Selling a car after divorce when your ex is still on the title

So check three things before you list the car: what the decree says about it, how the names on the title are joined, and whether a lender still holds a lien.

Read the decree before anything else

The decree is the document that can move the car to you without your ex's signature. Whether it does depends on its wording.

Texas spells out both outcomes on its buying and selling page:

• The decree awards you the vehicle. Take a certified copy to the county tax office and file for a title in your name. The Texas Title Manual says a transfer of title application gets filed with the certified copy attached.
• The decree doesn't award the vehicle. You need a title that your ex-spouse has properly assigned to you.

Florida is stricter about wording. Under the state's title procedure TL-17, the court order has to refer to the motor vehicle. If it doesn't, no title is issued under it. You don't send the whole order, though. Florida wants the first page, the page that conveys the car, and the page with the judge's signature.

In Florida, the court order must refer to the vehicle, or the title cannot be issued under it. If yours doesn't name the car, plan on getting your ex's signature.

When both names stay on the title

If you are selling with your ex still listed, the word between your names matters. Several states say so in nearly the same terms:

• In Delaware, owners joined by AND all sign; with AND/OR, one owner is enough.
• Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin: AND means both sign, OR means either can sign alone.
• West Virginia lets either owner sign alone when the title reads OR or AND/OR.

Other states simply say every owner named signs. Colorado wants each owner on the front to sign and print exactly as the name appears. Indiana and Michigan say all owners sign. Georgia has each joint seller print and sign.

Nebraska adds a rule that bites after a split: spouses cannot sign as agent for each other. One of you can't sign the other's name, even with permission.

Some states also want a notary or an oath officer. Pennsylvania's code has the owner sign the assignment "sworn to before a notary public or other officer empowered to administer oaths" (Title 75). That can mean getting your ex to a notary, so set it up early.

The loan doesn't split when the marriage does

This part catches people out. The CFPB says three things about joint debt after a divorce:

1. You're generally still responsible for a joint auto loan unless the lender released you, or your former spouse refinanced and took your name off.
2. Removing your name from the title doesn't remove it from the loan.
3. Mailing the lender a copy of the decree doesn't end your responsibility on the account.

So if the decree gives the car to your ex and they stop paying, you are generally still responsible for the loan. That holds unless the lender released you or your ex refinanced and took your name off.

Before you sell, get the exact payoff from the lender. Per the CFPB, that number may not match your monthly statement, since the way interest is figured, plus any fees or charges, shifts it (CFPB). Ask about a prepayment penalty too, since some auto loans have one.

Owing more than the car would bring is negative equity, and the CFPB points out that a sale won't cover what's owed. Decide with your ex who covers the gap before the buyer shows up.

An unpaid lien can also stop the title from moving at all. Florida's TL-17 says that if the lienholder won't release a title awarded to one spouse because the loan is unpaid, the transfer can't take place. In Texas, once the loan is paid the lienholder has 10 days after it gets the payment to release the lien. An electronic release turns the electronic title into a paper one, mailed to the recorded owner (TxDMV). For the full payoff process, see selling a car you still owe on.

A Texas example from start to finish

Texas publishes enough to walk the whole path for a car awarded in a divorce:

1. Get the car titled in your name. File the transfer of title application at your county tax office with a certified copy of the decree.
2. Bring proof of insurance. Texas requires proof of liability insurance when you title and register the car.
3. Sell and hand over the paperwork. The buyer gets a properly signed title with the date of sale and odometer reading.
4. Watch the 30-day clock. Texas allows the buyer 30 days after the sale to finish retitling.
5. File the Vehicle Transfer Notification. Filing within 30 days of the sale protects you from parking tickets and toll violations the buyer racks up.

A note for community property states

The IRS lists nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In all of them, an absolute divorce decree ends the marital community, which is the point where community income stops and separate income begins (IRS Publication 555). That's a tax rule, not a title rule, but it can matter if the two of you split the money from a sale made during the divorce. Ask a tax professional if that applies to you.

Signing rules in every state

Each cell comes from that state's own page or statute (all listed in the sources below). It shows what the state says about who signs or what goes with the title.

Repair before selling, or let it go broken?

After a divorce, a broken car is often the one thing nobody wants to spend money on. Some questions help settle it:

• Who pays for the repair? If the decree gave the car to one of you but the loan is still joint, a repair bill can turn into a new argument.
• Is there still a loan? Every month the car sits unsold while a joint loan stays open, both of you are on the hook.
• Does the repair cost more than the car is worth? If it does, fixing it rarely pays off. See when repairs cost more than the car.

If the car runs well and is worth more than the payoff, a repair may make sense. If it's dead, wrecked or not worth the fix, selling it as it is gets the loan closed and both names off the paperwork sooner.

Selling it to us

We buy whole non-running and junk cars, and you can sell the whole car as it sits. Pickup is free anywhere in the US. Let us know up front whose names are on the title, whether a decree awards the car, and whether a lender still holds a lien, so the paperwork is ready before pickup.

Rather talk it through? Call (877) 421-6008.

Once the car is gone, check after you sell for your state's plate rule and sale notice.