Executor of will and car finance

[Notsurehowtofeel2025]

I'm looking for some advice. I was the executor of my dad's will, he died in 2024. His finances were a mess and after funeral expenses etc there was no estate left. He had a car on finance that he had given to his gf. When he died there was still outstanding payments to be made. The finance company asked for the payments or the car back. I told them I'd never had possession of the car and gave them the details of who had it so they could collect. She initially agreed to me that she'd return the car but has since gone off the radar and hasn't returned the car, the finance company have been unable to collect it. They now want to issue me with a seizure notice to go down a legal route despite them acknowledging that I've never had the car.
what do I do here? Report the gf to the police for theft?

Doesn’t matter. She has to go and get it back or settle the debt. It was his.

I didn't give the car away? I've never had the car. I did work with the creditors, I gave them them her details.

Careful she doesn’t hide the car. Make sure you keep all your texts from her.

How do I get it back? I don't have keys, I can't drive due to disability and don't have the cars paperwork. It's not my car to take back.

He was the legal owner. As executor it is your responsibility to ensure the debt is paid off.

Executors aren't the strong arm mob, the only people who can touch the car are the finance people they own it until it's paid off. As far as the OP was concerned they took the car back 18 months ago. All done and dusted.

Untrue, and they can pursue her personally for the debt.

Do you have any legal qualifications?

I can't be pursued for payment. I know that for sure, I also have paperwork from a lawyer showing there was no money in the estate.

Its not the OPa car though, nor does she want it. It belongs to the finance company and surely it's their responsibility to find and seize it.
I would seek advice from a solicitor to clarify

Im tagging @prh47bridge.She's good with legal

The only way I could be pursued is if I dealt with the estate incorrectly. Which I didn't. I notified the finance company of his death promptly and made them aware of who had possession of the car including where it would be at what times.

As I understand it, as executor you do inherit sorting the mess that this is out.

The only thing I can see you being able to do in your situation is report it stolen to the police and the finance company. The police will be able to take details of the finance company and record it on the intelligence on the car. Any officer pulling the car over will then be able to phone finance company and say 'we have your stolen car - it is going to be impounded so collect from X"

Cover yourself by filing a police report and that will flag the car as stolen and help to cover you in case they come after you. Keep every shred of evidence that you’ve tried to help them size the car - including messages between you both. I’d go to Citizens advice and get support, otherwise you’ll need to pay a solicitor - if there was any money left you could use it.

You did, by not paying off the debt/ensuring it was paid by the seizure of the car.

How could I reasonably seize the car? What powers do I have to do that?
they asked permission 18 months ago to collect the car to settle the debt. I gave them permission and location of the car.

Debts secured to assets dont get written off.

They can reclaim the asset they have secured the debt on and, then, if there is any further liability, they lose that money because the estate has none to make any balance of payment with.

You couldn't be more wrong.

I'm the executor for my mum's will. She left vast amounts of debt, and the estate is zero.
Yes, I'm responsible for communicating everything to the creditor and satisfying their constant requests for documentation and answers to pointless questions. But I am not responsible for the debt. They can't ask for a penny of my own money.

Just one question- when you say his finances were a mess, and after the funeral etc there was nothing left?

having had a little Google, an estate that is unable to pay its debts is an insolvent estate. Debts for an insolvent estate have to be settled in a particular order, according to the Insolvency Act 1986- which specifies how and in what way debts are to be repaid.

you can be held liable for debts if, for instance, you repaid an unsecured (eg credit card) debt before paying secured debts (like a mortgage or car finance). Provided you have complied with the insolvency act provisions, your actions like advising the finance company of the cars location and that the estate is insolvent appears to have exhausted your responsibility. It’s the car finance companies car, and it’s their job to recover their property.

No debts were paid off as there was no money to pay for it. I had to use some of my own money to pay for the funeral. I took advice from a lawyer who said I could use the money in his current account for funeral costs.

In which case I don’t see what they can do against you, however I’m by no means a lawyer. A secured debt is secured against an asset. A mortgage or car finance debt should be resolved by the sale (or return) of the asset in question- as you don’t have the car to sell or return it, it’s up to the car company to resolve this. Spending what little of the estate was left on the funeral (assuming this was a modest affair rather than a marble encased mausoleum with gold gilt coffins etc) is a higher priority

but I’m not a lawyer. That’s just from googling around. It does seem relatively clear though- a secured debt must be paid from the sale of the asset, if there’s any additional debt it is now unsecured and as the estate is insolvent there’s nothing to recover. I think you’re fine- the steps that others have suggested (reporting the car missing, giving the car finance company the CRN, advising them the estate is insolvent) seems to fulfil your obligations as executor. The rest is on them.

While I agree it is on the finance company to get on with reclaiming it, I would have thought both executor reporting stolen (the GF has not returned it as requested, so no longer has permission to use it) and the finance company reporting it stolen (not returned under terms of the finance) would get police ANPR on the case, and likely any use of the car would end up with it being discovered.
It seems the fastest way.

The executor has to ensure the estate is settled, and if not can be held liable for any outstanding debts. In this situation, the deceased had a loan for car and also had the car. When he died, all his assets should have been dealt with - the car being one of them. If he bought the car on HP finance, which is what it sounds like, then it was not his to sell / gift to anyone until the finance was settled. It’s unclear why the car was not repossessed either by the executor or by the finance company at the time, but it’s reasonable to expect that the executor could be seen to have been remiss in not ensuring it was returned.
Of course, if the car was purchased on a personal loan, and then gifted to a third party, then it cannot be repossessed by the finance company.
So the things to clarify
Was the loan an HP credit agreement?
Did the owner transfer ownership to someone else?

The lawyer was correct.

There is absolutely no way an executor can be 'held liable for any outstanding debts'. Please don't scare the OP with this nonsense. They can be prosecuted in the case of severe fraud but they never have to repay the deceased debts out of their own funds. This is just nonsense. nobody would agree to be an executor of that were the case.

OP I was in the same situation, no money in estate and had to use own funds to pay the balance of the funeral. Nobody has ever suggested I pay anything.

Exactly I used to work with sorting deceased bank accounts. Any debt which couldn't be settled by the estate ie credit card got eventually written off.