How to fill out New York MV-349

The next-of-kin version, for the estate that has no surviving spouse and no surviving minor children. It is the same $25,000 ceiling and the same notary, but a much longer set of questions - because without a spouse the DMV has to satisfy itself that no court is going to be involved either.

Written against MV-349 (8/21), issued under New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, with the surviving-spouse disqualification test at section 5-1.2. Read the terms of use before anything else on the page. Four conditions have to hold at once, and the form has no mechanism for a case where three of them do - a next of kin who fills it in optimistically has sworn to something they cannot support.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-349 from the dmv.ny.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV-349 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Print your name and county

   The next of kin, with the county, then the mailing address on the row beneath.

   Watch out: Only one person can be the deponent. If two siblings are sorting the car out between them, decide which of you is signing before either of you writes anything.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Name of deceased, date of death, relationship

   Three cells: who died, when, and how you are related.

   Watch out: Relationship in plain words - sister, nephew, cousin. It is what the department reads to decide whether you are next of kin at all.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The will and other-vehicles questions

   Whether there was a will, whether it has been or will be probated, and whether the deceased owned any other motor vehicles.

   Watch out: A yes to any of these takes you out of this form. That is not a setback to be worked around; it is the form telling you the transfer belongs in the Surrogate's Court.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Value of the vehicle

   What the vehicle being transferred is worth, in the cell at the end of the question row.

   Watch out: The ceiling is twenty-five thousand dollars and it is a value at the date of death. Write the number you can defend rather than the number that keeps the form usable.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Transferred to

   The name and full address of the person receiving the vehicle.

   Watch out: It can be you, and it can be a buyer. Either way the name here has to match the certificate assignment, because the two documents travel to the counter together.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   The sworn affidavit

   Sign in full before a notary public or commissioner of deeds, who completes the jurat and the commission expiry.

   Watch out: Read the sentence you are swearing to. It contains an indemnity of every eligible person whose consent you have not obtained, and that is a real undertaking rather than a formula.

What gets this one rejected

• •Any surviving spouse or minor child. The terms of use say the form should only be used if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving minor children.
• •A will that is going to be probated. Two of the five questions ask about it precisely so that this route closes if the answer is yes.
• •A second vehicle. If the deceased owned more than one, the next of kin may not use this form to transfer any of them.
• •A vehicle over the ceiling. More than $25,000 and the vehicle becomes part of the estate.
• •Signing it without a notary. The affidavit block is a sworn one, with a jurat and a commission expiry date underneath.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •What the indemnity actually commits you to. The sworn sentence offers two alternatives, and most people sign the second without noticing: either every other eligible person has consented and waived their claims, or you personally agree to indemnify all eligible persons whose consent has not been obtained. That is a promise about other relatives, made under oath.
• •Why section 5-1.2 is printed on the back. Because "is the surviving spouse disqualified" is a legal question rather than a family one. The statute is reproduced on page 2 and lists the six grounds - divorce or annulment, a void marriage, an out-of-state decree, a separation judgment, abandonment, and failure to support.
• •Where to go instead. If any of the terms of use fails, the transfer runs through the Surrogate's Court: Letters Testamentary from an executor, Letters of Administration from an administrator, or a voluntary administrator's affidavit, submitted with the decedent's certificate signed by whoever the documents give authority to.

Every line here was read off MV-349 (8/21) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles 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 New York seller paperwork, or what selling a car in New York involves.