Who's Boat is This Anyway

Tom and his best friend, Mike had decided to be 50/50 partners on the boat. That was fine at first because I only had minimal interest in her. But as I learned more and began to feel attached, I mentioned to Tom and Mike that I had an interest in having my name on the title as well. Mike's response was, "So that means you will be paying a third?" Well, I admit that thought had not occurred to me since Tom and I consider our money to be "our" money jointly. While I stood there at a loss for words and deciding how to answer, Tom jumped in and said, "No, she will own half and you will own half." I got a kick out of his quick response to an awkward moment, but later forgot about it. I had not taken it as a serious arrangement, just a humorous and quick witted comment. However, several weeks later when we got the title (long story why it took so long) Tom wrote my name and Mike's name on it. And that is how my husband's best friend and I became partners on a boat.