My Ex Forged My Signature On My Car Title And Sold The Vehicle While I Was Working In Another State

Location: Texas. I recently discovered that my former partner illegally sold my personal car. We seperated roughly three months ago. I had to leave for a temporary work assignment in another state shortly after the split. Since I was using a company truck for the trip, I left my personal vehicle parked at the house we used to share. The car was fully paid off and the title was solely in my name, locked inside a metal filing cabinet in the bedroom.

When I returned to Texas last week to finally retrieve my belongings and the car, the vehicle was missing from the driveway. My ex initially claimed it had been towed by the city because it was parked illegally over the sidewalk. I spent several stresful days calling every local tow yard in the county but found absolutely nothing.

I eventually went to the local DMV office to see if they could track the vehicle by the VIN. The clerk informed me that the title had been formally transferred to a completely new owner two weeks ago. My ex had apparently broken into my personal filing cabinet, forged my signature on the back of the physical title document, and sold my car to a random private buyer for cash.

The clerk showed me a scanned copy of the transfer paperwork. The signature on the document looks absolutely nothing like mine. They even managed to spell my middle name incorrectly on the paperwork.

I went directly to the police precinct to report the car stolen. However, the officer at the frontdesk told me it sounds like a civil domestic dispute because we previously lived together. They refused to take a formal criminal report.

How do I get the police to take this felony seriously? Can I legally recover my car from the new buyer, or do I have to sue my ex directly for the cash value of the vehicle? I really need to know what legal actions I can take right now to fix this massive problem.