Well, regardless of who said what and all this other stuff, if the car has been titled OR registered, its a simple transfer. Now....like you were told if you have a attorney, let him do the talking....
The good ole matra applies here, money talks and bullshiete walks....
If they see your serious, and your ready to back everything up, they will send you thru with no problems. 99 and 9/10's % of the time is some little tater tot asshoule that has a pumped up value on his set worth, or somebody just wants to hassle ya.
The states are getting to where they want to send you down the road of a bunch of titling and inspection fees....so they can make some money. Case in point:
recently, pickup up a old beat up Pinto junker with a 2.3 and a c4. Title is way long gone, was a racer way back in the 80's. Fired up the plasma and liberated the motor and trans from the heap. Now, after completely redoing the motor and trans, transforming it into a single turbo bored and stroked screamer....guy took his stuff to get his title. he kept all the receipts, everything. They wouldn't let him get a title, due to the motor not having a serial#.
OK, it fell back to me, and I talked with the folks, seemed they wanted a # to make sure it wasn't hot.
OK, this told me 2 things.
1. The A--Holes don't know about classic cars
2. Don't know the local laws in general
When that pinto was new....the pintos were a very basic, inexpensive car. They were so crappy, the blocks were mass produced so fast and cheap, the motors did not come with numbers.
On if someone did do something naughty, it was so long ago that the trail would be cold.
I Finally had to give the guy a call that was the 2nd owner of said car, and get him to do a paper that said the car was sitting out in the field for the past 20 some-odd years which it was.
After doing backflips, cartwheels with a barrelroll at the landing, they kept saying it couldn't be registered. OK, Cool, Attorney Time.
After he showed up, with papers in hand, and a fee, the paperwork was completed within 2 or 3 days. The system is just that screwed up, laws on top of laws.
I won't go off on my usual rant about this
But there ought to be one law that rules them all. For every new law they pass, they need to do away with at least 3 needless ones on the books. The paperwork situation is so screwed up and so over-complicated, it terrible
Some of these folks in these depts don't even try....