You need to continue regular car payments, maintain vehicle registration, and then transfer the car's ownership. You cannot drive the car unless you have proper registration, and penalties will be charged if this is not done on time.
Depending on the situation, there are a few different processes:
1) if there is Transfer on Death (TOD) on the title:
Gather:
Certified copy of the Death Certificate(s) of the owner(s)
Surrender the license plates. See Plate Surrender/Refunds
Surrender the deceased person's Driver's License
Certificate of Title - If the title is not available, a Transfer On Death - Beneficiary’s Affidavit For Title (VP 241) form may be submitted in its place: Transfer On Death - Beneficiary’s Affidavit For Title (VP 241)
$21 Title Fee. An Application for Duplicate Title is not necessary. The new title will be mailed in approximately eight weeks.
Submit the documents in person at any DMV Full Service Office.
Obtain insurance and a movement permit or vehicle registration to drive the vehicle on any public street. To register the vehicle, you must obtain an emission inspection if required, pay the normal registration fees and obtain new license plates. Fee credits from the deceased person's registration do not transfer to the beneficiary.
2) If there is not a Transfer on Death on the title, but you have a small estate:
You are eligible if:
The total value of the decedent’s property, situated in the State of Nevada, does not exceed Twenty Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000), excluding amounts due decedent for services in the armed forces, and that the property does not include any real property nor interest therein or lien thereon;
If the transfer is to a surviving spouse, the estate value must not exceed $100,000;
That no application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction;
That all debts of the decedent, including funeral and burial expenses, have been paid or provided for;
That the Affiant has given written notice by personal service or by certified mail, identifying his claim and describing the property claimed, to every person whose right to succeed to the decedent’s property is equal or superior to that of the Affiant and that at least 14 days have elapsed since the notice was served or mailed; and
That the Affiant is personally entitled to full payment or delivery of the property claimed or is entitled to payment or delivery on behalf of and with written authority of all other successors who have an interest in the property.
Forty days have passed since the death of the decedent
If this is true, fill out form VP024. Do not sign it.
Take the form, title, and a certified death certificate to a Nevada DMV. You can sign in the presence of a DMV representative. If you do not have the title, the representative can usually order a duplicate title for you.
2) If you have completed probate:
If there was a trust, fill out form VP188
Update the Certificate of Title with the new owner
Get a copy of the court order naming the petitioning party/appointed executor and the entitled beneficiary
Complete standard vehicle transfer forms at your local DMV or call DMV Title Research at 1-877-368-7828 for more specific instructions: DMV Full Service Office