Hello,

I know that when buying a trailer or RV you can sometimes run into Issues with the Title. It happened to me and I thought I would post a detailed description of how I fixed the Title for my Van.

First, this is a narrative of my experience in Florida, it is not legal advice, nor will your issue/experience be the same as mine.

I bought a used E250 RV Conversion Van off of CraigsList, I drove my car down (150 miles) to look at it and took Cash with me to close the deal if I decided to purchase. Mind you, I had no idea how I would get both vehicles back home if I did buy the Van, but, that's a story for another post !!!

I bought the Van and received a Florida Title (I verified that the Vin Numbers matched) that had been signed by the Seller but, it did not have the buyer's name filled out (this is called an "Open Title"). I did not receive a Bill-of-Sale from the Seller at the time of purchase. Apparently, having a Bill-of-Sale is just as important as having the Title when it comes to registering a vehicle (in Florida).

Because of the "Open Title" and no Bill-of-Sale the DMV refused to let me register the Van AND, they had NO HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS on how I could get the Van Registered.

Here is the situation I faced, First, the Guy that sold me the van WAS NOT the Guy whose name was on the Title (nor was he the Sellers Brother as he claimed when he sold me the Van and handed me the Title).

The easiest way for me to fix this was to get the guy whose name was on the Title to sign a "Bill-of-Sale" to satisfy the DMV requirements in order to register the Van. I prepared a Bill-of-Sale and wrote a cover letter to the Registered Owner shown on the Title, I suggested that it was in his best interest to sign the enclosed Bill-of-Sale, as I might have been driving around without insurance on the Van and he should sign the Bill-of-Sale so I could get it insured (not true, but, I wanted to create some urgency and incentivise his response). I sent the letter Certified, Return Receipt Requested. After a Week I drove to his house with a prepared Bill-of-Sale for him to sign. Well, the house appeared abandoned so, I went to talk with his neighbor, she informed me that he had died about two years earlier.

Eventually, I figured out that I would have to file a Lawsuit and get a Judge to issue a "Declaratory Judgment" declaring me as the Owner of the Van.

First, let me say this, this is a full-blown lawsuit, you are suing the other party and they have a right to argue against you in open court. If you are uncomfortable around the Judicial system you should hire a lawyer to file your lawsuit. I felt comfortable with the legal system so I filed the lawsuit myself (they call this a "Pro Se" lawsuit).

Here are the steps I took along the way...

First, you need to determine which Court has jurisdiction over your lawsuit, this is a Civil Suit and is filed with the Civil Division, in Florida, the Civil Courts are divided based on the value of the lawsuit or value of the assets within the lawsuit. The valuation question can be tricky, Because I made a good deal when I bought the Van the valuation would fall within one Court's Jurisdiction, however, if you looked at the "Market Value" of the Van the valuation would fall within the higher Court's Jurisdiction. I chose the higher Court because the "Current Market Value" of the Van (it could be argued) would fall within the higher Court's Jurisdiction.

By searching the Internet for "Declaratory Judgment Florida" I found a Lawsuit Template which was prepared by the Tax Collector and a Judge in a neighboring Florida County. I downloaded that Template and followed the format and instructions provided. This Template was EXTREMELY Helpful !!!!

In preparation for the Lawsuit you need to gather as much evidence as you possibly can to make it easy for the Judge to rule in your favor, you also want to anticipate any  questions you can think of that the Judge might ask.

So here are some of the answers and evidence I included in filing my lawsuit...

VERY IMPORTANT, when filing your lawsuit Name the unknown Spouse and the unknown Heirs of the person/persons you are suing, include All names on the Title and each unknown Spouse and Heirs.

Question (the Judge may ask): is the vehicle Stolen?

I checked the State's stolen vehicle database to make sure the vehicle was not stolen.

I then went to the Sheriff's department with a written Affidavit describing the vehicle and VIN which stated that  a database search had been performed to ensure the vehicle was not stolen. I got a Deputy to sign the Affidavit (they actually had their own form). Additionally, the Deputy offered to come to my house and perform a Vehicle VIN inspection and sign an affidavit stating he had inspected the vehicle and the VIN matched in two different places on the vehicle.

Question: is the Defendant Deceased?

This was a question in my case, it may not be a question in your case.

Because the neighbor said he had passed, I paid for a search of Florida's Death Certificates to prove he was deceased, unfortunately, the request came back with "No Record Found"

Next I paid for a "Skip Trace" to be run on the Guy. This came back with "Deceased" on all databases/records checked. (A word about "Skip Trace", you can get a Skip-trace done on the internet, but I would get your "Process Server" to run one for you because, they have access to better quality databases and they can sign an Affidavit, as a Professional, that the results reflect their best efforts to find the Defendant.

I also requested a copy of his Driver's License Record and a copy of the Registration History of the vehicle (in Florida, you can get a copy of the Defendant's Driving Record as part of your preparation for a Lawsuit). The Driver's License record showed a Non-renewal and no activity in recent years.

All of these documents, along with an Affidavit from my Process Server stating that the Defendant could not be found and may be deceased were included with the filing of my lawsuit.

Question: are there any  Liens on the vehicle?

This is why I requested the Vehicle's Registration History, any Liens would be shown on the State's Vehicle History Report. This document was included in the Exhibits and a statement was made that there were no liens on the vehicle based on the exhibit.

When writing your Petition to the Court (Lawsuit) you want to write simple, declaratory sentences. Each Line item needs to be numbered and only include one issue per line item.

For Example:

    6.    "The Subject Vehicle was purchased on (insert date here) from an unknown 3rd party."

     7.   "The Purchase price was $ 9,999.00"

NOT:

"I bought the car from some guy named Junior and he gave me the title, but the seller didn't put a name in the space and I'm out $3,000 bucks cause the defendant didn't do what he was supposed to do and give me a bill-of-sale along with the title"

Each line item should have a statement followed by the appropriate Exhibit number.

I.e.:

5.  Defendant(s) signed Florida Certificate of Title, numbered 38767838737, pertaining to the subject property (Exhibit A).

The first few lines of the lawsuit will need to state why this Court has Jurisdiction...

I.e.:

1. This is an action for ownership of personal property located in xxxxxxxxxx County, Florida.
2. The subject property is: 2006, Ford, E-250 Van, Tan, with VIN: 1f38889430984.
3. Xxxxxxxxxx County is the proper venue; Subject property is in Xxxxxxxxxx County; Plaintiffs intend to register the subject property in Xxxxxxxxxx  County, Florida.

Remember, keep your statements simple and direct, my lawsuit had 14 line items including the six listed above.

Once you file your lawsuit, you have to "Serve" the Defendandt(s) (all of them) with a copy of the Lawsuit and give them a specified number of days to respond. This is where you want to be the nicest possible person you can be, you want to make the Court Clerks your friend and ally in the suit, they will be very helpful to you throughout the process, they can calculate the proper dates of response based on the Court's calendar (in our County we have some weird days that the Court is closed and those days are not included in the "days to respond" calculations). The Court Clerks will also help you understand the process and help Shepard you through their world.

In my case, since the Defendant could not be served and might  have been deceased I had to provide "Notice of Suit" through Publication in a newspaper each week for a specified number of weeks. Caution, Only Certain Publications can be used to publish your Notice !!! Again, your Court Clerks will be able to let you know if the Publication you intend to use is "Approved" for use as a "Notice of Suit" publication. Additionally, the Court Clerks were able to calculate the "Date to Respond" for my Published Notice.

If the Defendant(s) (or their Heir(s)) do not respond to the published notice by the date in the notice you may then petition the Court for a "Default Judgment", if the Defendant does respond, you will have to deal with his response and set the matter for trial. In my case I petitioned the Court for a "Default Judgment".

The "Motion for Default" was presented to the Court and a hearing date was set for the Court to hear arguments on the Motion for Default.

At the hearing The Judge asked me a few questions (most of his questions had been answered in the filing) and since the Defendant did not respond to the notice and did not show up for the hearing the Judge granted my "Motion for Default" Judgment and declared me the Owner of the Vehicle. A couple of days later the Judge signed the Final Order and I took a Certified copy of his Final Order to the DMV and Registered my Van.

YEAH !!!!