Cars when someone dies

[goldengirlz]

I think most of you know that my dad died earlier this year. My parents had two cars, one that’s paid off and owned outright, and one that’s leased. For whatever reason, both cars were ONLY in my dad’s name. (Why? I don’t know and neither does my mom.)

There’s a will that says everything goes to my mom but we didn’t actually do anything to make that official.

So my questions are:

1) My mom wants to sell the car that they own. I assume she first needs to contact the DMV first so they can re-issue the title, right? Does anyone know what that process will be like?

2) She wants to keep the leased car and eventually buy out the lease. But she’s afraid that if she tells the car company that my dad died, they’ll demand the car back. Is there ACTUALLY a risk of that happening? Or what’s the most likely scenario?

[tacokick]

It depends on your state.

I handled this for my dad and it was pretty easy. There was a form I had to fill out to get a new title and a small fee. Basically it was like he was selling the car to himself for zero dollars. Some states let you list a beneficiary through the DMV and that makes the process even easier apparently—you might want to check and see if she’s that.

[orval]

For the sale, look on your DMV website. You will have to retitle most likely. I know when we had to this last year, there were provisions in the DMV laws to avoid probate for the car (having a will does not avoid probate). You will need death certificate, the title for sure and I think a copy of the will.

[ohgillian]

Re: 1, agree that it varies by state and many state DMV's address this right on their website.

Re: the lease, I know you can google too, lol, but I found this:
www.epgdlaw.com/what-happens-to-a-car-lease-after-the-car-lessees-death/

and b/c I think maybe your parents were in NY: patch.com/new-york/levittown-ny/new-law-help-grieving-loved-ones

[goldengirlz]

Mar 30, 2021 8:45:23 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

Re: 1, agree that it varies by state and many state DMV's address this right on their website.

Re: the lease, I know you can google too, lol, but I found this:
www.epgdlaw.com/what-happens-to-a-car-lease-after-the-car-lessees-death/

and b/c I think maybe your parents were in NY: patch.com/new-york/levittown-ny/new-law-help-grieving-loved-ones

Yeah, re: the lease, everything I find assumes that the estate/survivors wouldn’t want to continue the lease. But my mom DOES want the lease and is afraid (perhaps irrationally) that they’ll take back the car or charge some crazy fees to change the contract. I just want to reassure her that that won’t happen!

NY doesn’t have “transfer on death” for cars. So theoretically the car they own would go into probate, which is triggered when the size of the estate is more than $50,000. Except all the other assets were in both names, so it seems crazy to have to go to probate JUST for this stupid 10 year old car which isn’t even worth that much. Like maybe a few thousand. I’m just so confused about the whole thing.

[orval]

goldengirlz , look at this PDF--- it has a section for transfer to surviving spouse.    This may help -- probably need to research or call/email

dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv843.pdf

Also see form MV349.1 for surviving spouse


dmv.ny.gov/files/mv3491pdf

[ohgillian]

goldengirlz I'm sorry. There is so much confusing stuff to deal with after a death. I guess if she finds the lease agreement, it may address this. If not, I wonder if you can do a one-time tele-consultation with an estate attorney just to ask these kinds of things. I remember how much work my dad's estate was (okay it still is in some ways - the "estate" itself is closed but we still have issues remaining).

[madringal]

The last thing that the leasing company wants is that car back. They just want someone to make the payments. They will give her the opportunity to just take over the lease or buy the car.

[awkwardpenguin]

I'm sorry for your loss and that you are dealing with the details.

Like everyone said, it's state by state. If the car is worth less than $25k, you should be able to transfer the title to your mom without opening probate in NY. There is a form, linked from here:

dmv.ny.gov/more-info/if-family-member-has-died

Unfortunately I don't know about the lease.

[pierogigirl]

My dad died suddenly and we are in NY. My brother wanted the car and I didn't. It was very easy to transfer it to him through DMV. I didn't do it, so I don't know the particulars, but he said it was easy.

We had to settle the estate, so I got more cash from the sale of the house to "make up" for the car. We had to go to court for other parts of the estate, but the car was not a big deal.

[definitelyO]

pierogigirl, tacokick, thanks for your responses (and thank you goldengirlz for the post). I'm so sorry about your dad.

My dad has a few weeks/months and my brother and I were talking about how to transfer his car to my brother's name and if should be pre/post his passing.

[tacokick]

Mar 31, 2021 23:30:12 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

pierogigirl, tacokick, thanks for your responses (and thank you goldengirlz for the post). I'm so sorry about your dad.

My dad has a few weeks/months and my brother and I were talking about how to transfer his car to my brother's name and if should be pre/post his passing.

I’m sorry you are having to deal with this! The DMV should be able to tell you. When we redid my dad’s title there was a form we could fill out to name someone to inherit it outside of probate.

If it is an option to transfer title now though it would be 100% easier and one less thing to worry about later. If there is one thing I’ve learned in handling my mom’s estate for the last few months is that the more you can do before they pass the easier things will be later.