How to transfer car ownership after death

It’s a bit of a morbid topic when it comes to car ownership, but one that we will address anyway, and that is “how do you transfer a car’s ownership from a deceased individual?” This is a question that you must ask should you find yourself with a vehicle still registered to a deceased relative. 

For this process, there will be documents and settlements involved, as well as money that will be needed in order to facilitate the transfer process to the surviving family members. 

When a person passes away, all of his worldly possessions and assets are lumped together and called their “estate.” Vehicles, properties, businesses, money, and other assets are part of this terminology. The deceased will also be referred to as decedant, and the surviving members of his or her family or otherwise stated will be known as heirs. 

If the deceased has a will written before their passing, things are made much simpler. With a will in place, the decedent (the legal term for the deceased), is considered testate. For testate cases, the property of the decedent will be split according to the contents of the will. 

For intestate cases (decedents without wills), the estate of the deceased must be settled between the surviving family members. That means that the descendants of the decedent will have to equally split the estate through an extrajudicial settlement or judicial settlement. You can’t really split a car in half and expect it to still work, right? That is the case if the decedent has multiple children (either legitimate or illegitimate). 

For cars, the simplest solution is to have a will, but if no will is in place, then extrajudicial settlement is the simplest form of settlement. As such, the heirs will talk among themselves, and sign a deed of extrajudicial settlement of the estate, which will be then filed by the courts. 

The talk among the heirs could end in three ways, either they gain the ownership of the property, pay off the property by way of a monetary settlement, or waive their right to own the estate entirely. In the case that there is only one heir, an affidavit of sole adjudication must be executed instead. 

Once the deed is signed, it needs to be published in a newspaper of general circulation for a time for others to be put on notice that a person has died and the heirs are settling the estate. This is so that people who may have claims against the estate may also file a settlement just in case there are unpaid debts and or liabilities. 

After the required publishing time of the deed, the LTO will require that the specific documents be presented during the transfer of ownership process. That means that the heirs must pay the estate tax of the decedent and produce the deed of settlement. If you’re buying a second-hand car, this is in a similar fashion to the transfer of ownership via sale, which includes a deed of sale. 

Three documents will be required for extrajudicial settlements: 

• Original certificate of registration 
• Original Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate (if survived by two or more heirs) or Affidavit of Sole Adjudication (if only one heir) 
• Affidavit of Publication of the deed in any newspaper of general circulation for three consecutive weeks 

For judicial settlements, however, on top of the three documents, the LTO will require the original Certificate of Registration or the Affidavit of Loss and a Certified True Copy of the Court Decision. 

One more important document to have filled out upon the death of a loved one is the BIR Form 1801, which is otherwise known as the estate tax return form, which is to be filled out within a year from the decedent’s death.