How to Transfer a Car Title After Death in Illinois

How you transfer a car title after death in Illinois depends on how the deceased person held the title. A jointly titled vehicle passes to the surviving co-owner with a $5 title correction. A vehicle with a transfer-on-death beneficiary on the title goes to that named person. A vehicle titled in the deceased person’s name alone usually transfers through a small estate affidavit, and larger or court-supervised estates transfer through probate. Every path ends at the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, and the paperwork differs for each.

Which Transfer Method Fits Your Situation

Pull out the current title and look at how it is held. Four situations cover almost every Illinois transfer:

The title lists two or more owners. The surviving co-owner already owns the vehicle and only needs a corrected title.
The deceased owner filed a Beneficiary Affidavit naming someone to receive the vehicle at death. That person applies for a new title.
The title was in the deceased person’s name alone, no probate case has been opened, and the deceased person’s non-vehicle personal property does not exceed $150,000. A small estate affidavit works. If the vehicle is the only asset being transferred, the $150,000 cap does not apply at all.¹
A probate case has been opened, or the estate is large or complex enough to require one. The court-appointed executor or administrator handles the transfer.

Jointly Titled Vehicles

Illinois treats co-owners on a vehicle title as joint tenants with right of survivorship. When one owner dies, the survivor already owns the entire vehicle without probate or an affidavit.² The title still needs to be corrected to drop the deceased person’s name.

Send the Secretary of State a copy of the death certificate, the original title (you do not need to sign the assignment section), and an application for a corrected title. The fee is $3 for the corrected title, plus $2 to correct the registration if you plan to drive the vehicle.³

If the surviving co-owner wants to sell the vehicle to someone else rather than keep it, the survivor assigns the title to the buyer and the buyer pays the standard $165 title fee, use tax, and registration.⁴

Transfer-on-Death Beneficiary

Illinois lets a sole owner name one beneficiary on the title who receives the vehicle at death. This bypasses both probate and the small estate affidavit. If the deceased owner set this up, the named beneficiary applies for a new title with the Secretary of State.⁴

A few limits are worth knowing. Only vehicles with a single individual owner and no lienholder qualify. Joint tenancy titles and leased vehicles cannot carry a beneficiary. A will cannot override or revoke the designation after death; the beneficiary form controls. If the named beneficiary dies before the owner, the vehicle drops into the deceased owner’s probate estate and follows the normal probate rules.

Small Estate Affidavit

The small estate affidavit is the usual path when the vehicle was titled in the deceased person’s name alone and there is no beneficiary on the title. Illinois allows it when no probate case has been opened and the deceased person’s non-vehicle personal property does not exceed $150,000.¹

Two features of the statute matter for cars. Vehicles registered with the Secretary of State are excluded from the $150,000 calculation, so a $40,000 truck does not eat into the cap. And if the vehicle is the only asset being transferred, the affidavit is available regardless of the total estate value.¹ Even an estate worth well over $150,000 can use this shortcut for the car alone.

Documents to Submit

The Secretary of State asks for the following:⁵

A completed Small Estate Affidavit listing the vehicle’s year, make, and VIN. If the deceased left a will, attach a certified copy. The person signing the affidavit does not have to be an heir.
The original certificate of title. It does not need to be signed or assigned. If it has been lost, note that on the affidavit.
A copy of the death certificate or abstract.
Application for Vehicle Transaction(s), Form VSD 190, with the current odometer reading for vehicles model year 2011 or newer.
Proof of current insurance on the vehicle.
Form RUT-50, the Private Party Vehicle Use Tax form, with payment.

The 30-Day Wait

You cannot file a small estate affidavit the day after someone dies. Illinois requires a waiting period, so plan for at least 30 days after the date of death before submitting the paperwork. The gap gives creditors time to come forward.

Probate Transfers

If a probate case has been opened, or if the deceased person’s non-vehicle personal property exceeds $150,000, the vehicle transfers through the court-appointed representative. A will names this person as the executor; without a will, the court appoints an administrator.²

The representative receives Letters of Office from the probate court proving they have authority over the estate. To move the vehicle, they send the Secretary of State:⁵

A certified copy of the Letters of Office.
The original certificate of title, signed and assigned by the representative to the new owner. Under this path, the representative can assign the title directly to a buyer without first titling the vehicle to an heir.
Proof of current insurance.
Form VSD 190 with the odometer reading for model year 2011 or newer vehicles.
Form RUT-50 with payment.

Probate can run for months. Keep insurance active on the vehicle for the duration.

Attorney’s Affidavit

The Secretary of State accepts an attorney’s affidavit as a third path when the estate did not go through probate and the small estate affidavit does not fit. An Illinois-licensed attorney prepares the affidavit on their letterhead, stating the deceased person’s name and last address, date of death, the vehicle’s year, make, and VIN, the person receiving the vehicle, and that person’s relationship to the deceased. The same supporting documents apply: death certificate, original title, Form VSD 190, proof of insurance, and Form RUT-50.⁵

Fees and Vehicle Use Tax

A joint tenancy correction runs $3 for the title and $2 for the registration correction. Every other path, whether small estate affidavit, attorney’s affidavit, or probate, costs $165 for the new title, plus $151 for standard passenger car registration if you want to drive it.³

Every transfer requires Form RUT-50 for the vehicle use tax. The tax is normally based on fair market value, but family transfers get a flat $15 rate when the vehicle passes to a spouse, parent, sibling, or child (including adopted children).⁶ Step-relations, in-laws, and grandparent-to-grandchild transfers do not qualify for the reduced rate. The use tax is owed to the Illinois Department of Revenue but submitted through the Secretary of State along with the rest of the paperwork.

Fees are payable by check or money order to the Illinois Secretary of State. Cash is not accepted for mailed transactions. If you mail your paperwork, use separate checks for the Secretary of State fees and the Department of Revenue use tax.⁷

Where to File

You can bring your documents to any Secretary of State facility in person, or mail them to:

Illinois Secretary of State
501 S. Second St., Rm. 300
Springfield, IL 62756⁷

Filing in person lets you catch missing signatures or forms on the spot. Once the office processes the paperwork, the new title is mailed to the address on the application.

If the Vehicle Has a Loan

A lien does not disappear when the owner dies. The loan balance becomes a debt of the estate, and the lienholder’s name stays on the title until the balance is paid. The estate representative or heir needs to contact the lender about paying off the balance, refinancing, or surrendering the vehicle. The lender must release the lien before a clean title can be issued in a new owner’s name. If the deceased carried credit life insurance on the auto loan, that policy may pay off part or all of what is left.⁸

One boundary matters here: a vehicle with an active lien cannot carry a transfer-on-death beneficiary designation, so if money was still owed on the car, the beneficiary route was never available.⁴

Keep Insurance Active

An auto policy does not cancel automatically when the policyholder dies, but it will not cover a new driver indefinitely. Contact the insurer as soon as possible to add yourself to the existing policy or start a new one. Proof of insurance is part of every title transfer application, so you will need it in hand regardless of when you plan to drive the vehicle.⁷

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 755 ILCS 5/25-1
2
Cornell Law School. Illinois Administrative Code Title 92, 1010.150 – Transferring Certificates of Title Upon the Owners Death
3
Illinois Secretary of State. Vehicle Fees
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Section 1010.150 – Transferring Certificates of Title Upon the Owners Death
5
Illinois Secretary of State. Corrected Title – Deceased
6
Illinois Department of Revenue. RUT-50 Instructions for Private Party Vehicle Use Tax Transaction
7
Illinois Secretary of State. Title and Registration Checklist – Inheriting a Vehicle
8
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Credit Insurance for an Auto Loan?