The Expert Podcast

So, what do you do if you need to get a title for a vehicle that came from like cleaning out a house like a foreclosure house or a flip house or maybe you were hired by a property owner to clean out somebody's house that has been deceased and you find a car. Also, this is the same process you would use if you buy uh a vehicle from a storage facility. Same exact thing.

So, here's why this is important. Even if you've purchased the house, you bought an old house, you bought a u abandoned house or a house that maybe relative sold for somebody who's deceased. If you bought the house and you have a deed for the house and you're the owner, that deed and that transfer does not automatically transfer the vehicle to you. It may transfer other contents of the house like if there's furniture or things in the shed or maybe some yard tools out back. Those normally convey with the house.

However, motor vehicles are a different type of an asset. They're considered to be what's called a titled asset. And so, the title transfer has to be specifically specified on a transfer for it to go along with the house. For example, if the deed to the house also has a valid transfer of a title with it, then it may convey that vehicle. If not, even if the vehicle was owned by the same person that owned the house, even if they're deceased, it doesn't automatically transfer.

And the reason why is because a vehicle title is a specific legal vesting. meaning that this document, which is a vehicle title, isn't just a piece of paper. This has the vehicle information, but also the owner information. And until this document is properly signed over on the back, that ownership transfer is not done just with a bill of sale or you bought the house. Has to be done as a separate um action.
So, how do you do it? Well, you obviously you're not going to have that title. The owner is probably not going to be able to sign it. So, what you do is you have to override because the Department of Motor Vehicles or the titling agency in your state can't just give you somebody else's car without proper documents.

And you might think, well, all I want is a title. I don't want Well, you already have the car. I don't want anything else just a title. Well, just because you have the car in your possession doesn't mean you own the car. Possession is not ownership of a vehicle. You could have the keys. You could have verbal opinion. You could have a bill of sale. You could have everything. You have the VIN number. But if you don't have the legal ownership, the DMV cannot transfer it away because in reality, they have a record that somebody else owns it. That person might be deceased. They might be moved. They might be gone. Whatever. But they can't legally take it out of their name and put it in your name unless they have the proper documents.

What's the proper documents? Well, we looked at it. You will be back in your video in just a few seconds. In the meantime, remember that actualhum.com offers you live one-on-one private video consultation with an expert in this exact subject. We want to listen to your story. We want to hear your questions. We want to give you expert advisement of your options and tell you what we know about your particular situation. Now, back to your video.

There you have the title. If you if you have that, you're good. If you don't have it, there's another option. You can get what's called a declaratory judgment. That is a paper you get from the court in the county where you reside to have you be declared the owner of the vehicle by court order.

How does that work? Well, you have to sign a petition in an affidavit declaring how you obtain the vehicle, what the facts are, and ask the court to make you the owner. and based on your facts, they'll probably do it. As long as the vehicle doesn't come up as stolen, there's no claims against it. No one's disputing your story, you'll get it.

What's the catch? Well, the catch is there are no pre-made forms that you can just go into court and say, "Hey, give me this declaratory judgment." They're not going to know what you're talking about. The court does things based on what they're asked. So, if somebody comes in and ask them something specific, and I mean ask on paper, not just verbally. If you petition the court for a specific thing, they can decide to do it. You could petition the court to say, "I want my neighbor to wear a black and white polkadotted shirt tomorrow between the 8 hours of 10 and 3." You can ask them for whatever you want. They can say yes or no, but they don't have specific forms for everything a person could ask for, right? They also can't help you make these forms.

So, what you have to do is you have to put the whole thing together. This is what a spe a particular petition looks like. It's a package of documents. You put together a petition, an affidavit, a declaration of facts. You put that together and mail it. That's why you see an envelope here because this is the package we make for our customers. We put it together in a folder. You don't want to bring it in person to the court. You want to mail it in.

And the court's going to look at it. They're going to do some research. Make sure everything you said is true. Make sure you're not some kind of scammer trying to take somebody else's vehicle. If everything checks out, they give you that judgment of ownership. You file it with the DMV and you get a title.

So, if you've done a cleanout on a foreclosure house or maybe a deceased owner house or maybe somebody paid you just to uh fix up a house for a flip and you find a vehicle, that's the way to get it. Also, if you've purchased a storage unit just like you see on Storage Wars or whatever, and you find a vehicle in there, maybe a motorcycle hidden underneath all the piles of junk, you have to do the same thing. The the vehicle doesn't automatically convey with all the other stuff in the storage unit. You have to go through a separate process. That's the process.

If you click the link below, caritles.com, it'll give you a description, instructions, education on how to do this specifically. Every county is a little different. We also have a title service. If you want to have us do the paperwork for you, we can do that. We also have title consulting. So, if you want to get a more one-on-one personal conversation with a title agent, you can click the link and do a live video call with a certified title agent.

But that's how you get a vehicle title for something that you came across. Maybe cleaning out a barn, maybe um fixing up a flip house that you bought or foreclosure you bought at auction. This is the process you use to get a title. If you found this video helpful, be sure to click on other videos on our channel to see if there's further information that could give you more insight into resolving your particular situation.