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Titles, liens and dead people

Andrews

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A man buys a used 1974 Triumph TR6 from a small car dealer in 1990 and finances the car through the same dealer. This man sells the car in 2002 to another man and seller states that the title he has was a duplicate title and shows a lien, with the lien holder being the small dealership he bought it from (He assures the buyer that he paid off the loan, but the dealership went belly up before they cancelled the lien). The man wants the car so he buys it with just a bill of sale and figures he will get the title straightened out at some other point. He dismantles the car, gets to work on repairing rust and something comes along , distracts him and he puts the car into storage. Twenty years go by and this is where I enter the picture. This second man wants to sell the car as he is moving and does not want to pack up the parts for the move. So I am looking at a title from the man that the seller bought the car from, with a lien. I cannot get a title. in my state (MS) with a lien on it, and so I start investigating.

As it turns out, the lien holder, the car dealership from 1990, dissolved his business in 1997 and the man who is the business namesake is listed as the registered agent of assets. He is presently deceased. So is his brother, the VP of the dealership as well as the secretary, the only other officer connected to the business. The man who bought the car back in 1990 from the now defunct dealership, and is the named buyer on the title, is also currently deceased. The local tax/tag office looked it up and said "you have to get the lien removed before we could give you a title." Understood, but everyone connected with this title seems to have passed. an afternoon spent calling the Dept of Revenue, Secretary of State, the FTC, DMV... yielded no concrete results. They all seem to want me to get paperwork from dissolved companies and/or dead people. It seems a lawyer is required, but that money pushes this little car into the realm of "not worth it."

Anyone struggled with this that is able to offer any advice would be much appreciated!

Andrew
 
Yikes!

seems like

1. a lawyer might need to be involved.
or
2. You might want to find a cheap shell with a clean title and swap things over to it. (IE buy it as a parts car - priced accordingly and start from there.
or
3. Not sure how this works exactly but could you get it registered in another state and then transferred?
or
4. Might your own bank be able to help? Surely it can't be the first time someone has died with outstanding financial issues

good luck!
 
Mississippiautotitle.com, perhaps. The substantive answer is pretty simple. Noting a lien on the title certificate is a substitute for filing a UCC financing statement to perfect a lien. These are usually filed with Secretaries of State for other goods (refrigerator, etc.), but DMV is the alternate filing office on vehicles. Under the UCC, including the Mississippi version, a financing statement expires after 5 years unless a new/renewal statement is filed. Unfortunately, I don't know how you effectively explain this to DMV. Maybe start by calling the main DMV office in the state capital. This must have happened to someone else.
Bob
 
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Just thinking out loud.....if the original lien holder is defunct, there is no one to put a claim on the lien?

Interesting though the entire article reads 'lean' not 'lien' yikes! (It certainly affects my inclination to trust it - see what I did there) :D
 
Interesting though the entire article reads 'lean' not 'lien' yikes! (It certainly affects my inclination to trust it - see what I did there) :D
"Problem with Lean Holder"

57a8d436ccebf_378161b-3321656508.jpg
 
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