I got a boat as a gift from my grandpa years ago and he always told me dont worry about the registration he would take care of it. Well he passed away and i have no paper work showing that its my boat and now his original family wont sign anything to say that its mine eventhough i have completly fixed it up and made it look good and run good!!!!

man oh man. that is sure a bad deal. you have my sympathy.

Not much hope for you...sorry Nick. I saw several people turned away from the counter when I was transfering title on my boat because they did not have titles for boat and motor signed and in hand. The clerks had no sympathy whatsoever...

storage or mechanics lein gets you ownership for cars , might work on boats??????

And fraud and theft get's you a nice striped shirt and a new home for a few years too....

If you weren't contracted to work on the boat, then you have no basis for a mechanic's lien, and if you weren't contracted to store the boat, then no basis for a storage lien....

It absolutely amazes me the number of people that openly recommend fraud on this forum for trailers and boats.

What if you could take a death certificate up to the TPWD office, and explain that he left the boat to you, but he passed before he could get the title transferred over. I wonder if they would let you file for a lost title.

Unless there is a will, it's not likely this would work either. If there is a will and the boat isn't willed, any steps other than the "legal" owner signing the titles over could/would be considered fraud or theft. Do you REALLY want to risk jail?

By talking to the family, they are already awareof the boat's existance, and by not honoring the wishes of the deceased they have already proven that they are wanting to keep the boat for themselves. Do you not think that they wouldn't go as far as to file theft or fraud charges???? Greed is an ugly thing, but jail is a much uglier place...

Take your punches, take the loss and walk away.

The only other legal course you have is to get a lawyer and take the estate to court and rack up a huge bill for the estate which ultimately comes from their inheritance. Your likely to lose in court unless someone fesses up, but you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you cost them more than the value of the boat.

real shame they didn't fall on the floor and cry,,what do you expect them to do, not follow the law..
this is a shame but.......
its not their fault paper work is not in order..

Sad thing is, the boat is not part of the estate -- the original post says it was a gift from grandpa *before* he died. "Last wishes" and "will" should have nothing to do with it.

There's a lesson in there somewhere for the rest of us..............

Nick,

If you want to maintain your integrity - and I hope you do -, my advice for you is to sit down with your Grandfather's family and have a good conversation. I would think that unless we are talking about a huge yacht or something like that, they would respond well to some pictures and conversation describing the work you did on the boat, how much your Grandfather was impressed by your work, etc. I would also offer them, or the estate, whatever the value of the boat was when he gave it to you.

Unfortunately, that is your only hope. You will need to have you hat in your hand so to speak and be VERY courteous to them.

Ron

I agree, but without a receipt or a bill of sale, it cannot be proven that it was not part of the estate

I went through something like this in 1999 when my uncle passed away, he had a will, and left a number of things to me. Several items that were xmas gifts from my uncle to me were in his house when he past. My cousins tried claiming that these items belonged to my uncle and therefore was theirs. If it had not been for another aunt having video tapes from a couple of the xmas' that proved they were gifts I would have been SOL...

I wasn't able to prove everything was mine, but there was enough doubt cast upon my cousins that the judge ruled in my favor. The sad thing was that it cost several thousands of dollars for me to recover what was rightfully mine, and in the end half of it had already been sold so I was left with a judgement against my cousins and very little to remember my uncle by...

Money from deaths in the family seem to bring out the worst in people, even our own family...

In regards to the filing of leins... I suggested filing leins , Something that I was told. I passed on bad advice.
Sorry ,I did not follow up before passing it along...

Wow! I was just trying to warn the guy not to waste his time. My paperwork was in order and had no problems with the clerks at all. They were just doing their jobs....you might want to get a life Kingdad. If you read the post above mine the guy offered his "sympathy"...that is why I mentioned it. Jeez...