Title transfer

[autumnrose]

In the final divorce decree, I was granted the car which is upside down and I can't afford.  The title is in my ex's name and can't be transferred into my name because the finance company can't refinance me due to my bad credit.  I want to know what my options are, my lawyer says I have to accept the decision and just pay it off.  I would like to appeal the decision to see if the car can become community debt so I don't have to pay the whole thing off, just half.  Does anyone have any suggestions, etc. that can help me?  I wish I could just say no, I can't afford the car and walk away without a vehicle and without owing anything on it but I doubt that can happen.  Any help would be appreciated! 

[Lee Borden]

My guess is that you're stuck. I'm sorry.

If I were in your shoes, I would do a Dave Ramsey on it. I would cut my expenses to the very bone and make minimum debt payments on all my debts except the smallest. Pick your smallest debt and pay it off. Then use the money you were paying on it and add it to the payment for the next smallest debt. Then the next smallest, etc., each time adding more to the "snowball."

If you stay disciplined, you will eventually have nothing but your largest debt (which I hope is the car). By then, you'll have a good-sized snowball to apply to the car loan and can work to (a) pay it off or (b) pay it down to the point where you can sell the car and pay off the loan with the proceeds. At that point, you would pay cash for an old clunker and keep saving your snowball until you can trade it for a slightly nicer car (again, paying cash).

Stick with that plan, and you'll eventually be able to pay cash for a decent car you can be proud to drive. Or you may figure out by that time that it's more fun to have the cash in the bank than it is to drive a nice car. Either way, you'll be on a much more stable footing.