Transfer of ownership

Cagny

My mum decided to gift me her car as she was 83 and no longer drove, this was on my birthday 14th september, she had signed box 8 on the V5 and dated it the 14/09/2020. Unfortunately this didnt happen as my mum was taken into hospital before my birthday and sadly passed away on the 21/09/2020. we were allowed to visit her from the 18th onwards, this is when she told me about her car, she had put 12mths MOT on it too, do I just continue with the transfer filling in part 6 and signing it then post it to Dvla or do I need to do something else...

Flight3287462

The car is now part of your mother's estate and you will need to clear it with her executors.

facade

If she gave it to you before she died, then it isn't part of the estate, as it was no longer hers when she died.

There is also a legal definition for "deathbed gifts" made outside of a will when the donor gives something away in the knowledge that they are near death, but this shouldn't need to apply, as she intended to gift the car before she was taken ill.

The problem will be if the rest of the family don't believe that she gave the car away before she died and want their share. If they are all happy that that is what she did, just transfer the keeper online, or send off the signed and dated half of the logbook and the job is done.

If they are not happy, prepare for a big falling out.

wongataa

The V5 does not define ownership - it says so in big letters on the front.  It only defines the registered keeper who does not have to be the owner.

AdrianC

As Wongataa says - RKship is very different from ownership.

There is documentary evidence that your mother gifted you the car before her death. Just do the keeper change online.

If there's any question over the value of the asset and her estate, when it comes to IHT etc (or even simply arguments between beneficiaries), then that's for her executor to deal with. Is that you?