How to Fill Out the Maryland VR-471 Beneficiary Designation Form

To name someone to inherit your vehicle in Maryland without probate, you can file the MVA’s VR-471 Beneficiary Designation for Vehicle Title form. You fill in the vehicle and beneficiary information, sign your current certificate of title with “TOD” written after your signature, and submit both to the Motor Vehicle Administration with a $20 fee. The same designation can be made online through myMVA at the same cost, and the MVA’s current guidance points owners toward the online route.¹

Who Can Use the VR-471

Only the sole owner of a vehicle can file a beneficiary designation under Maryland Transportation Code § 13-115.² If your title lists two or more owners in any form — joint tenants, tenants by the entirety, or tenants in common — the VR-471 is not available to you. A couple holding a title together would have to retitle the vehicle into one spouse’s name before this process becomes an option.

An active loan on the vehicle doesn’t stop you from filing. You can designate a beneficiary while a lien is on the title. The lien does, however, follow the vehicle: your beneficiary will have to secure a lien release before the MVA will issue a clean title in their name later on.

What to Have Ready Before You Fill It Out

Gather this before you start writing on the form:¹

Your title number, found on your current Maryland certificate of title.
Your Maryland driver’s license or state ID number.
Your date of birth.
The beneficiary’s full legal name, date of birth, and relationship to you.

Match the beneficiary’s name to their government-issued ID exactly. A misspelling now can create problems when they go to retitle the vehicle later.

Filling Out and Submitting the Paper VR-471

The VR-471 is a single form titled “Beneficiary Designation for Vehicle Title.” You complete three groups of information by hand: the vehicle information, the owner details, and the beneficiary information. Then you sign the form.

The step most people miss is on the title itself, not the form. On your current certificate of title, the owner signs the assignment and writes “TOD” (for Transfer on Death) after the signature. Both the completed VR-471 and your signed title go to the MVA together, with a $20 fee. Mail the package to MVA headquarters at 6601 Ritchie Highway N.E., Glen Burnie, MD 21062.

The designation only takes effect once the MVA processes it, and it must be completed before the owner’s death to be valid.¹

The Online Alternative Through myMVA

You don’t have to use paper. The same designation can be made entirely online at mva.maryland.gov/online-services. Sign in to myMVA, open “Titling and Ownership,” and choose “Designate Vehicle Beneficiary.” The portal walks you through confirming your information, selecting the vehicle, entering the beneficiary’s details, and paying the $20 fee by credit card or electronic check.¹

The fee is non-refundable. The online route is faster and avoids the risk of a title getting lost in the mail.

What Your Updated Title Will Show

Once the MVA processes the designation, it voids the old title and issues a new one with “transfer-on-death” or the abbreviation “TOD” after your name as owner. The designation changes nothing about your ownership while you’re alive. You can sell, trade in, or junk the vehicle without the beneficiary’s involvement or consent. The beneficiary has no interest in the vehicle until you die, and you aren’t required to give them a copy of the title for the designation to be legally effective.²

Changing or Revoking the Designation

You can change or cancel the beneficiary at any time, and you don’t need the current beneficiary’s permission.² You repeat the process — a new VR-471 and signed title, or the same online transaction — and the MVA voids the current title and issues an updated one. The $20 fee applies each time.

A will does not override this designation. If your will leaves the car to one person and your title names a different TOD beneficiary, the title controls. Changing who inherits the vehicle means going back to the MVA, not amending your will.

What the Beneficiary Does After You Die

After the owner’s death, the beneficiary must apply to the MVA for a new certificate of title. The statute requires them to submit:²

The original certificate of title showing the TOD designation.
An official copy of the deceased owner’s death certificate.
Valid government-issued identification matching the name on the title.
Applicable title transfer fees and any required taxes.

If a lien remains on the vehicle at the owner’s death, the beneficiary will have to obtain a release before the MVA will issue a clean title.

If the beneficiary dies before the owner does, the designation becomes void and the vehicle passes through the owner’s estate like any other asset, meaning probate.² That’s a good reason to review the designation now and then.

What the Designation Does Not Do

Avoiding probate is not the same as avoiding creditors. Maryland’s statute explicitly preserves creditor rights against beneficiaries and other transferees under other state laws.² If the deceased owner carried significant debts, the vehicle can still be reached. For most families moving a single passenger car to a spouse or child, this rarely comes up in practice, but it matters in a complicated estate.

1
Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. Vehicle Beneficiary How-to Guide
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Transportation Code 13-115 – Transfer-on-Death Designation of Beneficiary for Motor Vehicle