Post by blueskidoo on May 20, 2011 8:43:39 GMT -5
I bought my trailer from NY, and the title was in the names of a mother and her son. Mother had passed over 7 years ago, and he signed the back of the title and signed his mothers name and wrote (estate).
I took that title, with my bill of sale to VA and they told me I needed a death certificate to verify that she was dead, and the estate papers giving him the power to sign her name.
I attempted to get these from the seller to no avail.
I then learned that I could ask NY for the death certificate if I had a letter of legal need from the agency that needed the certificate. So I called VA DMV back to ask for the letter and they said they don't write letters like that because the Attny General's office didn't provide them with one.
So I call the Attny General's office to find out why they can verbally spout this "policy" but they can't put it in writing. While I am waiting for them to call me back I learn about the Social Security Death Master File, where for $10 you can find out if SS thinks someone is dead.
So a woman from VA DMV calls me back at the request of the Attny Generals office and I fax her my stuff- Bill of sale, title, SSDMF, and letter explaining that the VA DMV won't help me get the death certificate they want, the SSMDF is a federal document verifying her death, it has been more than 7 years since her death so if anyone was going to contest his ownership of the trailer they would have done so by now, since I believe the statute of limitations to be up, so could you please process my title?
Later that night I find on the NY DMV website that in the case of joint ownership in NY state, only ONE person is required to sign the title to transfer ownership (in other words, all titles are "or" in NY).
The helpful woman calls me back, and says- the manager of your local DMV should have looked in the book and known that only one signature was required, so none of the issues with the woman being dead are even relevant. To avoid another long day at my DMV, she is processing my title by certified mail.
Moral of this story- If the title is signed out of an estate, get a copy of the death certificate and trustee paperwork, and in NY state, all titles are "or" so they don't even need to mention the other person when they sign the back.
Or, in the case of an estate, get the rightful heir to title it in their name and then transfer that title to you.
I also learned that VA has something called "An Affidavit in Lieu of Title" you can file if you don't get a title when you purchase your vehicle. That was going to be my next step if I couldn't get the death certificate thing worked out.
I also found this website that may be of use to someone- it is geared towards scooters/motorcycles, but it has good information about what to do if you find one in a barn with no paperwork, state by state. scoot.net/faq/Register_a_barn_find
I hope someone finds this useful!
I took that title, with my bill of sale to VA and they told me I needed a death certificate to verify that she was dead, and the estate papers giving him the power to sign her name.
I attempted to get these from the seller to no avail.
I then learned that I could ask NY for the death certificate if I had a letter of legal need from the agency that needed the certificate. So I called VA DMV back to ask for the letter and they said they don't write letters like that because the Attny General's office didn't provide them with one.
So I call the Attny General's office to find out why they can verbally spout this "policy" but they can't put it in writing. While I am waiting for them to call me back I learn about the Social Security Death Master File, where for $10 you can find out if SS thinks someone is dead.
So a woman from VA DMV calls me back at the request of the Attny Generals office and I fax her my stuff- Bill of sale, title, SSDMF, and letter explaining that the VA DMV won't help me get the death certificate they want, the SSMDF is a federal document verifying her death, it has been more than 7 years since her death so if anyone was going to contest his ownership of the trailer they would have done so by now, since I believe the statute of limitations to be up, so could you please process my title?
Later that night I find on the NY DMV website that in the case of joint ownership in NY state, only ONE person is required to sign the title to transfer ownership (in other words, all titles are "or" in NY).
The helpful woman calls me back, and says- the manager of your local DMV should have looked in the book and known that only one signature was required, so none of the issues with the woman being dead are even relevant. To avoid another long day at my DMV, she is processing my title by certified mail.
Moral of this story- If the title is signed out of an estate, get a copy of the death certificate and trustee paperwork, and in NY state, all titles are "or" so they don't even need to mention the other person when they sign the back.
Or, in the case of an estate, get the rightful heir to title it in their name and then transfer that title to you.
I also learned that VA has something called "An Affidavit in Lieu of Title" you can file if you don't get a title when you purchase your vehicle. That was going to be my next step if I couldn't get the death certificate thing worked out.
I also found this website that may be of use to someone- it is geared towards scooters/motorcycles, but it has good information about what to do if you find one in a barn with no paperwork, state by state. scoot.net/faq/Register_a_barn_find
I hope someone finds this useful!
