Car ownership after death.

seymourf

Hi,

Someone I know sadly died recently, intestate. He and his wife owned a small car, but his was the name on the log book. Is she able to assume ownership of the car and continue to use it, or must it be treated as part of the estate? In either case, what does she need to do? Any practical advice gratefully received.

Thanks very much,

Chris

getmore4less

the Value will be needed for the estate.

The practical solution is just transfer to new registered keeper (DVLA don't seem to care) send off the driving licence at the same time, notify insurance AND TAX will need changing.

https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bereavement/overview

Yorkshireman99

seymourf wrote: »

Hi,

Someone I know sadly died recently, intestate. He and his wife owned a small car, but his was the name on the log book. Is she able to assume ownership of the car and continue to use it, or must it be treated as part of the estate? In either case, what does she need to do? Any practical advice gratefully received.

Thanks very much,

Chris

It forms part of the estate. The important thing is she needs to insure it. What is the value of the estate?

seymourf

Right, thanks. Not sure about the value of estate - they owned their home jointly, so I think she assumes ownership without the house being factored in to any inheritance tax calculation, and their savings are nowhere near the threshold. So she can continue to drive it if the tax and insurance are in order?

securityguy

"It forms part of the estate."

Beneficial ownership of a car is not recorded as the registered keeper on the log book, and it's perfectly possible for a car to be jointly owned and pass immediately to the survivor.

Registered keeper has nothing to do with ownership (see here). (Edit to add "For example") It's perfectly common for company cars to show the driver as the registered keeper; company cars clearly don't form part of an estate.

securityguy

"The practical solution is just transfer to new registered keeper (DVLA don't seem to care) send off the driving licence at the same time"

Why would being widowed require you to send your driving license to Swansea?

Yorkshireman99

It is not a company car as the OP said the car was owned by the deceased and his wife.

securityguy

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

It is not a company car as the OP said the car was owned by the deceased and his wife.

I realise that. It was a reinforcement of the point that logbooks don't record ownership.

https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/assets

At most, half of its value forms part of the estate for the purposes of IHT.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/sorting-out-the-estate-when-there-is-a-will discusses the issue of joint tenancy vs tenants in common for the specific case of cars.

securityguy

My wife and I own two cars. For convenience, one of us is the registered keeper of one, the other of us is the registered keeper of the other. We both use the cars on a "which one's handy" basis, we both have business use on both cars and the cars were bought and maintained out of the joint account. Who is the beneficial owner of each? Answer: both of us. What shares do we own? Who knows?

No one sane would attempt to argue that one or the other of a married couple were the owner of the dish washer, absent some incredibly weird circumstances. The only reason why cars end up being treated differently is because people confuse log books - which can only have one registered keeper, unless you get involved in cars owned by companies - with ownership, and therefore assume the car belongs to the registered keeper.

If I were to die, both the cars are partially mine, just as the dishwasher is partially mine.

getmore4less

securityguy wrote: »

"The practical solution is just transfer to new registered keeper (DVLA don't seem to care) send off the driving licence at the same time"

Why would being widowed require you to send your driving license to Swansea?

the driving licence of the deceased


you can use "tell us once" but since you are sending in the request to change owner you send in the deceased driving licence at the same time keeps things tidy

getmore4less

ok try again

Addresses are on DVLA site

Fill in change of keeper(keeper can't sign so just say deceased) and sign as wife.

send in the deceased driving licence at the same time.

notify insurance.

sort out the TAX.

carry on using the car.

The estate part is paper work, that can be sorted later.