How to Transfer a Car Title After Death in Ohio

When it applies: the title shows "TOD" or "transfer-on-death" after the owner's name, followed by the beneficiary. Ohio lets a sole owner name one or more beneficiaries, and the beneficiary can be a person, a corporation, an organization, a trust or another legal entity. The owner can change or cancel the designation at any time without the beneficiary's consent.

If the title is joint with right of survivorship plus a TOD, the surviving co-owner comes first. The beneficiary takes only after both owners have died, and both certified death certificates are needed. If no named beneficiary survives the owner, the car goes into the probate estate instead.

Steps

1. Get a certified copy of the death certificate (both owners' certificates for a joint WROS title with a TOD).
2. Complete Form BMV 3774, the title application, in the beneficiary's name.
3. Bring everything below to a county Clerk of Courts title office. The clerk issues a new title to the beneficiary. Any loan on the car carries over to the new title.

Forms

• Application(s) for Certificate of Title to a Motor Vehicle, Form BMV 3774
• Form BMV 3811 is only used by the owner while alive to add or remove a beneficiary. The beneficiary does not file it after the death. (Form BMV 3811)

Documents

• Original Ohio title showing the TOD beneficiary
• Certified copy of the death certificate
• Form BMV 3774
• Government-issued driver license or ID card
• Payment for the title fee

No sales tax is due on a transfer to a TOD beneficiary.

When it applies: the title lists two owners. How their names appear decides what happens:

• "John Doe and Mary Smith or WROS": joint ownership with right of survivorship. Only two people can hold a title this way. The car passes to the survivor, is not an estate asset and does not go through probate.
• "John Doe and Mary Smith" with no WROS wording: no survivorship. The BMV says the signature of an executor or administrator is required, so the deceased owner's share is handled through the estate. See "An Executor Has Been Appointed." If the deceased was married, the surviving spouse affidavit may also be an option for that share.

Steps for a WROS title

1. Get a certified copy of the death certificate.
2. Bring the original Ohio title and the death certificate to a county Clerk of Courts title office.
3. The clerk issues the title in the survivor's name showing "acquired by right of survivorship." Any lien stays on the title.

Contact the title office to confirm whether you also need to complete a title application (Form BMV 3774).

Documents

• Original Ohio title
• Certified copy of the death certificate
• Payment for the title fee
• Without WROS: proof of the executor's or administrator's authority from the probate court

When it applies: a married Ohio resident died owning at least one automobile. The surviving spouse can take one or more of the deceased spouse's automobiles without probate, as long as their combined approximate value is $65,000 or less. Cars that pass this way are not estate assets and are not listed in the estate inventory.

This route does not cover a car that passes to a surviving co-owner on a WROS title, a car with a TOD beneficiary, or a car the will leaves to someone else. "Automobile" includes a motorcycle, and a truck the family used to get around. Franklin County says recreational vehicles and commercial trucks do not qualify. A separate law lets the spouse also take one boat, one boat trailer and one outboard motor.

Steps

1. Confirm the car is not on a WROS title, has no TOD beneficiary and is not left to someone in the will.
2. Add up the approximate values of the cars you want to take. The total cannot exceed $65,000.
3. Complete Form BMV 3773, the Surviving Spouse Affidavit, listing each car's make, model, year, body type, VIN and value, and sign it in front of a notary.
4. Bring everything below to a county Clerk of Courts title office.

Forms

• Surviving Spouse Affidavit, Form BMV 3773
• Application(s) for Certificate of Title to a Motor Vehicle, Form BMV 3774. Hamilton County accepts the application on the back of the Ohio title.

Documents

• Original Ohio title
• Certified copy of the death certificate
• Form BMV 3773, signed and notarized
• Title application
• Copy of the security agreement, if there is a loan
• Acceptable ID (contact your county title office for details)
• Payment for the title fee

Franklin County says no odometer reading and no tax or tax form is needed. One thing to know: if the spouse takes more than one car, Ohio reduces the spouse's $40,000 support allowance from the estate by the value of the lowest-valued car taken.

When it applies: the car had no TOD beneficiary, no surviving WROS co-owner, and the surviving spouse affidavit does not fit (or there is no spouse).

Ohio has no small-estate or heirship affidavit that lets heirs transfer a car at the title office. The probate court has to be involved, but smaller estates may qualify for a simpler court process:

• Release from administration: estate assets of $35,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when everything goes to the surviving spouse.
• Summary release from administration: for very small estates. A person who paid (or agreed in writing to pay) the funeral and burial expenses can use it when assets do not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or those expenses. A surviving spouse can use it when assets do not exceed the spouse's support allowance plus up to $5,000 of funeral and burial expenses.

Steps

1. Contact the probate court in the county where the person lived to ask whether the estate qualifies.
2. File the application (Form 5.0 for release from administration) with a list of assets and debts. Notice goes to the surviving spouse and heirs as the court directs, unless it is waived.
3. If the court relieves the estate, its entry (Form 5.6) can order the car distributed or sold and appoint a commissioner to sign the title documents.
4. The person receiving the car brings the court entry, the original title, a title application and the fee to a county Clerk of Courts title office.

Timing and court fees are set by each county probate court.

Forms

• Application to Relieve Estate from Administration, Supreme Court of Ohio Form 5.0
• Entry Relieving Estate from Administration, Supreme Court of Ohio Form 5.6 (signed by the judge)
• Application(s) for Certificate of Title to a Motor Vehicle, Form BMV 3774

Documents

• The probate court's entry naming who receives the car or who may sign for it
• Original Ohio title
• Form BMV 3774
• Government-issued driver license or ID card
• Payment for the title fee

When it applies: a probate estate is open and the court has appointed an executor or administrator.

Under Ohio law, the executor or administrator can transfer the car without court approval to:

• the person the will leaves the car to,
• an heir, when distribution is made without a court order under Ohio law, or
• a buyer, when the will gives the executor power to sell.

Other transfers, such as a sale to a buyer when the will gives no power to sell, need the probate court's approval.

Steps

1. Ask the probate court whether it uses its own form or entry to authorize a vehicle transfer. Many counties have one. For example, Clark County uses form 40.W, "Authority to Transfer Title of Automobile."
2. If the transfer needs court approval, get the court's signed entry or authority.
3. The executor or administrator signs for the deceased owner, and the new owner completes the title application.
4. Bring the title, the court documents and the fee to a county Clerk of Courts title office.

The exact documents a title office asks an executor for can vary by county. Contact the title office to confirm before you go.

Forms

• Application(s) for Certificate of Title to a Motor Vehicle, Form BMV 3774
• Example of a local court form: Clark County Form 40.W. Other counties use their own forms.

No sales tax is due on a transfer to a beneficiary through an estate administered by the probate court when nothing is paid for the car.

A death does not erase a car loan. Ohio law says transfers to a surviving spouse, a surviving WROS co-owner or a TOD beneficiary do not affect any lien on the car. The clerk shows any lien of record on the new title unless proof that it was paid off comes with the application.

• If the loan continues: for a surviving spouse transfer, the BMV asks for a copy of the security agreement. Franklin County says it can issue the new title carrying the lien forward without a letter from the lender, along with a memorandum certificate so the spouse can get license plates.
• If the loan was paid off: bring the lender's lien release with the title application.

Form BMV 3774 has a section listing all liens.

Title fee: $18 per title, or $23 in counties that approved the higher fee, since January 1, 2026. For example, Franklin County lists $23 and Hamilton County lists $18. The fee includes a lien noted at the same time. Check your county's fee with the BMV county title office search. Some older county pages still show $15, which is out of date.

Other possible fees

• $5 for a memorandum certificate applied for separately.
• $5 late fee when a title is not applied for within 30 days after the later of the assignment or delivery of the vehicle. Whether clerks charge it on inherited cars is not confirmed, so contact the title office to confirm.
• Notary fees at title offices, such as $1 per notarization in Franklin County and a $1 affidavit fee in Hamilton County. Franklin County adds a 3% fee for credit card payments.
• Probate court filing fees, if a court case is needed. These vary by county.

Sales tax

No Ohio sales tax is due when a car passes without any payment through:

• a TOD beneficiary designation, whether or not there is a lien, or
• an estate administered by the probate court, including to a surviving spouse.

The clerk records the exemption. The Ohio Department of Taxation does not separately address transfers to a surviving WROS co-owner, so contact the title office to confirm for that route. If anyone pays for the car, including family members buying it from the estate, sales tax is due on the amount paid.

Ohio titles are issued by each county's Clerk of Courts title office, not by the BMV or its license agencies. Hamilton County says you can apply at any Clerk of Courts office in Ohio. Use the BMV county title office search to find an office and its fee.

• In person: the standard way to transfer a deceased owner's car.
• Online: no official online transfer for a deceased owner's vehicle was found.
• Mail and appointments: rules vary by county. Franklin County accepts some title work by mail, but asks people with probate or surviving spouse transfers to call its title help line at (614) 525-3090 first. Contact your county title office to confirm.

Questions about the state rules can go to the BMV title help line at (614) 752-7671, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Who signs depends on the route:

• Executor or administrator: signs the title as seller. They can sell without court approval if the will gives them power to sell. Otherwise a sale to a buyer needs the probate court's approval.
• Release from administration: the court's entry can order the car sold and appoint a commissioner to sign the title documents.
• TOD beneficiary, surviving WROS co-owner or surviving spouse: the car passes to them through the steps above. Contact the title office about how to handle a sale.

Franklin County says all sellers must sign the title in front of a deputy clerk or notary, and any active lien must be cancelled by the lender before the transfer. The buyer pays sales tax on the purchase price when titling the car.

If probate is needed, our Ohio probate guide walks through it.