Mum selling partners car as deceased

user1977

Keep_pedalling said:

She has proof that she purchased the car, unless someone has proof she gifted it to him, it does not form part of his estate so no one else has a claim on it. It is the same with any property they purchased jointly.

If they purchased property jointly then half of it is in his estate.

sammyjammy

user1977 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

She has proof that she purchased the car, unless someone has proof she gifted it to him, it does not form part of his estate so no one else has a claim on it. It is the same with any property they purchased jointly.

If they purchased property jointly then half of it is in his estate.

Unless they owned as Joint tenants, I agree much better on the Deaths and Probate board.

Keep_pedalling

user1977 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

She has proof that she purchased the car, unless someone has proof she gifted it to him, it does not form part of his estate so no one else has a claim on it. It is the same with any property they purchased jointly.

If they purchased property jointly then half of it is in his estate.

Unless we are talking about a house owned as tenants in common, then jointly owned assets automatically pass to the survivor, and only forms part of the estate for IHT purposes. 

Unfortunately far to many unmarried partners fail to make wills often leaving a financial mess behind them. 

theoretica

Seems to me there are two rather different things here.

1) Will any place buy the car accepting the receipt as proof of ability to sell.  If you bought from a dealer they might be the most straightforward to ask. 

2) Who might be entitled to the proceeds.  In many couples, things are not all clearly mine and yours, but we need a car, you drive, I have money...  But whatever the outcome to that, it doesn't seem to anyone's benefit to have the car sitting unused and unsold, and possibly untaxed etc too and depreciating. 

rhino_horn

There is a very good flowchart on We Buy Any Car on how to sell a deceased person's car

Keep_pedalling

If your mother has the V5C then it should be fairly straight forward.

https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bereavement/selling-the-vehicle

TripleH

Op, is your mother on the insurance of the car? That might help clarify issues (in terms of helping argue that it was actually a joint owned car) but also when it comes to moving the vehicle.

When my father died, we were lucky that my brother was on the insurance (he borrowed it often), whilst my mother was, she hated driving it because it was an estate car. Its more because if the vehicle only had 1 person on the insurance policy, when they died, would it be classed as uninsured? 

My parents had a multicar policy and my mother did check with them about who was covered when he passed away.

AdrianC

TripleH said:

if the vehicle only had 1 person on the insurance policy, when they died, would it be classed as uninsured?

No.

The car would still be insured for any risks while parked.
Clearly the policyholder would be unable to drive themselves, but any other driver with DOC cover would still be able to drive it.

Sea_Shell

AdrianC said:

TripleH said:

if the vehicle only had 1 person on the insurance policy, when they died, would it be classed as uninsured?

No.

The car would still be insured for any risks while parked.
Clearly the policyholder would be unable to drive themselves, but any other driver with DOC cover would still be able to drive it.

I was under the impression car insurance ceased on the death of the policyholder, regardless of named drivers?

Jenni_D

I think @AdrianC is right ... the driving element cover (of the policyholder) would cease, but the other components* would remain in force until the policy expires.

* e.g. Fire & theft, 3rd party liability (such as if the handbrake failed and the car rolled into something else), etc.