% certain that she went herself, except that the police are saying she said she did in fact leave TX, come to LA, go to the home of my MIL and take the car. But I wasnt there...

Aside from that- what would they do to her if it was a condition of her probation to not leave the state and it can be proven she DID leave the state? Would they go and arrest her @ her home, or would they wait until they come across her or something?

Thank you for the advice...

But, to wrap it up- do you have any suggestions on what he should do next?

As it stands, the truck is missing, its unlikely we will find it- honestly we have NO idea where she wouldve put it, as she is mentally unstable and there is almost no one who voluntarily will spend time with her or help her out, especially here in LA. She lost custody of her kids to her ex, her father and brother passed away in 2009, and she has very few friends here (if any- she has had legal issues here in LA as well) so I dont know WHERE she would hide it in LA. She moved away from her kids to live in TX with my BIL and I think she may have a few friends there, so I think its just as likely that she drove it back to TX to keep an eye on it as it is that its here in LA somewhere.

So what does he do?? We're all totally lost as to how to help him.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
She is nearly twice his age, so no, there are no children. They dont have any other property or items owned jointly except for the cars as he was first deployed in Korea and now Iraq, he has never had time to purchase a home, etc, with her.

You are correct, I cant be 100% certain that she went herself, except that the police are saying she said she did in fact leave TX, come to LA, go to the home of my MIL and take the car. But I wasnt there...

Aside from that- what would they do to her if it was a condition of her probation to not leave the state and it can be proven she DID leave the state? Would they go and arrest her @ her home, or would they wait until they come across her or something?

Thank you for the advice...

But, to wrap it up- do you have any suggestions on what he should do next?

As it stands, the truck is missing, its unlikely we will find it- honestly we have NO idea where she wouldve put it, as she is mentally unstable and there is almost no one who voluntarily will spend time with her or help her out, especially here in LA. She lost custody of her kids to her ex, her father and brother passed away in 2009, and she has very few friends here (if any- she has had legal issues here in LA as well) so I dont know WHERE she would hide it in LA. She moved away from her kids to live in TX with my BIL and I think she may have a few friends there, so I think its just as likely that she drove it back to TX to keep an eye on it as it is that its here in LA somewhere.

So what does he do?? We're all totally lost as to how to help him.
Unless he has an attorney working on the divorce, even though he is in Iraq, about the only thing that anyone could help him do is locate the truck so that he can retrieve it when he is home on leave.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top