My friend has a problem with a leasing company and I'm not sure what they are telling her is right so knowing that this has come up before a long time ago I am hoping that perhaps one of you will know how this works. Here's what's going on... Her husband passed away recently. He had signed (she is not on any of the paperwork) for a car lease. The value of the car at signing was roughly 40,000 and the payments were $520 a month. She is being told that these are her options: 1. she can find someone to sublease it to and take over the lease payments. 2. she can sell it back for $33,000 but it is now worth thousands less than that so the estate would have to take a loss on the difference and pay the leasing company the difference. 3. she can give it back to them for them to try to sell at auction and again, if it sells for less than $33,000 the estate would have to take the loss and make up the difference to the leasing company. Isn't there some protection for her to not have obligation here because she never signed and was not on any of the paperwork? I seem to remember someone else having this situation and they found out they were not obligated and the leasing company just came and picked up the car.
Here's the article you are talking about. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/4939835.htm She needs to talk to a probate attorney. Estate law can be complicated, and can be further complicated by a community vs separate property state. Was there a will? What is the value of the estate? (These are rhetorical questions) I have someone threatening to file a deficiency judgment for a car on my Dad's estate. Told him to knock himself out. If it ain't there it isn't going to magically appear.
Thanks for the link. I wonder how it all worked out for that woman. In my friends case there is an estate and there was a will. I just spoke to her and she told me that she has an appointment with an estate attorney and is probably going to retain him as there are some complicated matters. I trust he will handle this for her as well. -------------------------------------------- I found this Lease FAQ while browsing: *What do I do if the person that leased the vehicle died? If credit life insurance is included as part of the original lease agreement, the lessee agreed to purchase the car in the event of death. The purchase price will be determined by the lessor (bank) based on the terms of the purchase option detailed in your lease agreement. If credit life insurance was not carried on the lease, the lessee's estate is responsible for returning the vehicle and satisfying all lease termination amounts owed, or for making arrangements to purchase the vehicle based on the purchase option described in the lease agreement. ---------------------------------------------- John Grogans article stated that they were trying to gauge that woman for default penalties initially so it is something for my friend and her attorney to look out for as indeed, there is a difference between death and default so at least she should be able to get those waived. Mist
