I was wondering who the legal site owner would be in the following case. Webmaster Joe makes a site for Client Bill. Client Bill then gives Webmaster Joe the money to start working on the site. Webmaster Joe purchases the domain name with Webmaster Joe's (his own) debit card with PayPal (doesn't really matter the processor.) Even though Client Bill paid Webmaster Joe, who would be the actual legal owner?
Good question. I don't think we have enough information in the hypothetical (like who did Webmaster Joe fill out as the owner? and what was the agreement between bill and joe as to who would own the domain name?). A court would probably look at those things, as well as the status of the agency relationship between joe and bill, when trying to sort the mess out.