Boat transfer from deceased owner…

Hey all, thanks for letting me in. My father in law passed a couple years ago, and my wife’s mother left and wont acknowledge anything to do with that life, anywho, I am working on going through a bonded title process regarding his truck, is there such a thing for a boat, assuming it meets the guidelines for needing a title? (unknown length ATM, will not be motorized until transferred, motors junk and will be coming off) if its under 16′ would a bill of sale work? To my knowledge he never had a lein on it, and i dont know the last time it was registered. Any help would be appreciated. All of the missing info will be updated as i discover it. TIA

** I reside in MN.

I had to do this with my grandpa’s boat last year. He died in 2011 and the boat hadn’t been registered since then. I gave the DNR registration folks a call and they were actually very helpful.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/licenses/watercraft/index.html

If it’s not titled, go to the drop down for Minnesota Registered Non-Titled boat. It says you need Bill of sale from an owner listing the year, make, Hull ID Number (HIN) of the watercraft, sellers printed name and signature. Universal registration form completed and signed.
This is what I did and got it all squared away pretty easily.

In MN right now the DNR will accept a bill of sale for an untitled boat from anyone. It does not have to be the current registered owner. Look at whatever reg is on the side and in the upper right hand corner it will say TITLED and under that is says yes or no. If its not titled just have a buddy write up a bill of sale. Or find the hull number and go online and try to renew reg on that hull ID and see what the reg# is that way. If its titled the process is worse than DMV and the best option is go to court and have them award the boat to you. Unless the boat is old enough to not have a hull ID you will need this for sure.

In my experience transferring a boat is easy, it’s the trailer that it goes on that may get tricky. And no, that “lifetime license” on it isn’t for the life of the trailer, it’s the life of the owner. Transfer owner, you need a new “lifetime license”.

My wife worked at a DMV office that also did boat transfers for the DNR in MN for several years. She would NEVER tell you to do it, but if the untitled boat and trailer are registered in your late FIL’s name it would go smoother if your deceased FIL “signed” the bills of sale.

Would punching in the hull # tell me if its titled? Im not for sure the sticker will be legible or not. Been sitting for a while in the brutal northern weather lol

The DNR website probably will not tell you if its titled. A quick call to a not too busy DMV office and they will check it out for you, just tell them your looking at buying a boat but want to make sure if you need a title or not. It probably isn’t but you never know it may have had a lien on it and then it would be.

Riverrat is right, the website won’t give you any information. But a DMV that does boat titles and registrations can tell you if there is a title on the boat or trailer. They just can’t tell you whose name the title is in.