Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Your father's half of the car did not automatically pass to you upon the death of your father, like it would have with land if there had been a joint tenancy with right of survivorship. And even if your father had a will and left his half of the car to you in his will, the heirs do not get to keep the property and not pay creditors' claims. The bills come first.

If there is not enough money in the estate to pay the bills, then the car has to be sold. Since the estate of your father only has half of the car, the logical thing would be for you to offer to pay your brother for your father's half of the car. Get the car appraised or use an online site (www.kbb.com, www.edmunds.com or www.nadaguide.com) to arrive at the value of the car (use private party value; I suggest getting the value and averaging the value from all three websites). Then your brother can safely sell the car to you without liability on his part - he gets money to pay the estate bills and you get the car, a win-win for everyone.