What happens to an auto lease when the lessee dies without an estate?

Question

If a lessee dies before the end of an auto lease and the surviving relatives want to give the car back to the leaseholder, in general, what will the leaseholder seek in terms of early termination? I'm in that situation and the leaseholder (Lexus) is saying that the person who wants to give the car back, who was not on the lease, will have to pay all of the remaining payments AND the residual value to turn it back in. In my opinion, if they paid the remaining payments and the residual value, they should own the car; this is causing a lot of stress so just wondering what others have seen in this situation.

Answer 1

They have no recourse except to sue the lessee's estate (which is hardly ever done).  If the Lexus dealer won't accept the car, just call Lexus (Toyota Motor Credit) and tell them where the car is parked

Answer 2

call them and tell them to come get it shouldnt have a problem

Answer 3

Unless you signed as a co-signer on the lease YOU DONT HAVE TO PAY A DIME..

Tell them to come get the car, its their problem not yours.  

Answer 4

All the more reason to do a Ford Red Carpet Lease. Everything would have been paid off thru Ford.  

Answer 5

I assume from what you are asking that the person who leased the car had no assets. Everyone leaves an estate; sometimes there is not enough in the estate of value to cover the cost of probate. For example, if a homeless person dies on the street, the clothing they were wearing, and anything that they owned (even if not anything of value) would be their estate.

If the lessee did not have assets, or those assets were held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship which means that the asset(s) automatically become property of the surviving parties, then there is no way for the leaseholder to collect anything.  For example, if a father has his son on his bank accounts with the right of survivorship, the son owns the money in the accounts if the father dies. The same thing is true with real estate.

The car should go back to the leasing company. This is treated just like a repossession, but there is no issue with credit ratings. The leasing company gets the car back, and sells it. The proceeds from the sale are applied to the account balance (less any fees and costs of sale) and if there is money owed, the leasing company tries to collect. If there are no assets in the estate, there is nothing to collect.

You cannot be forced to pay a debt that is not yours, unless you inherit property that is security for a loan, and you want to keep the property. If you inherit a home, and there is a mortgage on the property, you have to pay the mortgage to keep the property. You can decide that the amount owed is more than the value of the property, and allow it to be foreclosed, with no credit consequence to you (as long as you do not assume the mortgage).

Call the leasing company, and tell them where the vehicle is parked. Send them a copy of the death certificate, and inform them that they can pick the car up. If they tell you that you have to pay anything, and you are not on the lease, tell them that they can do what they want. You are not legally obligated to pay.