A short affidavit signed by both owners of a jointly titled vehicle, electing that when one of them dies the other simply keeps it. It is the decision that determines whether a family ever has to deal with an estate to sell a car, and it can only be made while both people are alive to sign.
Written against MVR-620 (Rev 4/26), issued under N.C. General Statute 20-72.1.
This is the cheapest piece of paperwork on this whole site and the one most likely to save a family a month. If a car is in two names and the survivorship box was never ticked, it is worth fixing on a quiet afternoon rather than at the worst possible moment.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVR-620 from the ncdot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVR-620 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual MVR-620, rendered from the PDF the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles 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
The actual MVR-620 at revision 4/26. The mailing and vehicle location blocks are greyed because both are only used when they differ from the residence address — but the two signature lines are not optional, and neither is the second name in the notary's certificate.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle section
The row above the owner boxes: year, make, body style, series model, then the seventeen characters of the VIN.
Watch out: Copy the VIN off the certificate. This affidavit attaches to a specific vehicle rather than to the two people signing it.
2
You fill this in
Owner 1
Identification number and full legal name.
Watch out: Full legal name as the licence has it, and the same version that appears on the title. A married name on one document and a maiden name on the other is a correction before it is an election.
3
You fill this in
Owner 2
The second owner's identification number and full legal name.
Watch out: Both people have to exist on the title for survivorship to mean anything. If the car is in one name, this form is not the way to add the second.
4
You fill this in
The survivorship question
Yes or No: joint applicants request this title to be issued with Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.
Watch out: Yes is the answer that lets a survivor keep the car without the estate. No leaves the deceased owner's share to be dealt with by the clerk of court.
5
You fill this in
Both owners' signatures
Two lines, side by side, signed in front of the same notary where possible.
Watch out: Both signatures are acknowledged. If the two owners cannot appear together, each acknowledgment has to be complete in its own right.
6
You fill this in
The notary block
The names of both principals, the notary's signature and printed name, the seal and the commission expiry.
Watch out: Check that the notary has written both names into the certificate. A certificate naming one principal only acknowledges one signature.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle section
The vehicle the two owners hold between them: year, make, body style, series model and the vehicle identification number.
Owner's section
Owner 1 ID number and full legal name, then Owner 2 ID number and full legal name. Both are required — this form has no meaning with one owner on it.
The election
One question with a Yes and a No box: joint applicants request this title to be issued with Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.
Addresses
Residence address with city, state and ZIP, a mail address if different, and a vehicle location address if different again.
Owners' signatures
Two signature lines side by side, one for each owner.
Date, county and state
Where and when the acknowledgment was taken.
Notary block
Names of the principals — both of them — then the notary's signature, printed or typed name, seal and commission expiry.
What gets this one rejected
•One signature. Both owners sign, and the notary's certificate names both as principals.
•The election left unanswered. A blank Yes/No is not a No, it is an incomplete affidavit.
•Owners joined by a relationship rather than by name. The form wants two full legal names and two identification numbers.
•Filing it after one owner has died. The affidavit is an election by living joint applicants and cannot be made retrospectively.
•An unnotarised signature from either owner.
•Using it to add a second owner. Adding a name is a transfer, with tax and a title fee; this form records how two existing names are held.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The same question is on the title application. The MVR-1 asks it too, in one line in the owner section. This affidavit is the way to record the election separately or to make it on a vehicle already titled in two names.
•It changes what a survivor has to do, not what they own. With survivorship recorded, the surviving owner deals with NCDMV and a death certificate. Without it, the deceased owner's half runs through the estate and the clerk of court becomes part of the process.
Every line here was read off MVR-620 (Rev 4/26) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the North Carolina Division 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.
