Primary account holder on car loan dies, Does co-signer get the car

Question

My son passed away and his girl friend is the co-signer on his car loan. Does she get his car?

My Son has made all the payment on the car loan. There is a balance of 5000 dollars; I am willing to pay the balance loan and get the car in my name.

Answer 1

Sorry for your loss.

Co-signing has nothing to do with title. The car is part of your son's estate. Every state is different when it comes to intestate succession (the distribution of an estate when there is no will) but to simplify, the estate goes to the spouse, if there is one, else the children, if there are any, else the parents. Here are some details.

In some states, you won't have to go through probate to distribute the estate. In California, you can simply file a signed affidavit stating the facts of the situation.

If the car was "joint-titled" between the decedent and his girlfriend, in some states, the surviving titleholder would receive sole ownership of the property. In other states, the title must be explicitly held as "joint title with right of survivorship" to avoid probate like that; the default behavior is that the title goes into probate just as if it were a whole vehicle and eventually the heir becomes co-title-holder with the girlfriend.