car title problems

We live in Oregon, husband died end of April. Two of the kids' cars are in his name. We paid one off, but my daughter's is held by Chrysler Financial. She has sent letters of intent, death cert, all that they asked, and 5 months later, they still have not acted or contacted her. One local lawyer told us that we could tell them to just come pick up the car, and it would not go against my credit. We want to do what is right. The car is high interest, they wouldn't refinance it in her name BEFORE my husband died, and now they don't even have the courtesy to respond to her many phone calls and letters. She wants to go to a dealer and just get a new car, they are all on sale now, lower interest on new cars, therefore lower payments, and better safety gives better insurance rates.
Can we just tell them to come get the car? Will it hurt my credit, being his spouse? The original title and financing was all done only in his name, and he neglected credit insurance on it, which has thankfully paid off our house and credit cards. He was only 52, agent orange related death. I did not file his will, our wills were done 25 years ago, military-generic, and because everything else was joint tenancy, filing a will would have prolonged all the incredible details I had to deal with anyway.
thanks, in spite of promises, I have yet to hear from the military advisers on all of these details....

AUG. 25, 2001

DEAR SHARONROSE:

Isn't it a shame when the big companies seem not to care enough about their customers?

Did you happen to keep any of the loan paperwork from Chrysler Financial so you could review it to see if there are any procedures for loan default or non-payment of monthly payments or loan cancellation? I hope your daughter kept copies of her correspondence with them in case she needs them in the future to prove that she made a good-faith effort to resolve this.

You should also consider posting this question on 1 other board on the freeadvice.com site: Contracts & Guarantees section, where it is more likely that an attorney experienced with this matter can respond to your situation.

What is the value of this estate? It would be to your advantage to file the will you have for probate (no matter how old it is), since it would also give you the advantage of being executor (if you want that position) so you could claim any assets that may be yet undiscovered, and you would also be responsible for paying any outstanding debts remaining from this estate. You may need to consult with a local attorney (first consultation is usually free) about the legal consequences if you fail to file this valid will (in most jurisdictions, it is a requirement that a will must be filed within 30 days after the death occurs).

If a will is not filed, then half of the estate goes to the spouse and the other half goes to the children. You may want to compare this with the provisions in the will to see which situation is more advantageous to you.

SINCERELY,

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