Back in June, the Colorado Court of Appeals had to decide who would end up owning a nearly new 2021 Ford Bronco after the owner of the vehicle, Leonard Liebe, died of COVID on Jan. 1, 2022.

Shortly before his death, Liebe made it clear in various ways, including a video recording, that he wanted Myranda Hunter, whom he had treated as an adopted daughter (although she had never been officially adopted), to have the Bronco. Since Liebe was in a bad way in the hospital and on a ventilator, he died before he could sign over and deliver the title certificate for the vehicle to Hunter.

Liebe died intestate — without a will – and his biological daughter, Chelsea Ducray, was appointed personal representative. Hunter asked Ducray, in her capacity as personal representative, to execute and deliver to her the title certificate for the Bronco, but Ducray declined, believing that since Liebe had never signed over the title certificate, the gift of the vehicle to Hunter was incomplete and the vehicle remained an asset of Liebe’s estate (meaning, presumably, that Ducray would get the Bronco).

This put the matter in the lap of the Mesa County District Court, which was administering Liebe’s estate. After reviewing a number of prior cases dealing with similar but not identical circumstances, the district judge, Christopher Munch, decided the gift to Hunter had been made even though the title certificate had never been signed or delivered.

Ducray appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals, relying on a Colorado statute that says no purchaser shall acquire any right, title or interest in a motor vehicle unless he or she obtains the certificate of title. But Judge Munch ruled, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that the general law dealing with the making of a gift prevails over the statute Ducray was relying on. Per the Court of Appeals, “a delivery of possession, with intent to pass a present right of property, is a completed gift.” (On the issue of possession, Liebe, before he died, arranged for an employee of his to deliver a set of keys to the Bronco to Hunter.) Under the Colorado certificate of title act, Hunter can’t drive the Bronco until she gets a new title certificate issued in her name and has registered the vehicle with the Colorado Department of Revenue. (However, she can at least sit in it and listen to the radio.)

Although Ducray didn’t get the Bronco, Liebe, before he died, also instructed his trusted employee to take $25,000 in cash out of a safe he owned and deliver the cash to Ducray. So, Ducray at least ended up with enough money for a sizeable down payment on a Bronco of her own.

This case serves as a reminder that Colorado has a statute allowing a vehicle owner to sign a transfer-on-death instruction. The document for this is Department of Revenue form DR2009, which you can find on the internet. This form permits the transfer of ownership of a vehicle at the owner’s death, without the need for a probate proceeding or delivery of a title certificate.

In that regard, it’s like a beneficiary deed for real estate and a pay-on-death instruction for a bank account. If Liebe had signed a DR2009 naming Hunter as the transfer-on-death recipient of the Bronco, this lawsuit would never have happened.

Jim Flynn is a business columnist. He is of counsel with the Colorado Springs firm Flynn & Wright LLC. He can be contacted at moneylaw@jtflynn.com.