Adult Son Financial Question

[groundloop]

I'm looking for ideas / opinions on a fair way to deal with this.

About five years ago my son and I pooled our resources and bought a used boat for $15,000. I live on a lake and we keep the boat here, my son lives about an hour away and has always had free reign to use it whenever he wanted.

At first he used it a fair amount, and quite often both of us would go fishing or else just joy ride. More recently he's pretty much lost interest in it and I'm the only one that uses it. AND as time went by I became the only one to pay for and do maintenance / repairs / wash & wax etc.

Now he's seriously thinking about moving 800 miles away, and if he goes through with it I'll need to figure out how to deal with his share of the boat.

On one hand it could be argued that he's the one moving away and that the most he can expect is to get half the proceeds whenever I decide to sell the boat (which might happen in 3 or 4 years).

OR do we agree on a fair price and I pay him for half of the boat (that would mean pulling extra money from my IRA and paying taxes on that amount - I was forced into retirement at the start of the pandemic).

OR is there something I haven't thought of?

[taxi]

1. Offer to to sell your interest in the boat

for $5,000, or half of the estimated value, in exchange for a $100/month fee for leaving the boat there.
If that isn't acceptable then you have no choice but to sell the boat for the first reasonable offer, less $100/month off the top, and splitting the remaining proceeds.

[multigraincracker]

2. Me, I'd tell him to take it.

But that’s just me.

Good luck.

[bottomofthehill]

3. Did you both put 7500 in when you bought the boat?

He is your son, find out ballpark what the boat is worth, tell him you would like to keep it and see what he thinks. If he needs the money, sell it, if he wants the money, see if you can buy him out over time instead of taking the hit to your IRA

[mahina]

4. would you be interested in a new boat partner?

Maybe you have a neighbor or two who might like to buy part interest in a boat.

[Aussie105]

5. Be hard headed about this.

Make a list of all the money and time you have spent on the boat and convert your time spent to equivalent dollars.
Find out the value of the boat.
Deduct your costs from his half of the boat if you sold it.
Then pay him and keep the boat, or sell it. Your choice.

Personal: Stepson living thousands of miles away found out I had moved in with his mother. (Both our marriages failed at the same time and we teamed up. Doing ok 35 years later.)
Stepson offered to sell me his caravan, parked in the back yard of his mother's house.
Except it had rotted out and I had cut it up for scrap. Sorry kid!
(Didn't charge him for my labor or dumping fees though. Nice of me, right?)

[Karadeniz]

6. If hes not pressuring you about it, id just wait and give him half of what it sells

for when that day comes.

[KarenS]

7. I agree with this option.

[KarenS]

8. Another thought

I replied above but also

Have you asked him what he thinks/wants to do with his interest in it? Maybe he wants to retain his half or perhaps he knows someone who has expressed interest,,,, This isn't just your problem, it is also his.