Property
Transfer or sell vehicles
Each state's DMV has its own process for transferring a vehicle from a deceased owner. Some allow transfer outside probate up to a value threshold.
- When to do it
- After the inventory.
- Estimated time
- 1–2 weeks per vehicle
What you’ll need
- Title and registration
- Death certificate
- Letters Testamentary (sometimes)
- DMV's decedent-transfer form for your state
Steps
- Check whether your state allows transfer by affidavit for vehicles below a value threshold.
- If full probate is required, transfer the title to the estate, then to the buyer or beneficiary.
- Cancel insurance once the vehicle is sold or transferred.
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Related tasks
- Maintain or prepare to sell real estateAn empty house keeps costing money — taxes, insurance, utilities, upkeep. Decide early whether you're keeping it, renting it, or selling it.
- Clear out the home and distribute personal propertyGoing through a parent's home is the single most emotionally draining task most executors face. Pace yourself. Don't throw anything away in the first week.
- Order certified copies of the death certificateYou'll need certified copies of the death certificate for nearly everything else — banks, insurers, the court, the Social Security Administration.