Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

You have a valid concern. If you pay off the loan by mail, then he has several weeks to reconsider actually signing the car over to you. While you could hire a lawyer to write a contract for you and sue him if he fails to sign the title to you, it is probably not cost-effective to do so.

Consider this approach. Call the finance company to see if you and your stepfather can meet at a local office. If you can arrange that, see if you can get everything done at one short meeting (i.e., payment of debt and signing title to you). Your stepfather is less likely to change his mind within seconds of your payment of this debt (though he's more likely to do so if you give him a few weeks to think about it). He still could though -- but social pressure would probably stop him from doing so. And if he did, you might be able to convince the finance company to hand you back the check. To convince the finance company to act expediently, you may want to bring a bank-certified check to the meeting. Please note, this approach could backfire, you might pay the debt and your stepfather might immediately refuse to sign over the title. If you suspect he would do that, do NOT try this. This approach has that risk -- and then you could sue your stepfather over this -- but again, I realize that you want to minimize your potential costs. Please call me to discuss this idea before you try it. I won't charge for the phone call.