Sell a Deceased Owner's Car With No Title in Vermont

Selling a deceased owner’s car with no title in Vermont

In Vermont, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Vermont Agency of Transportation. Titling is a state function: the Montpelier main office and nine branch offices handle it, Vermont has no county motor vehicle offices and no deputy registrars, and any office can process any title transaction for a resident of any county. The DMV publishes no telephone number for an individual office, only a statewide General Information line (802-828-2000, toll free 888-998-3766) handles title work for an inherited car. Before you sell, make sure you have authority to act for the estate and a title you can sign. This page is general information, not legal advice; confirm the details with the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Vermont Agency of Transportation. Titling is a state function: the Montpelier main office and nine branch offices handle it, Vermont has no county motor vehicle offices and no deputy registrars, and any office can process any title transaction for a resident of any county. The DMV publishes no telephone number for an individual office, only a statewide General Information line (802-828-2000, toll free 888-998-3766) before you sign or sell.

Vermont also recognizes a small-estate path for modest estates. The threshold: Vermont DOES offer transfer-on-death titling for a vehicle. TOD is one of the five ownership designations a Vermont certificate of title may carry (23 V.S.A. § 2023(a)(5)); the owner records it during life on DMV form VT-007, it works only on a vehicle registered and titled to ONE owner, and the transferee then takes the vehicle on a death certificate subject to any security interest (§ 2023(f)). It is not available for a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle, whose parallel provision at § 3816(a) lists no TOD. A certificate reading TEN ENT, JTEN or PTNRS passes to the surviving owner on the death certificate alone; TEN COM, or a certificate silent on the nature of the ownership, does not. Vermont has NO DMV small-estate affidavit and no form that moves a title without either a survivorship designation or a court step. Where none of those applies, the two routes are a letter from an officer of the court (the DMV accepts an attorney, a court clerk or a Probate judge) stating that no estate need be probated and naming the person entitled to the vehicle, or an appointment in the Probate Division. A vehicle is personal property, so the 14 V.S.A. § 1901 small estate reaches one: fair market value of not more than $45,000 and no real property in the estate. When an estate qualifies, an heir can often move the car with a small-estate affidavit instead of probate, and the state then issues a clean title in the heir name.

For the exact Vermont forms, fees, and retitling steps, see your Vermont vehicle title transfer guide. Once the title is in your name or the estate name, you are ready to sell to a private buyer, a dealer, or an instant-offer service.

Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Vermont Agency of Transportation. Titling is a state function: the Montpelier main office and nine branch offices handle it, Vermont has no county motor vehicle offices and no deputy registrars, and any office can process any title transaction for a resident of any county. The DMV publishes no telephone number for an individual office, only a statewide General Information line (802-828-2000, toll free 888-998-3766): https://dmv.vermont.gov/tax-title/death-of-owner