The form that makes the affidavit above unnecessary. A sole owner names who the vehicle goes to on their death, MVD records it against the title, and the beneficiary transfers the car later without probate and without an estate affidavit. It costs nothing to file and it is the single most useful piece of paperwork on this page - filed years before anybody needs it.
Written against 96-0561 (R05/25), issued under A.R.S. 28-2055(B).
This form has nothing to do with selling a car today - and everything to do with whether your family has to fill in a sworn affidavit to sell one later. If you own a vehicle outright and in your name alone, it is ten minutes well spent.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 96-0561 from the apps.azdot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual 96-0561, rendered from the PDF the Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Four beneficiary rows and a legal status column, which is the part worth pausing on. Or lets any one of them transfer the vehicle alone; And means every one of them has to sign, which is how a simple gift becomes a family negotiation.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number, Year, Make
The vehicle the designation attaches to.
Watch out: It has to be a vehicle you own alone. A car in two names cannot carry a beneficiary designation, whatever the second name's relationship to you.
2
You fill this in
Title Number
The Arizona title number, from the certificate or from AZ MVD Now.
Watch out: This is how MVD attaches the designation to the right record. A wrong number here means a designation nobody can find.
3
You fill this in
Beneficiary Full Legal Name
The person who is to receive the vehicle, in full.
Watch out: Full legal name, as it appears on their driver licence. They will be proving they are that person at a counter, possibly years from now.
4
You fill this in
Date of Birth
Marked optional on the form.
Watch out: Fill it in anyway. It is the cheapest way to distinguish your beneficiary from everybody else in Arizona with the same name.
5
You fill this in
Legal Status
Or, And or And/Or, where more than one beneficiary is named.
Watch out: Only relevant with two or more names. With one beneficiary the column can be left alone.
6
You fill this in
The further beneficiary rows
Three more rows for additional beneficiaries.
Watch out: Naming several is allowed, and each extra name is another signature the survivors may need. Decide the legal status with that in mind.
7
You fill this in
Owner Name, Signature and Date
The sole owner signs and dates it.
Watch out: No witness, no notary, no fee. If the title is on paper, staple the form to it and hand both in together when the time comes.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The instructions panel
Two lines at the top: if the current title is electronic, this form may be submitted alone when transferring ownership; if the current title is paper, this form must be stapled to it and surrendered together when transferring ownership. Underneath, in bold: void if altered or erased.
The sole-owner statement
I am the sole owner of the motor vehicle described as follows, with a parenthetical warning that the Beneficiary Designation is only applicable if vehicle is owned by one person.
Vehicle Identification Number, Year, Make, Title Number
The vehicle and its Arizona title number.
Beneficiary Full Legal Name, Date of Birth (optional), Legal Status
Four rows, so more than one beneficiary can be named.
The statutory reference and indemnity
This document is provided pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes 28-2055(B), followed by a release holding the Division harmless from any contest to the validity of the designation.
Owner Name, Owner Signature, Date
One owner, one signature. Nobody witnesses it.
The Legal Status explanation
The lower half of the sheet sets out what Or, And and And/Or will mean between the beneficiaries once they inherit.
What gets this one rejected
•A jointly owned vehicle. The form is only applicable if the vehicle is owned by one person, and it says so beside the first line.
•Any alteration. Void if altered or erased is printed in the instruction panel, not buried in the small print.
•Two or more beneficiaries with no legal status. The box decides whose signatures will be required later, and without it the designation is incomplete.
•A paper title left at home. Where the title is on paper, this form has to be stapled to it and surrendered together.
•A beneficiary named by nickname. The field asks for a full legal name, because the person named is the person who will have to prove identity years later.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is the alternative to the Non-Probate Affidavit. A designated beneficiary takes the vehicle on proof of death. There is no thirty-day wait, no ceiling on what the rest of the estate is worth, and no sworn affidavit.
•An electronic title makes it simpler still. Where the title is held electronically, the form may be submitted alone at the time of transfer - which is now the ordinary case in Arizona.
•The legal status governs the beneficiaries, not you. Or, And and And/Or on this form describe how the named beneficiaries will hold the vehicle between them once it passes.
•It can be changed. It is a designation on your own vehicle, made by you, and a fresh form supersedes it. What it cannot do is survive the vehicle being sold.
