The form that stops any of the estate paperwork ever being needed. An owner names a beneficiary now, the letters TOD appear next to that name on the title, and the vehicle passes on death without probate and without sales tax. It is signed before a notary, it is not itself a title application, and it has one clause worth understanding before it is signed: while the owner is alive the beneficiary has no ownership interest of any kind and no say in a sale.
Written against PS2004 (Rev 09/2017), issued under Minnesota Statutes 168A.125.
DVS says in its own note on this form that it cannot provide legal or estate planning advice and to see a licensed attorney. A transfer-on-death designation interacts with a will, with a surviving spouse's rights and with claims against an estate, and a car is rarely the only thing in play.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank PS2004 from the assets.dps.mn.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual PS2004, rendered from the PDF the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services 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
Page 1 of 2. Sections A to C. The owner block, the beneficiary block, and the entity block below it left grey because a beneficiary is either a person or an organisation, never both.Page 2 of 2. Sections D to F. Spousal consent is greyed because the owner in this sample is unmarried - and the six statements above the signature are initialled one at a time, which is what makes this an acknowledgement rather than a form. Both notary blocks are printed rather than fillable, so they stay empty here.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Section A, owner information
Every owner on the title: name, date of birth, driver's licence or identification card number and address.
Watch out: All of them. A designation made by one of two joint owners is a designation the other one has not made, and the vehicle only reaches the beneficiary on the death of the last survivor.
2
You fill this in
Section B, the beneficiary
Name, date of birth, licence or identification number and address of the person who should receive the vehicle.
Watch out: A date of birth and a credential number matter more here than they look. This name has to be matched to a real person years later, possibly by somebody who never met them.
3
You fill this in
Section C, or not
The entity block, for a beneficiary that is an organisation rather than a person.
Watch out: One or the other. Filling in both leaves DVS to decide which you meant, and it will not.
4
You fill this in
Section D, the vehicle
Year and make, model, vehicle identification number, plate number and the state the plate was issued from.
Watch out: One designation per vehicle. A household with three cars in one name needs three of these forms and three title transactions.
5
Somebody else fills this in
Section E, spousal consent
Where the owner is married and the beneficiary is not the spouse: the spouse's unconditional consent, signed and notarised.
Watch out: The notary block here is separate from the one at the foot and is marked required with spousal signature. Two signatures, two notarisations.
6
You fill this in
Initial all six acknowledgements
Six statements in section F, each initialled individually, each carrying its own statutory citation.
Watch out: Read the fifth one. A state or county claim under the medical assistance statutes voids the conveyance entirely, which is the circumstance in which people who relied on this form discover it did not work.
7
You fill this in
Sign before a notary
The owner's signature at the foot of section F, with the notary block completed beneath it.
Watch out: The initials and the signature are notarised together. A form signed at the kitchen table and notarised afterwards is not what the block above it certifies.
8
You fill this in
Attach a title application
Instruction 6: the designation is not a title application, and a PS2000 goes with it.
Watch out: The whole point is to get TOD printed next to a name on a new certificate, and a new certificate needs an application. Sending this on its own achieves nothing at all.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Section A, owner information
Up to three owners, each with last, first, middle name, date of birth, a driver's licence or identification card number split across five boxes, and a street address, city, state and zip code.
Section B, designation of beneficiary
The same block again for a person - name, date of birth, licence number, address.
Section C, when the beneficiary is an entity
Entity name and address, for a beneficiary that is a charity or a company rather than a person.
Section D, motor vehicle information
Vehicle year and make, model, vehicle identification number, plate number, and the state the plate was issued from.
Section E, spousal consent
Where the owner is married and the beneficiary is somebody other than the spouse, the spouse's written consent - with its own notary block, required with the spousal signature.
Section F, vehicle owner acknowledgement
Six statements to be initialled one by one, each with its own statutory citation, then the owner's signature before a notary.
The six acknowledgements
There is no ownership interest until death of the owner or last survivor; ownership on death is subject to the rights of all secured parties and any surviving spouse; if no beneficiary survives, the vehicle goes into probate; a transfer on death is not a testamentary transfer; a state or county claim can void the conveyance; and acquisition by transfer on death is exempt from motor vehicle sales tax.
The instruction that catches people
Numbered 6 on the first page: the Transfer on Death Beneficiary designation is not a title application, and it must be submitted with an application for motor vehicle title.
What gets this one rejected
•Sending it on its own. It is not a title application and DVS says so in its own instructions - it travels with a PS2000.
•A married owner naming somebody other than their spouse without section E. The statute requires the spouse's written consent, and the consent needs its own notarisation.
•Statements left uninitialled. Section F says by initialling each statement and signing below before a notary I acknowledge - all six, individually.
•A beneficiary expecting to be able to do something now. There is no ownership interest in the motor vehicle until death of the owner, and the owner can sell the car tomorrow without asking.
•Assuming the designation can be crossed out later. To remove a beneficiary you apply for a new title, which is a transaction rather than an amendment.
•Relying on it where the estate owes the state money. A claim authorized by section 256B.15 against the estate of an owner voids any transfer-on-death conveyance, and that is one of the six statements being initialled.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•A beneficiary is not a co-owner. This is the point most often misunderstood. While the owner is alive, only the owner's signature is required to sell the vehicle, and the person named as beneficiary is not consulted.
•No title is issued to the beneficiary in advance. DVS's note is explicit: a motor vehicle title will not be provided to the beneficiary, and the owner should keep a copy of the application with their important papers.
•It is exempt from motor vehicle sales tax. One of the six initialled statements. A vehicle inherited through a transfer-on-death designation is not taxed on its value when the beneficiary claims it.
Every line here was read off PS2004 (Rev 09/2017) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
