My brother and his wife are now divorced in California. They acquired two cars jointly during the marriage with two joint auto loans. There was no mention of the cars in the written divorce decree. They verbally agreed to each take their own car and make the respective payments. She has not paid her car payment, so my brother has paid it so several months now. He cannot qualify to refinance her car in his name only. What recourse does he have? Can he sell her car while she has possession (he has the keys and knows where she parks it)? Can he ask that the lien-holder repossess her vehicle? His credit is already ruined because she hid joint bills she didn't pay. He doesn't want the car back, but just doesn't want the financial responsibility of the loan or the insurance. He knows he has to keep paying for her car if he doesn't want further damage to his credit.

Remember if they repo it, they may still owe money most likely, sometimes almost as much as they do now.

But yes, he can be held liable, but he can sue her in court for the money. He will need to get with her, and take possession of the car and try to sell it.

He can quit making payments and have it repo-ed
Best to do only IF he doesn't care about bad credit
But if his credit is totally ruined anyway it may be the best way out.
But as Fr Chuck said they still can come after him for the money
But it should only be the difference of what they resell it for and what is owed--I would think, but don't quote me on that!

He can NOT take the car if his name is not on the actual title itself or he can be arrested for grand theft.

In this day and age with the credit crisis we are facing, personally I would contact the lender, explain the situation to them and have them repo the car. Since the title and lien are in both names he cannot legally sell it without her signature. Which she likely would not give, so reposition is the easiest way out. If the finance company understands what is going on and if he is willing to make arrangements to pay it off they may not even report the repo to the credit bureaus. Really all they want is their money back.

His options are limited. He can simply stop paying for the car and let it get repossessed. Alternatively, and this is probably not worth the trouble, he could file a motion with the court (in the disso) and ask that the court order that she be solely liable for the debt on the car and the payments and reimburse him for any payments he makes on her behalf. This won't protect his credit or stop the lender from coming after him for a deficiency after a repo (if assests and debts are not mentioned in a divorce in California they can be divided in a post-judgment motion).