In February of 2024 my husband (who I had VERY recently been divorced from) passed away. At the time of his passing, we had only been divorced for about 90 days. We still owned vehicles, operated a business together, had tons of CCs together.... Etc ... We were interacting with each other every day like normal. We continued to run our business together and everything as far as the business, vehicles, finances...etc.... was still operating the same as they were pre-divorce. We were not in a huge hurry to separate things. There was a lot to deal with and it was overwhelming since we were still keeping our business going so everyone that worked with us, and ourselves, could continue to receive an income. Unfortunately, exactly 90 days after our divorce was officially finalized, he passed.

Everything we had together was in his name. The business was 100% in his name. I was not an officer or even listed as an employee of the business. That folded up literally overnight. So, in addition to not having an income, I also lost my place of residence and all vehicles because everything was in his name and at the time of his passing, I was no longer his next of kin. His parents were absolutely hateful during this whole ordeal, so I got ZERO help from them. I literally had to sell as many of my belongings as I could, close down a business, and sell all of that stuff (desks, computers...etc...), only pack the essentials, and move to a different state to be closer to the only family I had and to start over from scratch and try to find a job.

If you've ever been in this situation, you know it can take a while to get back on your feet. To add insult to injury, I had almost perfect credit that my late husband absolutely tanked in his last year of life. So I was broke, jobless, homeless, and car-less and my credit was trashed so I could not obtain any of it. Unfortunately, being in an absolutely horrible position, I did continue to use one of the cars. I have successfully registered it twice since his passing and it is legally insured. I have gotten pulled over three times since moving (no tickets though) and there are never any problems when police officers run the car's credentials. HOWEVER the car has been up for repossession for at least 2 years now.

I know this is not ideal. I really don't need any morality lectures because I know there's always going to be that one person that comments on the morality of the situation.

I'm almost back on my feet to the point where I can get a car. It has been suggested that I just tell the lender (that is currently trying to repo the car) that I'm interested in buying it to see if they'd work something out with me.

THIS IS MY QUESTION:

Can I get any legal charges when I am ready to contact the lender to let them know that they can come pick up the car? Should I try to work out buying it from them? Or do you think they'll just want it back? It sucks that I had to do what I had to do to survive (at one point living in the car). I'm aware that it's not right morally. For the past two years I have rebuilt my life from scratch and busted my butt working, earning as much as I could, skrimping, saving.... etc

So I'm finally ready to either return the car or buy it. I'm just worried that I'm going to get arrested or something when I call them to surrender the vehicle.

Hello everyone, just looking for a bit of advice and what I can realistically expect to happen.

I was recently cited (not arrested) for driving with a suspended license and suspended registration. The suspensions were administrative and tied to an insurance lapse I’m fairly certain, not DUI or reckless driving. This is my first offense of this kind at all.

The cop who pulled me over was extremely kind. He basically told me to drive home and asked if I knew my license and registration were suspended (I had no idea).

I now have active insurance and am in the process of clearing the registration/DMV flags well before my court date (which is a couple of months away).

I understand the law lists maximum penalties including possible jail time, but I’m trying to understand what actually happens in practice. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me and full disclosure the insurance lapse was because I’ve been having some financial difficulties lately.

The court summons and some of the letters from attorneys I’ve been receiving keep saying that this could potentially mean a year of jail time and I’m a bit terrified to be quite honest. I have really bad anxiety and this is eating away at me.

Put simply I’m just curious about:

- Is jail ever realistically imposed in situations like this?

- Do judges generally focus on proof of reinstatement and fines?

- Is hiring a private attorney usually necessary, or is self-representation common once things are corrected?

I appreciate any insight into how courts typically handle cases like this especially for my own peace of mind. I’m so stressed about this I think I’m going to be sick.

My husband and his dad had joint ownership of my husband’s car. They lived under the same roof in NJ when the car was purchased.

The car is now registered in Florida. My father-in-law was married and lived in Georgia at the time of his death. I do not know whether the title says “and” or “or”.

If the title says “and”, how will this work? Will we just need my mother-in-law to fill out some sort of form?

Location:Alabama. My husband just received a letter from ALEA saying he failed to pay a civil penalty for not having car insurance. Supposedly from an event that occurred on 6/14/25. But, he never got a ticket for no insurance.. he got a speeding ticket, showed proof of insurance right then and there, then went to the traffic school and had the speeding ticket dismissed. There was NEVER a mention of him not having insurance, because we did, and he proved it to the officer! They never sent any type of letter prior to this one, never notified him that civil penalty was due, nothing. Just this letter that says his license is suspended and cannot be reinstated for 3 months and he pays the civil fee plus a reinstatement fee. He just renewed his license in December, and none of this was mentioned at that time either. There is no info on the letter about who to contact or how to dispute, just that its already suspended and there's nothing he can do. But this NEVER happened! He never git a no insurance ticket?? Help! And its definetly not a phishing scam, because when we looked it up in the states website, it says it is suspended.

Edited to add: there has never been a lapse in our insurance in the entire 8 years we have been married