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Does Filing a Non-Probate Affidavit Make You Liable for Debts?

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6079

Junior Member
Arizona

My father passed away without a will. He has a car with no beneficiary. If I were to file a non-probate affidavit to have the title transferred to me, does this then make me liable for any debts I would not otherwise have been liable for?

I am not an executor. I do anticipate large medical bills, so I'm curious if my filing a non-probate will thrust me into the responsibility of an executor or someone who would be personally liable for any debts and bills.

Thanks.
 


justalayman

Senior Member
is anybody considering opening probate?


was there a spouse or do you have any siblings?


basically, you cannot simply claim the vehicle if you are not entitled to it. If you do, you could be liable to the estate for the value of the vehicle. It will not make you liable for the estate debts.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
All of your father's assets would need to be sold to cover the debts. Which means the car would be sold to cover the bills.
 

6079

Junior Member
There was no spouse. I do have brothers.

I spoke to one lawyer in the area who echoed justalayman's message that I should have on the record some type of documented agreement with my brothers, and that it would not make me liable for any of the debts.

Ohiogal seems to disagree, however.
 

latigo

Senior Member
There was no spouse. I do have brothers.

I spoke to one lawyer in the area who echoed justalayman's message that I should have on the record some type of documented agreement with my brothers, and that it would not make me liable for any of the debts.(?) . . .
Justalayman didn't say that! He didn't say anything of the kind! And how can you claim that Ohiogal disagrees with what Justalayman did not say?

What he said was that "you cannot simply claim the title if you are not entitled to it".

And the truth is that because of no will, the laws of intestacy and the presence of your two surviving siblings YOU CANNOT CLAIM SOLE TITLE TO IT!

Read Arizona's Revised Statutes Section 14-3971. "Collection of personal property by affidavit; ownership of vehicles; affidavit of succession to real property".

Because there at subsection B 2. (3) you will find that your proposed affidavit to be submitted to DMV must in effect state that you are the sole successor to dad's estate and thus entitled to delivery of the vehicle. And you are not the sole successor.

Furthermore, no one in here has told you that an agreement between you and your brothers would effectively absolve you of any financial responsibility to the creditors of the decedent's estate. Nor to I believe that your lawyer told you that.

WHAT you were correctly told is that if you somehow appropriate the vehicle, properly or improperly, you could be liable to the creditors of the estate for its value at the time of death.
 

6079

Junior Member
basically, you cannot simply claim the vehicle if you are not entitled to it. If you do, you could be liable to the estate for the value of the vehicle. It will not make you liable for the estate debts.
I took this comment to mean that filing non-probate did not make me liable for debts that I wouldn't otherwise be liable for now. I didn't say he said anything other than this or that an agreement with my siblings would affect that issue. It may have looked like that at first glance because of the grammar of the sentence. But that question of liability was my point of creating this thread, and I seemed to be getting two different takes on that specific issue, despite the other details.

I do appreciate the time and effort to reply. I just resent how online interactions seem to so easily dissolve into contests of one side vs another, rather than simply understanding there may have a been a miscommunication and trying to resolve that reasonably.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
I took this comment to mean that filing non-probate did not make me liable for debts that I wouldn't otherwise be liable for now. I didn't say he said anything other than this or that an agreement with my siblings would affect that issue. It may have looked like that at first glance because of the grammar of the sentence. But that question of liability was my point of creating this thread, and I seemed to be getting two different takes on that specific issue, despite the other details.

I do appreciate the time and effort to reply. I just resent how online interactions seem to so easily dissolve into contests of one side vs another, rather than simply understanding there may have a been a miscommunication and trying to resolve that reasonably.
ok, make it simple:

if the estate is required to pay any debts and it requires the liquidation of the vehicle to pay any of those debts, you cannot claim title to the car. It must be sold do as to pay debts of the estate.

as far as your siblings are concerned; unless there are other assets of the estate where each of the siblings are given an equal share, you would not be entitled to the car. Your siblings could relinquish their claims to the car either with or without consideration towards their share. It would be up to them./

in the end taking the car does not make you liable for your father's estate's debts BUT it could make you liable to your father's estate for the value of the car if that money is needed to be applied to debts of the estate.
 

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