Minnesota Motor Vehicle Transfer-On-Death Law

Name a Beneficiary to Your Vehicle with a Motor Vehicle TOD Form

If you own a vehicle in your own name, you can name a beneficiary on the certificate of title, and ownership of that vehicle vests in that beneficiary at your death without probate of the vehicle. Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 4. The statute states that the transfer “is not a testamentary transfer,” so the vehicle passes outside your will. This is one of several tools available for avoiding probate and accessing assets of the deceased.

The designation reaches that one vehicle, so it does not keep the rest of your estate out of probate, and the statute attaches conditions you should know before you rely on it:

• Only an individual owner may use it. Subdivision 1 allows “[a] natural person who is the owner of a motor vehicle” to have it titled in transfer-on-death form. That is narrower than chapter 168A’s own definition of “person,” which means “an individual, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or governmental organization.” Minn. Stat. § 168A.01, subd. 14. A vehicle titled to an LLC, a corporation, a partnership, or a trust cannot carry a designation; you would have to hold title personally. Joint owners with rights of survivorship may use the form, with the transfer occurring at the death of the last survivor. The natural-person limit applies to the owner, not to who may be named as beneficiary.
• A married owner needs the spouse’s written consent to name anyone else. If you are married when you make the designation and you name someone other than your spouse, subdivision 2 requires your spouse’s written consent. The condition turns on your marital status at the time of the designation, not at your death.
• A named beneficiary must survive you. If no named beneficiary survives, “the motor vehicle must be included in the probate estate of the deceased owner.”
• Debts follow the vehicle. Under subdivision 5(a), the section does not limit the rights of any secured party or creditor of the owner against the beneficiary, and subdivision 5(b) provides that a claim authorized by Minn. Stat. § 256B.15 against your estate voids the transfer-on-death conveyance.

Your Control During Your Lifetime

Naming a beneficiary does not prevent you from selling your vehicle at any time. The beneficiaries “have no interest in the motor vehicle until the death of the owner or the last survivor of joint owners with rights of survivorship,” and a designation “may be changed at any time by the owner or by all joint owners with rights of survivorship, without the consent of the beneficiary or beneficiaries, by filing an application for a new certificate of title.” Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 3. If the vehicle is jointly titled, every joint owner joins in the change. That is also how you realign a stale designation with your will or trust.

You do not have to pay the beneficiary anything, hand over the certificate of title, or even tell that person. Subdivision 2 states that a title in transfer-on-death form “is not required to be supported by consideration,” and the certificate “is not required to be delivered to the beneficiary or beneficiaries in order for the designation to be effective.”

How to Make the Designation

The designation is made by including it in your application for the certificate of title, and it then appears on the title itself: your name and the names of any joint owners with rights of survivorship, followed by the words “transfer-on-death to (name of beneficiary or beneficiaries).” The abbreviation “TOD” may be used instead of “transfer-on-death.”

Here is the form: Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services, Application for Transfer-on-Death Beneficiary, Form PS2004-2 (Rev. 09/2017), also listed under Motor vehicle forms on the DVS vehicle forms, documents and tax manual page. Four points on the form catch people:

1. The designation is not itself a title application. The form directs that you “must complete and include the Application for Motor Vehicle Title, PS2000 with the Transfer on Death designation.”
2. The spousal consent in Section E must be notarized, your own signature must be notarized, and each owner acknowledgment must be separately initialed. The statute requires only written consent; the notarization is DVS’s requirement.
3. No title is issued to the beneficiary, and removing a beneficiary later means applying for a new title.
4. The owner acknowledgment in Section F states that ownership of the vehicle upon death is “subject to the rights of all secured parties (MS. 168A.125 Subd. 4 and 5) and any surviving spouse (MS. 524.2-403).” A surviving spouse is entitled from the estate to “one automobile, if any, without regard to value,” Minn. Stat. § 524.2-403(a)(2), which is a separate question from the consent signed at the time of the designation.

If you want the vehicle to go to your revocable living trust, name the trustee rather than the trust: section 168A.125 never uses the word “trust,” and chapter 168A’s definition of the person who can hold title to a vehicle does not name one. When the Legislature wanted a transfer at death to reach a trust, it said so expressly for real estate. See Minn. Stat. § 507.071, subd. 9 (a transfer on death deed “may transfer an interest in real property to the trustee of an inter vivos trust even if the trust is revocable”). Section 168A.125 has no counterpart, so the support for a trust beneficiary comes from the DVS form rather than from the statute.

Minnesota’s transfer-on-death vehicle law was created by Laws 2017, 1st Special Session, chapter 3, article 3, section 41, which the governor signed on May 30, 2017. Section 41 carries no effective-date clause of its own, and because the act carries appropriation items it took effect July 1, 2017. Minn. Stat. § 645.02. The section has not been amended since, so the text below is current:

168A.125 TRANSFER-ON-DEATH TITLE TO MOTOR VEHICLE.

Subdivision 1. Titled as transfer-on-death.

A natural person who is the owner of a motor vehicle may have the motor vehicle titled in transfer-on-death or TOD form by including in the application for the certificate of title a designation of a beneficiary or beneficiaries to whom the motor vehicle must be transferred on death of the owner or the last survivor of joint owners with rights of survivorship, subject to the rights of secured parties.

Subd. 2. Designation of beneficiary.

A motor vehicle is registered in transfer-on-death form by designating on the certificate of title the name of the owner and the names of joint owners with identification of rights of survivorship, followed by the words “transfer-on-death to (name of beneficiary or beneficiaries).” The designation “TOD” may be used instead of “transfer-on-death.” A title in transfer-on-death form is not required to be supported by consideration, and the certificate of title in which the designation is made is not required to be delivered to the beneficiary or beneficiaries in order for the designation to be effective. If the owner of the motor vehicle is married at the time of the designation, the designation of a beneficiary other than the owner’s spouse requires the spouse’s written consent.

Subd. 3. Interest of beneficiary.

The transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries have no interest in the motor vehicle until the death of the owner or the last survivor of joint owners with rights of survivorship. A beneficiary designation may be changed at any time by the owner or by all joint owners with rights of survivorship, without the consent of the beneficiary or beneficiaries, by filing an application for a new certificate of title.

Subd. 4. Vesting of ownership in beneficiary.

Ownership of a motor vehicle titled in transfer-on-death form vests in the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries on the death of the owner or the last of the joint owners with rights of survivorship, subject to the rights of secured parties. The transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries who survive the owner may apply for a new certificate of title to the motor vehicle upon submitting a certified death record of the owner of the motor vehicle. If no transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries survive the owner of a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle must be included in the probate estate of the deceased owner. A transfer of a motor vehicle to a transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries is not a testamentary transfer.

Subd. 5. Rights of creditors.

(a) This section does not limit the rights of any secured party or creditor of the owner of a motor vehicle against a transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries.

(b) The state or a county agency with a claim or lien authorized by section 246.53, 256B.15, 261.04, or 270C.63 is a creditor for purposes of this subdivision. A claim authorized by section 256B.15 against the estate of an owner of a motor vehicle titled in transfer-on-death form voids any transfer-on-death conveyance of a motor vehicle as described in this section. A claim or lien under section 246.53, 261.04, or 270C.63 continues to apply against the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries after the transfer under this section if other assets of the deceased owner’s estate are insufficient to pay the amount of the claim. The claim or lien continues to apply to the motor vehicle until the designated beneficiary sells or transfers it to a person against whom the claim or lien does not apply and who did not have actual notice or knowledge of the claim or lien.

What the Creditor Rules Mean for Your Beneficiary

Every creditor sentence above is the text of Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 5. The four cross-referenced sections supply the underlying claims, and subdivision 5(b) supplies the treatment of those claims when a vehicle passes by transfer-on-death title.

A lender’s lien rides through. Both the titling provision and the vesting provision make the transfer “subject to the rights of secured parties,” and subdivision 5(a) preserves the rights of any secured party or creditor of the owner against the beneficiary. A beneficiary who receives a financed vehicle receives it with the loan attached.

The four government claims are not treated alike:

• Medical assistance. Subdivision 5(b) provides that a claim authorized by Minn. Stat. § 256B.15 against the owner’s estate voids the transfer-on-death conveyance outright. That section also counts assets conveyed through transfer-on-death of title as part of the estate it reaches.
• Cost of care at a state facility, county assistance, and state taxes. A claim or lien under Minn. Stat. § 246.53, § 261.04, or § 270C.63 leaves the transfer standing. It continues against the beneficiary when the estate’s other assets are insufficient to pay it, and it continues to attach to the vehicle until the beneficiary sells or transfers it to a person the claim does not reach who had no actual notice or knowledge of it.

On the section 246.53 claim, the claimant changed in 2025. The Direct Care and Treatment executive board, rather than the commissioner of human services, now files the cost-of-care claim against a deceased client’s estate. The section was not repealed or renumbered, so the cross-reference in section 168A.125 still resolves.

After the Owner Dies

Ownership vests in a surviving beneficiary at the owner’s death, but nothing happens at the counter until someone files. A surviving beneficiary may apply for a new certificate of title by submitting a certified death record of the owner. No probate of that vehicle is required when a designated beneficiary survives, subject to the rights of secured parties and to subdivision 5, under which a claim authorized by section 256B.15 against the owner’s estate voids the transfer-on-death conveyance.

How TOD Vehicles Fit Into a Broader Estate Plan

Vehicle TOD designations work best as part of a coordinated estate plan. A beneficiary designation on one asset can point somewhere other than what your will says about that asset, and Minnesota resolves that conflict differently for a vehicle title than for a bank account. Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 4; Minn. Stat. § 524.6-204(d). Because a transfer-on-death vehicle transfer “is not a testamentary transfer,” the vehicle passes to the named beneficiary whatever your will says about it. Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 4. Changing that result means filing an application for a new certificate of title. Minn. Stat. § 168A.125, subd. 3. A survivorship or pay-on-death designation on a bank account works differently: it “may be changed by specific reference by will,” though “the terms of such will shall not be binding upon any financial institution unless it has been given a notice in writing of a claim thereunder.” Minn. Stat. § 524.6-204(d).

Minnesota’s estate tax may also affect how a large estate treats transferred assets. Under Minn. Stat. § 291.016, the Minnesota taxable estate is computed from the federal taxable estate “without regard to whether the estate is subject to the federal estate tax,” so an estate can owe no federal tax and still be a Minnesota taxable estate. Subdivision 3 allows an exclusion of $3,000,000 for decedents dying in 2020 and thereafter, and subdivision 2 adds back taxable gifts made within three years of death to the extent they were excluded from the federal taxable estate. Minnesota no longer imposes a gift tax: the Legislature repealed Minn. Stat. §§ 292.16 to 292.21 in Laws 2014, chapter 150, article 3, section 8, retroactively for gifts made after June 30, 2013.

If you and your beneficiary live in different states, the variable is the state that issued the certificate of title, not where either of you lives. The designation exists only as an entry on a Minnesota certificate of title, because it is made “by including in the application for the certificate of title a designation of a beneficiary.” With limited exceptions, the owner of a vehicle that is in this state and for which no currently effective Minnesota certificate of title has been issued must apply to the department for one. Minn. Stat. § 168A.02, subd. 1. Nothing in section 168A.125 conditions the designation, the vesting of ownership at death, or the beneficiary’s application for a new certificate on where the beneficiary lives, and chapter 168A contains no choice-of-law provision.

A transfer-on-death transfer also does not clear what the owner owed. Under subdivision 5(a), section 168A.125 “does not limit the rights of any secured party or creditor of the owner of a motor vehicle against a transfer-on-death beneficiary or beneficiaries,” and a claim or lien under section 246.53, 261.04, or 270C.63 “continues to apply against the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries after the transfer under this section if other assets of the deceased owner’s estate are insufficient to pay the amount of the claim.” That statutory exposure, not a fiduciary’s claim, is what a beneficiary needs to plan around.

An attorney can help you look at your full asset picture, coordinate your beneficiary designations, and confirm that no single designation undermines the rest of your estate plan.