CAR OWNERSHIP TRANSFER AFTER DEATH?

My dad just passed away a little over a week ago. There was no will and my dad was the only one on the titles.

I'm referring to only his older year cars. He has quite a few of these older cars sitting around.
There are 4 non-running 1990's cars sitting around only worth about $500 each at most.
A running 1992 Ford truck worth about maybe $1500 and a 2002 Oldsmobile car worth about $2500.

His illness came suddenly, at first he was said to have 3-6 months left, then within a couple weeks it dropped to less than a week left to live until he passed away. Before he died, since we knew he didn't have long to live and knew the family has quite a bit of loans and bills to pay off, he told me to sell the unused cars he owns to help pay the bills. But since he was ill we spent time with him instead of dealing with selling the cars at that time. Well, now that he has passed, I think ownership of pretty much all my dad's property has went to my mom (spouse, durable power of attorney), but my question is how do we go about selling the vehicles?

Do we first have to transfer title like regular selling and wait for new titles to come in my mom's name? Or is ownership automatically transferred and my mom can just sign over the titles? If she can just sign over, do we need to included something (death cert? Power of attorney?) to prove she is the now legal owner? If she can, would she have to do the sale at a clerk at a DOL/DMV or can she do it without being at a clerk?

Take the death certificate to your states Department of Motor Vehicles. Don't try to do it over the phone or the mail. Go and stand in front of them and bring all of paperwork you have regarding the vehicles registration and keep this in mind. They may not do anything if the cars aren't insured, running or not. If you have everything in order your mother should be able to have the vehicles placed in her name. Some states can provide a new title on the spot now. Then you can dispose of the cars as you wish.

All estates have an executor/executrix whether the deceased had a will or not. In this case it is likely your Mother. The executor/executrix of the estate can sign over the present titles. There's no need to get new titles.

When someone dies without a will, jurisdictional (state, provincial) law takes over. An executor is appointed, and all the assets and liabilities of the departed are distributed according to legislation. It can get tricky, which is why so many lawyers specialize in wills and estates.

No kidding, this is complex stuff. You don't want to ask a room full of online strangers for complex legal advice, not ever. We don't even know where you live or how many other relatives you have that may or may not want to get in on this. The details you listed don't even cover the very basics.

You need a lawyer, not an anonymous online comment, to answer this question.

The executor of his estate will handle such things, when that person is appointed you and mom should tell him what dad's wishes were. If he possibly can in accord with law, he will try to accommodate those wishes. Sorry for your loss.