How to fill out Missouri Form 2305

The short way a car leaves a Missouri estate. Under RSMo 474.250 a surviving spouse - or, where there is none, the decedent's unmarried minor children - are entitled absolutely to one automobile or other passenger motor vehicle from the estate without regard to its value, and this notarised affidavit is how that entitlement is proved to a license office. One vehicle only, and the form makes you say so.

Written against Form 2305 (Rev 08-2019), issued under RSMo 474.250. This form settles one car and nothing else. Where the estate holds two vehicles, or where the survivor is neither a spouse nor an unmarried minor child, the exempt-property route is closed and the transfer goes through probate - which is a court matter rather than a license office one.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 2305 from the dor.mo.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Estate of, and the affiant

   The state and county at the head of the form, then the name, county and address of the person swearing it.

   Watch out: The affiant is usually the surviving spouse, and where it is, the same name appears twice - once here and once in the spouse block below.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The decedent

   Name, date of death, county and last address.

   Watch out: Take the date of death from the certificate rather than from memory. It is the fact the whole entitlement hangs on and a license office may ask to see the death certificate.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The surviving spouse

   Name, county and address, under the printed marital condition.

   Watch out: Read the condition before filling it in - a separation of more than a year before the death takes the entitlement away, and the form states that rather than hiding it in a statute.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Or the unmarried minor children

   Three rows of name, date of birth and address, and a line for the affiant's relationship to each of them.

   Watch out: Only where there is no surviving spouse. The two blocks are alternatives and completing both is a contradiction on a sworn document.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   The vehicle

   Year, make, vehicle identification number, model and current licence number.

   Watch out: One vehicle. The signature block turns that into a sworn statement, so a second car in the estate has to go another way.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   The nuptial question

   A Yes and a No on pre-nuptial, antenuptial or post-nuptial agreements concerning the decedent's personal property.

   Watch out: It is asked because such an agreement can displace the exempt-property entitlement. A Yes needs the agreement attached.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Sign in front of the notary

   The affiant's signature and date, then the notary block underneath.

   Watch out: The line above your signature is the one that matters: it acknowledges that this is the only motor vehicle being taken as exempt property. Sign it knowing that.

What gets this one rejected

• •A second vehicle. The declaration above the signature is an acknowledgement that this is the only motor vehicle owned by the decedent that is being transferred to a surviving spouse or minor children as exempt property.
• •A spouse who does not meet the printed condition. Married to the decedent, and not divorced or separated for more than one year before the death.
• •Naming both a spouse and the children. The children's block is headed for the case where the decedent was not survived by a spouse.
• •A Yes on the nuptial agreement question with nothing attached. The form asks for a copy of the agreement.
• •Sending it on its own. Printed under the title: this form must accompany the title application.
• •An empty notary block. The affidavit is sworn, and the block at the foot is what makes it one.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It goes in with a Form 108. The affidavit establishes who may sign; the application for title is what actually moves the certificate.
• •A license office notary costs $2.00. Printed on the form, immediately above the notary block.
• •Transfer on death is a different route. Where the deceased owner had named a beneficiary on the title, that beneficiary uses proof of death and the existing certificate instead - and the Department's manual adds that they may assign the title on to a buyer without first titling it in their own name.

Every line here was read off Form 2305 (Rev 08-2019) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Missouri Department of Revenue pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all Missouri seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Missouri involves.