My mother in Arizona has had her 1994 Toyota sitting in her garage for two years. She cannot drive; at this point it is not driveable anyway. I am her financial POA; I cancelled the insurance on it some time ago. Well, she just called me to tell me she had sold the car to a guy she found in an ad in a local shoppers weekly paper. He paid her a small amount of money, loaded up the car on a flatbed tow truck and off he went. She has no last name, just a phone number, and gee, he was "so nice"! She is delighted to have gotten rid of it. Thing is, *I* have the car title in my bulging "Mom" folder, 1000 miles away. She said he said no worries, just sign this form and it would all be legal. I pulled out the title. She apparently *signed* it years ago. But to transfer title, we'd need full contact info for the buyer AND HER signature has to be notarized, which of course we can't do because (1) I have the stupid thing AND (2) she ALREADY signed it. I don't even know where to start untangling this mess. My brother sent me the title and some other important paperwork just so she couldn't lose / misuse such stuff, and now it's come back to bite us. Any advice from Arizonans here??
Please, no lectures about placing her in a supervised setting. We've tried, and are trying, and she absolutely refuses anything we propose. Once we have a proper medical/neuro exam/writeup to document her competence or lack thereof, we'll gear up for THAT nightmare, but of course the appointment is booked out months.
Thank you.
This is for your local DMV and I sure wish you luck. I mean HER local DMV.
If you are POA 1,000 miles away you have my UTTER sympathy because I have my OWN car story, that occurred here in California when my brother was suddenly in an accident and as an incidental diagnosis left the hospital diagnosed with probable early Lewy's Dementia. He quickly made me his POA and Trustee of Trust and a nightmare year ensued. And the CAR story was but ONE that was a TOTAL TOTAL nightmare about which I did way way way way too much worrying and sitting in DMV offices and so on for no good reason. It's a long long story and I won't do it here, tho happy to do it by private message; not really relevant to you. Just to say the amount of anxiety I expended on this for no reason whatsoever was amazing.
So I recommend a call now to AZ DMV and ask just how this might be addressed. I would bet your doing NOTHING whatsoever and just understanding Mom's car was stolen, would do it. Perhaps a call to the cops to ask THEM how to proceed.
I do think this is a warning. How safe are ALL of mom's funds. For my bro I was incharge of all bills, all accounts, all assets. ALL of them and he had a small spending account. He was dreadfully afraid his failing mind would put his assets at risk and he was so right they may have. It was a nightmare year of arranging everything, and today with outsourcing across our country would be ever so much worse.
Don't sweat this. Call to police to report "stolen suspicious circumstances" would do it I would think; would give you at least a filed police report. And to the DMV. This was clearly "fraud" and "stealing". You could deny knowledge of any of it, ha ha.
This is a tip of iceberg I am afraid in how difficult it is to do POA from overseas. I might suggest a Licensed Fiduciary for her; depends on her assets and if it's affordable. Would take a lot off you. I did it from across the state, but that first year did entail flying back and forth, something I couldn't imagine now 5 years on.
Good luck.
DO update us.
He paid the price your mother asked for the junker.
That he has no registration is his problem.
No one is going to mess with mom. And if they do she will tell her story. Guy saw the car, and bought it. I signed his paper and got 2,000 for it.
No one is jailing mom OR this guy in all likelihood. I am convinced.
Forget about it. I would.
If this person paid in cash your Mom probably didn't get a proof of sale receipt either. Theoretically she still has and owns that vehicle.
The car is still in your Mom's name and she's responsible (been there, done that with the many vehicles I've sold over the decades).
It's only the buyer's problem if they intend to resell it or donate it at any point.
This is a question for the AZ DMV. Call them asap to see what they recommend.
Even if the car was donated, in AZ a title transfer must happen. Even if it was given away to be sold as scrap. Even if it was bought "for parts", she is still the owner of that vehicle.
When one of my buyers didn't transfer the title and I started getting tickets for that vehicle (in another state) I had to do a lot of paperwork to get out of it.
Call and talk to the DMV first.
Also, does your Mom live in a neighborhood where someone nextdoor or across the street might have a Ring camera doorbell to maybe see who came to get it?
Or contact the advertising dept of that local shoppers weekly to see who might be advertising for vehicles?
If you don't get anywhere with that, then I would talk to the cops and see what they say.
I think I would report this to the DMV. That way if someone triesvto get a new Title they can catch it.
I do not think anyone will be able to apply for and get a duplicate title if it was not signed over to you in the first place. The applicant has to show valid ID and the name on the ID has to match what's on the title exactly. Otherwise, anyone would be able to get titles to cars they don't own and didn't pay for. In MN you also have to pay taxes on the sale price.
"In Arizona, if you privately sell your car but don't sign over the title, you remain legally responsible for the vehicle, meaning you could be held liable for any traffic violations, accidents, or other issues that occur while the car is being driven by the new owner; essentially, you are still considered the registered owner even if you sold the car because the title transfer was not completed properly.
Legal responsibility:
As long as your signature isn't on the back of the title, you are still considered the legal owner of the car, even if you received payment from the buyer.
Potential consequences:
Liability for accidents: If the new owner gets into an accident, you could be held liable depending on the state's laws.
Parking tickets:
You could receive parking tickets if the new owner parks illegally.
Registration issues:
You may face difficulties registering a new vehicle if you are still listed as the owner of the old car. "
So there I am visiting and I am saying "MOM!, Are you SURE you don't have to; shouldn't we check? Because I think even if you don't OWE you STILL have to FILE".
She couldn't convince me to she final said to me:
"Let's put it this way, Al. If I am WRONG, and the government comes to get me, and throws me in jail, and provides me a bed, three meals, and all my medical for the durations I will be happy to go with them".
I still giggle about THAT one to this day.