The Travelin' Librarian

I finally had the cash and the time to get out to the DMV this morning. In total I have to get the car inspected by a Sheriff’s Deputy (to make sure it’s not a stolen vehicle,) get a Nebraska title, register the car in Nebraska, and get a new driver’s license. I didn’t expect to get it all done today but…

The inspection was quick and easy. Basically, just a computerized VIN search which cost me $10. Then off to get a new title. Trouble is, my ex (we divorced in 2002) was still listed on the title. Why hadn’t I fixed this before? No clue. It just hadn’t dawned on me as something I needed to do. So I took all my paperwork including proof of the divorce over to the next window and I was told that wouldn’t work. I needed something from the divorce decree that established she’d given up all rights to the car. Or, I could get her to sign a power of attorney for the car. Back home I went to look through my files.

I found an “Affidavit of gift of motor vehicle” in my divorce papers which to me, since it said “the transferor has transfered and conveyed to transferee, all of transferor’s right, title and interest in and to the… motor vehicle.” [emphasis added] Sounds good to me, but when I got back to the DMV I was informed that that would only save me some money on taxes or some such and “that may be the way they do it in Missouri [where the divorced occurred], but that won’t work here.”

So, I’m back to faxing the form to my ex (this isn’t really a problem, it’s just an annoying and delaying bureaucratic step in this whole process) so she can sign it, have it notarized, and fax it back to the DMV. I then get to go tomorrow and try to get my new title and registration.