Brokered boat deposit

Definition

A buyer's money on a boat the marina is selling for somebody else, held apart under a license.

Why It Matters

A marina with a brokerage desk holds a stranger's purchase money between contract and closing, and Florida requires it kept apart at a Florida institution worth more than $5 million, with its own record of every receipt and disbursement. Moving it is not a bookkeeping error: intentionally failing to open that account or to put funds in it is a felony, and its absence is treated as evidence of intent. The license behind it is granted on the applicant's own character, felony record and fingerprints, and the statute provides no transfer of one. The seller's security stays on deposit for a year after they stop broking, so open deposits are reconciled and re-deposited under the buyer's own license and are never working capital.