can someone who is familiar with Pennsylvania’s laws on motor vehicles(car is registered in PA) chime in on this - if a person who had the car financed not leased with Hyundai Financial passes away, and was the only person on the title as the owner - does the loan become the responsibility of the survivor, i.e. wife, kids, etc. ?
I read a few different things where it says that they would not be responsible for the loan, and then contradicting information that they are responsible, so its very confusing as we are trying to sort all of this out.
Can we stop payments on the car ?
will HFS try to go after the estate to reconcile the amount owed to them ?
If we have to keep the car and re-title/re-register the car, is it technically a new loan and we would be responsible for fees associated with that ?
PA isn’t a community property estate, so as long as they’re isn’t a co-signer for the loan, the spouse is not responsible for payments. About stopping payments on the car, I would ask HFS about this directly.
Generally the car will likely end up as a probate asset. Do you guys have a probate lawyer or an executor who will settle the estate?
could of course be totally different in PA, but in NJ, the debt belongs to the estate. They, of course, have a lien on the vehicle and can repo it.
In this market, though, you’ll want to check it if has positive equity. You may be far better off having the executor sell it, pay the debt, and any proceeds become part of the estate.
Of course this does mean the Executor would have to make payments on the aforementioned car.
If that car goes into default, then the executor will have a tough time trying to sell it without the Bank involved.
But everyone is saying get a Probate Attorney…this really depends on how much value is there. If it just the car (No house or stocks), then the next of kin can call the Finance arm and make arrangements.
I went through the whole process recently (in CA though) and it can take years to process stuff via attorneys
When I spoke to bank about my father’s vacation trailer, they said I can surrender it, they’ll sell at auction, and the estate would be responsible for the negative balance.
Get an attorney licensed in your state that practices in this area to look at the whole estate, not just this issue with the vehicle. You’ll get into trouble listening to some of the advice on here.
Was thinking the same thing for you. Please point out the specific problem and help out the poster with your vast knowledge rather than making vague statements.
Here, I’ll help you out. This is a summary of the topic. Since you yourself said get a lawyer, then you must think “call the bank” and/or “debt owed by estate” would get the OP in trouble. Please elaborate. If you have nothing of value to add to a discussion and simply want to be contentious, there are far better places on the internet where you can find real arguments without inventing problems that aren’t there.
When I worked at BMW, FS was able to terminate a few leases with a death certificate and as far as I know, there was not a remaining balance due assuming the car wasn’t damaged. Obviously could be a little different with Hyundai and financing, but could be a route your lawyer looks into.
It’s a finance loan and in PA, so not sure if it’s apples to apples. In any case we will seek professional help on the matter as it’s complicated, with multiple assets in question
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