Co-owner of B.C. boat can't gift it to ex, must keep paying shared expenses, CRT rules

A former couple who bought a boat together took their post-breakup fight over its expenses to B.C.'s small claims tribunal.

A former couple who bought a boat together took their post-breakup fight over its expenses to B.C.'s small claims tribunal.

Andrew Alexander Cook and Danisha Drury lived together in a marriage-like relationship from March 2021 to October 2022, and purchased the boat in June 2021, according to a Civil Resolution Tribunal decision published online Friday. 

Both parties signed the agreement to buy the vessel, a 1999 Four Winns 278 Vista power boat, for $52,000 plus applicable taxes and fees, notes tribunal member Jeffrey Drozdiak, in the decision.

They paid a $15,000 deposit and received $45,592.76 in financing from Royal Bank of Canada to complete the purchase.

According to the decision, Cook and Drury split the expenses for the vessel evenly, with Cook making the monthly payments toward the loan and Drury reimbursing him via e-transfers.

In March 2023, however, after the couple broke up, Drury stopped sending payments for the boat expenses.

Cook brought the matter to the CRT, seeking $2,654.80 for moorage and loan payments that Drury never made.