Disposal of deceased person's car

[hiriskpaul]

My wife's uncle died a few days ago. Executors are me, my wife and my wife's Aunt. My wife's Aunt wants to get rid of his car ASAP, giving it to one of my daughters. I would have thought there might be comications with this. We don't even have the death certificate yet. Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

Also, what is the insurance situation? If I drive the car away to look after it, would I be insured?

[Charlottesquare]

My wife's uncle died a few days ago. Executors are me, my wife and my wife's Aunt. My wife's Aunt wants to get rid of his car ASAP, giving it to one of my daughters. I would have thought there might be comications with this. We don't even have the death certificate yet. Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

Also, what is the insurance situation? If I drive the car away to look after it, would I be insured?

Who was previously insured to drive, Deceased or Deceased and wife (The Aunt)?

Who actually owned car (V5 in itself not being proof of ownership but of registered keeper)?

If car is still insured and your own policy gives you third party cover to drive any car (mine does) then I think you can drive it (just don't crash as likely only third party cover at best)

[AF62]

Three issues -

- Inheritance - No idea legally, but if everything passes to your wife's aunt and she wants your daughter to have the car, then unless something is very odd with the deceased's estate then I can't see an issue with her giving the car now.

- Telling the DVLA - You don't need a death certificate to make the transfer (https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bere ... he-vehicle) . But BE CAREFUL the road tax is cancelled IMMEDIATELY and not at the end of the month so your daughter would need to SORN or tax it IMMEDIATELY - lots of people get caught out with this.

- Insurance - Although your car insurance might have a 'driving other vehicles not owned by you' section, these days there is usually a qualification that the car needs to be insured by the keeper as well (to stop people doing silly things). It is possible that your wife's uncle's insurance ceased on his death, so either check or for a small amount either just buy one of the short term policies that are easily available or some insurance companies will offer the same as an add-on to your existing policy (mine charges about £20 for a week).

Also with insurance there is now a legal requirement for continuous insurance (again to stop people doing silly things) so if you or your daughter is not going to insure it immediately then it must be SORN and kept off the road as that is the only way to stop the insurance requirement.

[SalvorHardin]

Cars are chattels and there is no need to wait for probate to sell chattels. You do however need to show that you are legally entitled to sell the vehicle (i.e. you are executors of the deceased's estate and that the car has not been assigned by the will to someone, or that the person to whom it has been left wishes to gift it to someone else).

I was co-executor of a friend's estate last year and we sold the deceased's car several days before we applied for probate. We sent a death certificate and a copy of the will to the DVLC to register the transfer.

Regarding the car insurance, most companies cancel the policy on death but some let it continue for a few weeks. I recommend contacting the insurer. Your insurance policy may let you drive it; I recommend checking with your insurer.

This site has a decent article on the subject:

https://www.carwow.co.uk/guides/selling/selling-a-deceased-persons-car

[Maroochydore]

My first thought on reading the title Disposal of deceased car was simply to get a scrappy in and get a few bob or have it taken away for free.

Then reading the thread it's apparent it's a deceased persons car, not the car that it deceased.

Guess it's not a good time for a grammar lesson.

Moderator Message:
Agree with your analysis - title edited for clarity (chas49)

[DrFfybes]

In absolute terms, the insurance contract is between the policyholder and the insurer, and death of the policyholder terminates the contract.

HOWEVER, every insurance co I have dealt with will allow the policy to continue, either "act only" or TPFT, for about a month (28 or 30 days) after the death as long as the vehicle is still in the name of the deceased.

Paul

[didds]

My wife's uncle died a few days ago. Executors are me, my wife and my wife's Aunt. My wife's Aunt wants to get rid of his car ASAP, giving it to one of my daughters. I would have thought there might be comications with this. We don't even have the death certificate yet. Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

Also, what is the insurance situation? If I drive the car away to look after it, would I be insured?

we had similar to my F-i-L's car when he passed, and my wife was given it my my M-i-L.

Bottom line - we (MiL and my wife ie his daughter) just switched the V5, she got it insured in her name and we collected it from 140 miles away.

There were no quibbles over the disposal to handle though - all was going to MiL exceopt some £££ to my wife.

maybe its wasn't 100% pukka - who knows. But the DVLA dont care about the niceties of inheritance/probate., just whose name is on a V5. And there was nobody else to leave it to. I suppose to be more pukka wife could have bought the car (£1?) which would then have seen her inherit the purchase price anyway.

didds

[Clitheroekid]

Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

There's a legal maxim that "An executor's authority derives from the Will". This means what it says - an executor has power to deal with the deceased's estate immediately after death, and without a grant of probate.

Consequently, the executors can give the car to your daughter (although in strict legal terms they are transferring it to the aunt and she's then giving it to your daughter). It would be sensible to have something in writing as evidence of the gift, nothing elaborate, just a note signed by the aunt saying "I hereby give the Ferrari Portofino registration R1 CHO owned by my late husband to my niece Mia Lucki, signed Aunty Dot."

However, one of the reasons for obtaining probate of a Will is that it protects the executors. If a later Will were to turn up whereby the uncle had left everything to the cats' home, or this Will was invalid for some reason, then the car would have to be given back to the executors of the new Will, which could be awkward.

Likewise, if it turns out that the uncle has run up debts of £1m on slow horses and fast women, so that his estate is insolvent, the executors would be personally liable to the creditors for the value of the car given away.

So there's an element of risk in dealing with assets in the estate before probate, but in the large majority of cases like this the level of risk is very low.

[Dod101]

Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

There's a legal maxim that "An executor's authority derives from the Will". This means what it says - an executor has power to deal with the deceased's estate immediately after death, and without a grant of probate.

Consequently, the executors can give the car to your daughter (although in strict legal terms they are transferring it to the aunt and she's then giving it to your daughter). It would be sensible to have something in writing as evidence of the gift, nothing elaborate, just a note signed by the aunt saying "I hereby give the Ferrari Portofino registration R1 CHO owned by my late husband to my niece Mia Lucki, signed Aunty Dot."

However, one of the reasons for obtaining probate of a Will is that it protects the executors. If a later Will were to turn up whereby the uncle had left everything to the cats' home, or this Will was invalid for some reason, then the car would have to be given back to the executors of the new Will, which could be awkward.

Likewise, if it turns out that the uncle has run up debts of £1m on slow horses and fast women, so that his estate is insolvent, the executors would be personally liable to the creditors for the value of the car given away.

So there's an element of risk in dealing with assets in the estate before probate, but in the large majority of cases like this the level of risk is very low.

Wonderful. Clearly a gentleman who has a way with words. Almost the definition of an old style lawyer!

Dod

[hiriskpaul]

Everything passes to my Aunt in the will, but is she at liberty to dispose of the car immediately? How can the transfer of ownership even take place?

There's a legal maxim that "An executor's authority derives from the Will". This means what it says - an executor has power to deal with the deceased's estate immediately after death, and without a grant of probate.

Consequently, the executors can give the car to your daughter (although in strict legal terms they are transferring it to the aunt and she's then giving it to your daughter). It would be sensible to have something in writing as evidence of the gift, nothing elaborate, just a note signed by the aunt saying "I hereby give the Ferrari Portofino registration R1 CHO owned by my late husband to my niece Mia Lucki, signed Aunty Dot."

However, one of the reasons for obtaining probate of a Will is that it protects the executors. If a later Will were to turn up whereby the uncle had left everything to the cats' home, or this Will was invalid for some reason, then the car would have to be given back to the executors of the new Will, which could be awkward.

Likewise, if it turns out that the uncle has run up debts of £1m on slow horses and fast women, so that his estate is insolvent, the executors would be personally liable to the creditors for the value of the car given away.

So there's an element of risk in dealing with assets in the estate before probate, but in the large majority of cases like this the level of risk is very low.

Thank you for this. Now you mention it I remember the maxim. The risks of disposing of the car are very low in this instance and my wife's Aunt would be very relieved to see it gone. I do not see the urgency, but I think it is part of her way of dealing with grief. We have persuaded her not to immediately give away lots of other possessions which she was talking about doing.

It has occurred to me that we should also note the value of the car. For one thing my wife’s Aunt might not be with us for too long so this gift may well fall into her estate.

[hiriskpaul]

Three issues -

- Inheritance - No idea legally, but if everything passes to your wife's aunt and she wants your daughter to have the car, then unless something is very odd with the deceased's estate then I can't see an issue with her giving the car now.

- Telling the DVLA - You don't need a death certificate to make the transfer (https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bere ... he-vehicle) . But BE CAREFUL the road tax is cancelled IMMEDIATELY and not at the end of the month so your daughter would need to SORN or tax it IMMEDIATELY - lots of people get caught out with this.

- Insurance - Although your car insurance might have a 'driving other vehicles not owned by you' section, these days there is usually a qualification that the car needs to be insured by the keeper as well (to stop people doing silly things). It is possible that your wife's uncle's insurance ceased on his death, so either check or for a small amount either just buy one of the short term policies that are easily available or some insurance companies will offer the same as an add-on to your existing policy (mine charges about £20 for a week).

Also with insurance there is now a legal requirement for continuous insurance (again to stop people doing silly things) so if you or your daughter is not going to insure it immediately then it must be SORN and kept off the road as that is the only way to stop the insurance requirement.

Thanks for this and for other's comments on the insurance aspects. I can see we will need to get all our ducks in a row on this before acting. We were away when this happened, returning today and so have not been able to see my wife's Aunt or any of the paperwork. For all I know an MOT might be due. I know it has not been driven for over a month, but is currently parked on the street.