Since I purchased my lease at the end of December, it is in my name (as it was prior). Therefore, when I pass, I do not wish for my family to deal with anything extra beyond the usual. It may seem like a foolish question to most, but is there anything I can do quickly and right now to transfer the title? Unfortunately, I received the pink slip rather rapidly and had no opportunity to change anything.
Thank you in advance.
(P.S. Be kind to others - there is very rarely a need ever to be rude or unkind)
It sounds like you have the lessor released title, and have not retitled the car in your name yet, which you should do at some point.
If the goal is to avoid probate, establishing a trust (whether it’s revocable or irrevocable), and retitling the car into the trust is the best way to achieve that.
Typically with a Trust, you also have a pour-over will to catch anything not in the trust.
I’ve been dragging my feet on something similar for a while now, but just sent everything off to my lawyer to finalize the trust, after which I’ll transfer my car into it. Definitely consult an Attorney if that’s the route you plan to take.
When we had an estate attorney prepare our living trust about 10 years ago, he recommended against placing our cars into the trust. He said that if you are in an accident and the other person finds out the car is owned by a trust, the other person will think you are rich and will be more likely to sue you. We took his advice and have not put our cars into the trust.
That’s a good point. Makes sense to put real estate in the name of the trust and add the trust as beneficiary on bank accounts in order to avoid probate in CA (as I understand it, probate is default otherwise).
Cars, seems like as long as you specify that ownership passes to your heirs (to whatever level of specificity you need) in your will as part of the W&T, I would think that would be sufficient?
An estate planning lawyer would know more, of course.
I have the State of California Certificate of Title. I received it in 34 days. Things changed quickly. I have everything else squared away but was not expecting the car to be a part of it due to its recent purchase.
I am trying to move things along as fast as possible. However, I received a letter yesterday from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Their Senior Tax Auditor stated my family would have to pay taxes even if the transfer was a gift (which I know is untrue). I contacted the DMV Friday and am waiting to hear back.
My attorney is on vacation (usually, it would be fine, but time is of the essence), but this is truly valuable. I do wish to avoid probate.
Probate is state driven so it’s a bit complicated to discuss on a board like this. In Texas, for example, I know that you can simply fill out a Right of Survivorship Agreement from the DMV. And yes, this avoids probate.
We, the individuals whose signatures appear below affirm our understanding the motor vehicle described above from this day forward will be held jointly, and in the event of the death of any person named in this agreement, the ownership of the vehicle will transfer to the survivor.
If your non beneficiary’d (is that a word? lol) assets are less than $166k then it doesn’t probate and would just pass to your heirs in the proper order (Wife, Children + Grandchildren of Deceased Child, etc)
If your cars/boats/personalrocketships are going to start exceeding say $100k, then you might look to putting them in the trust and putting an umbrella policy for insurance when an accident happens and they go after the trust.
What I don’t know is if putting it in the Trust would invoke Sales Tax, I’ve never done that myself (as all my cars are leased) and not sure if putting in a Trust is considered a sale. (It’s not for houses)
