Co-Ownership Question

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twiggles

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Challenged
Hello! I am a new guy around here and have a question for you. It seems there are many people who are much more knowledgeable than I am about co-owned planes...

I recently bought into a 3 way partnership, and I was wondering if all partners need to sign the FAA Bill of Sale, or if just the selling partner needs to sign that?

Additionally, for the title transfer, I think the two remaining partners and me need to sign that. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance for the help! I called the Inspector at the FSDO, and he was not 100% clear on the requirements...I was a little surprised by this response...
 
Your question can't be answered with even a vague hint of reliability without seeing all the paperwork involved, including the nature of the organization and its establishing documents. This is really a question best answered by an aviation attorney familiar with your state's corporate law and having all that paperwork to review. Otherwise, it's truly uninformed speculation.
 
A bit more detail...co-ownership, no LLC or incorporation. Co-Ownership agreement is separate from ownership documents. The plane is owned outright by us 3, no loans. Really just looking for info on what the FAA is going to require on the bill of sale and registration documents. Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but it doesn't seem like it would take an attorney to tell me how to get one guy's name off of a registration, and replace it with mine...I'm fairly well versed on contracts, its just that the FAA is not really clear on what signatures are needed on the Bill of Sale.
 
Then contact an attorney familiar with FAA rules and your local corporate law, show him/her the documents, and get a legally reliable answer. Or even just call the FAA Aircraft Registry and ask them. Do anything else, and you may end up with a bigger mess than you can stand.
 
In an effort to answer you like a real person (I'm not a lawyer):

I bought into a co-ownership. All three names (yours and the other two owners) will appear on the "purchaser" section. The existing partners names and signatures appear in the "seller" section. (Ie, just the other two guys if you are buying in).

You don't need to sign it.

There is no "title" per-se, but in a few weeks you'll get the "registration" with all three names on it.
 
Thanks Dans...So if I'm reading your response correctly, you are saying that the actual selling member was nowhere on the bill of sale?

I know the remaining members and me are on the registration paperwork without the selling member, but it seems as if the selling member would need to be on the Bill of Sale...?
 
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Registering it in your name is just further evidence of ownership but if you used a proper bill of sale (which you need to co register it) you should be protected anyway.

I had my name added to the registration after I bought in but I'm not aware or any requirement that would compel me to. Maybe insurance, but that is probably dependent on policy and carrier.

(Disclaimer: I'm neither an aviation attorney, Ron Levy or the Chief Counsel)
 
twiggles said:
Thanks Dans...So if I'm reading your response correctly, you are saying that the actual selling member was nowhere on the bill of sale?



I know the remaining members and me are on the registration paperwork without the selling member, but it seems as if the selling member would need to be on the Bill of Sale...?
Click to expand...


No, sorry, when I bought my share they were adding a 3rd partner. In my explanation above, the "existing" partners would be all three.

Basically, "purchaser" lists the owners after the transaction and "seller" lists the owners prior to the transaction.
 
dans2992 said:
No, sorry, when I bought my share they were adding a 3rd partner. In my explanation above, the "existing" partners would be all three.

Basically, "purchaser" lists the owners after the transaction and "seller" lists the owners prior to the transaction.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.
 
For the record, I called the FAA Registration Branch this morning, and they confirmed what Dans2992 said. When buying into a co-owned plane (the following example assumes a 3 way ownership) the new buyer and 2 remaining co-owners need to be in the purchaser block. The selling member as well as the other 2 co-owners need to be in the seller block.

Additionally, on the registration form, the new co-owner as well as the remaining 2 co-owners need to sign and print their names in the signature section at the bottom. The selling member is not to sign the new registration form. (This should be self explanatory, but I thought I'd add it just in case anyone had questions about that form).

Thanks again for all of your replies. I look forward to spending a lot of time here on the forum and learning from you all.
 
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