Quote:
humanpotatohybrid wrote:
Thanks for the info Don.
Carl, FYI for transferring the title you will need to notarize it with the buyer's name already filled out, and provide the buyer with a notarized copy of the short certificate (assuming it's in your dad's name).
Good points - thanks.
Yes as it turns out - the title was in Dad's name - probably since estimated 1959 (postmark from DMV envelope with Dad's certificate of title).
As soon as I called and asked about the transfer process, the PA DMV immediately voided the title since Dad had died and since dead people apparently can't hold title to property.
That started a 5 or 6 month odyssey of getting the title transferred to Mom - who is still with us. Thankfully, transfer to a surviving spouse worked and let us avoid dealing with probate & estate transfers. Apparently, the PA DMV 'purges' title records if there is no activity after some time. Fortunately, they do keep some kind of meta-data record indicating that the title existed, but they apparently dump the detailed history.
Plus - this car was made what - 20 or 30 years prior to standardized VINs? That also complicated matters considerably. We had a rough time to get paperwork filled out and processed correctly with the correct VIN.
Hence, between the old / non-standard VINs and purged records - title transfer from Dad's name to Mom took 5 or 6 months for both of Dad's cars - the '56 Packard and the '57 Mercedes. Talk about painful. I'm glad we got that done before starting sale & transfer processes...
Along the way I've learned that different states follow different practices for cases like this. For example, Texas apparently has a single form that lets you declare the prior owner's death and let a surviving spouse transfer to a child. But not Pennsylvania. For another example, one friend mentioned that he thought he had a clear Texas title for decades for something like a '39 Ford. Then when he tried to transfer it to a family member, a title search in Illinois revealed that it had been reported stolen within months of the first sale. So much paperwork...
Lessons learned: if you have an older car and want to make it easier on whoever will manage your estate - do something to refresh the title while you're still around - maybe put it jointly in a family members name or something like that. This stuff can take time and documentation - which is much easier to arrange when you're still there to 'enjoy' and facilitate the process...
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