Can anyone point me to a site that has contract templates for a car sale?
A friend of mine is selling his car to his ex-wife (for his kids to be transported around in, etc.) and wants to draw up a contract for sale. Any other knowledge anyone has would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
Try Nolo Press, especially this page.
Thanks Dewey!
I have been googling this, but everything comes with a fee. I was hoping to find a free template or just an example of a bill of sale…
If you want a free form, try this one from the California DMV website. Note that it’s a PDF document.
Out of curiosity, why does your friend want to do a contract? Sales contracts usually are done when there’s an agreement on one date and performance on a later one. If he’s just signing over the car for payment (or as a gift), the DMV bill of sale form Dewey Finn linked should be just fine. (Note that the state’s primary interest here is how much is being paid, so that the appropriate tax can be calculated.) If the transaction is more complicated, you’re probably getting into a level of legal advice the mods don’t want dispensed here.
Well, yes, it’s a complicated transaction, in which she will pay in monthly payments over the course of 7 months. And she is very flaky, so he wants to make sure he doesn’t get screwed. I just wanted a basic template and would add extra clauses in. Then they would both sign in it witnesses or a notary. I have some legal knowledge so I am fairly certain that I have come up with a strong document.
Well, as mentioned, I can’t advise you or your friend on this Board. A quick Google search, though, did turn up several forms, most of which (as you mentioned) require payment. Did find one that is free. There may be others, but I stopped looking when I turned up this one. I make no representations as to whether the form I found is suitable for your friend’s situation. I merely point you to some resources.
Just park it in Indianapolis and hang a hand-lettered “For Sale” sign on it. You’ll get lots of attention.
I have used some of the spreadsheets here for a bill of sale:
But some of the pages above have the terms detailed more precisely.
If there’s going to be an agreement of payments, you should go to an attorney or at least a notary to be sure it’s all legal and binding.
I once wrote a bill of sale for a commercial truck on a paper napkin, but that was a cash payment. The auto-title place accepted it and the new owner had a title and registration 48 hours later.
Notaries in the US authenticate signatures. That’s pretty much it. They’re not
required to have any legal training, and cannot give legal advice.
Oops…I don’t know why I was thinking that a notary had to be an attorney. The notary I use IS an attorney (in Louisiana by my office).
My wife is a notary in Mississippi and has no law training. She just had to take a test.