Mother Passed away and Dont know what to do from here

What is the name of your state? Florida

My mother passed away leaving a Car Payment behind.
The car is in her name and when i called the company to let them know that she had passed they gave me 3 options

1-keep paying the payment
2-Give it back
3-Refinance through me

Problem with #3 is that I dont have good credit, or i would do this.
I Thought that if i produced a death certificate to the company that the car would be free and clear and nothing else owed on it.

We are having a hard time coming up with the Money to go through probate right now...Laywer wants 2500.00 and we just spent 8000.00 on funeral. Any suggestions on what i need to be doing in the mean time.

Hopeless in Florida
misty

Oh Misty, I am so sorry. I had the same problems. My mom passed away 3 weeks ago and had no insurance, no will, and no estate to pay off anything!

I have a morgage and three kids.

Yes, the money thing is so awful on top of losing your mom.

I sold a bunch of Mom's books, knickknacks, and personal belongings to pay off some of her funeral expenses. Hurt like hell to do that.

Again my condolences, I very much know what you are going thru. If you need someone to talk to, send me a private message, and I will give you my email or chat name for talking.

I am out of town tonight, but will be back later tommorrow.

Keep your chin up, there are people who know what you are feeling.

sweetjrgal008 said:

Problem with #3 is that I dont have good credit, or i would do this.
I Thought that if i produced a death certificate to the company that the car would be free and clear and nothing else owed on it.

Click to expand...

Now, WHY would you think that? If a person dies with a mortgage against their home, you would not expect the lender to simply pretend the mortgage never existed so you could get the home free and clear, would you?

The mortgage would still need to be paid- if you wished to not lose the property.The car IS the collateral for the loan.

sweetjrgal008 said:

they gave me 3 options

1-keep paying the payment

Click to expand...

If you wish to keep the car, then you may do so if you continue the payments on the balance owed. Or you can sell the car and pay off the balance. You are not obligated to keep her car.

You need to have some idea of what the total value of the estate is worth before it is probated. Check at the county courthouse to see if there is a special, simplified procedure for smaller estates--if there is, then you may not even need an attorney and can probably do it yourself.

If you do have enough of an estate to require filing for probate, then you should be shopping around for another attorney who is willing to accept the LEGAL rate for executor, which is 6% of the first $1,000 of estate value, plus 4% of the next $4,000, plus 2.5% of the balance. You are under no obligation to believe that an attorney can just charge whatever he wants.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

My condolences on the loss of your mother. Florida does, indeed, provide for probate of small estates. Check Chapter 735 of FL Statutes at www.flsenate.gov/statutes. You'll also find information regarding attorney fees too in the administration part of the probate code.

The state of FL has three alternatives to formal Probate Administration:

1) Family Administration - beneficiaries consist solely of surviving spouse, lineal descendants or lineal ascendants, and the value of the gross estate for federal estate tax purposes is less than $60,000.00.

2) Summary Administration - the value of the estate subject to probate in Florida (less property which is exempt from the claims of creditors) is not more than $25,000.00 or the decedent has been dead for more than two years.

3) Disposition Without Administration - available if estate assests consist solely of exempt property (as defined by law and the Florida Constitution) and non-exempt personal property, the value of which does not exceed the combined total of up to $3,000 in funeral expenses, plus the amount of all reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses incurred in the last 60 days of the last illness.