I recently purchased a mare from a lady who never had the horse transferred into her name. She has transfer papers but the person she bought her from never signed them. She said she had tried to reach out to her but could not get ahold of her to sign the transfer. She also only has copies of the mares papers, no original.

I looked up the original seller on Facebook (who we needed to sign the transfer paper) and turns out she recently has passed away. 

Is there any chance that I will be able to get this mare transferred? 

Thanks for any help/advice! I'm just thankful that I picked her up relatively inexpensive. 

No papers no transfer, going to be a hard deal trying to get the papers on this mare, you would be better off talking to someone at APHA and see what they can do for you.. 

The current owner that the horse is registered to has to apply for lost papers. ( There is a very slim chance that some relative might have the original papers but I would have thought they would have been givven at the time of purchase.  Because of legal problems with inheritance most registries will not accept the request of an heir.  Also an unsigned transfer is totally worthless.  You can contact APHA but I think you are out of luck.  If I am looking at a horse for sale, I check AQHA or APHA and if the papers are not in order, I move on.  This is the exact reason that all of my horses are transfered immediately after I purchase them.  

Update - the person I purchased her from does have her papers, but they were never signed when she purchased the mare. When she tried to reach out to the seller (person currently listed as owner on the papers) she could never get ahold of her. I found out that she passed away, I'm guessing that's why. 

I am going to call APHA tomorrow but having the original papers has to be a plus right? 

Yes thats a big plus .. Hopefully APHA can help you get your mare under your name, I bet they will help you as they are really nice people that work there and always have been a big help to me when I needed something done, but the first thing you need to do is become a member of APHA.. Good luck to you and let us know how it gos for you