How does she proceed to get what's hers?

stevemedia

Hi,

Can anyone advise.

A friend has recently passed away, he’s been ill for quite a while and did not renew the Tax, Insurance or MOT on his car. It was parked on the road outside his house.

His was married and his wife is not the mother of his children.

His daughter removed the car from outside of his house and parked it on her drive.
There was some altercation and she then threatened to sell the car.
The family thought this would pass over without the car being sold. Sadly this is not the case, and the car has been sold..

Between his passing and the sale of the car a friend assisted by applying to change the registered owner to be the wife.

The buyer, a car trader, is now looking for the Vehicle Registration Document, of course this has been sent to
the appropriate authority to change the registered owner.

We have been told that the purchase price has been paid, the daughter has now stated that she’s keeping the money.

The wife is at a loss as to what to do. The estate is not large and the sale of the car would have helped her a lot.

The Police have been contacted and they say that there is nothing they can do!

I hope someone can assist this lady with some advice which will help her recuperate what is rightfully hers.

Comms69

There's a difference between telling the police all the above and them basically going - too complex, civil matter; and saying "my car has been stolen".

sheramber

Has the car  trader been told the car did not  belong to the daughter who 'sold' it to him?

theoretica

It seems to me that she needs to pursue the car, not the money.  Daughter stole car, dealer bought stolen goods.

TonyMMM

Forget any police action for the car being stolen - not going to happen. 

First of all - did your friend leave a will ? If he did, who is the executor ?
If not, then the rules of intestacy give the first £250k to a spouse - only if the estate is more than that are his children automatically entitled to anything.

If there was no will, who (if anyone) has applied to administer his estate ? 

I would start with a formal letter to the car trader telling him the ownership of the car is subject to dispute, which may be enough for him to want to unwind the deal .... at the same time send a letter to the daughter advising her that the car is part of the estate and as such the car, or the proceeds of the sale, should be sent to the widow asap.

If she still refuses - then you are looking at court action to recover the money.

Comms69

TonyMMM said:

Forget any police action for the car being stolen - not going to happen. 

First of all - did your friend leave a will ? If he did, who is the executor ?
If not, then the rules of intestacy give the first £250k to a spouse - only if the estate is more than that are his children automatically entitled to anything.

If there was no will, who (if anyone) has applied to administer his estate ? 

I would start with a formal letter to the car trader telling him the ownership of the car is subject to dispute, which may be enough for him to want to unwind the deal .... at the same time send a letter to the daughter advising her that the car is part of the estate and as such the car, or the proceeds of the sale, should be sent to the widow asap.

If she still refuses - then you are looking at court action to recover the money.

Just curious why you think the police wont look to recover a stolen vehicle? 

sheramber

Is this not a similar scenario  to  when someone buys a car and then discovers there was outstanding finance on it so it belongs to the finance company. We have had posts that the police do recover the car for the  finance company .

Comms69

sheramber said:

Is this not a similar scenario  to  when someone buys a car and then discovers there was outstanding finance on it so it belongs to the finance company. We have had posts that the police do recover the car for the  finance company .

Pretty much the same. (also what dealer buys a car without a log book!)

TonyMMM

Comms69 said:

Just curious why you think the police wont look to recover a stolen vehicle? 

They could treat it as stolen if you can persuade them but in reality although you can make the circumstances fit the legal definitions of theft, there is no remote chance of the CPS proceeding with a case in these circumstances - for example, all the daughter has to do is say that dad promised her the car before he died and any case is going to fail. 

It is a dispute within a family over inheritance.

The best chance of an easy resolution  may be the dealer not wanting the aggro of getting caught up in the argument with a vehicle he can't easily get a logbook for and cancelling the deal if he can.

Comms69

TonyMMM said:

Comms69 said:

Just curious why you think the police wont look to recover a stolen vehicle? 

They could treat it as stolen if you can persuade them but in reality although you can make the circumstances fit the legal definitions of theft, there is no remote chance of the CPS proceeding with a case in these circumstances - for example, all the daughter has to do is say that dad promised her the car before he died and any case is going to fail. 

It is a dispute within a family over inheritance.

The best chance of an easy resolution  may be the dealer not wanting the aggro of getting caught up in the argument with a vehicle he can't easily get a logbook for and cancelling the deal if he can.

Given you can steal your own property (and there have been prosecutions for this) i fail to see your logic on this - sorry.

pphillips

Sounds like the sort of case that would get on Judge Rinder.