Puts two or more people on one Texas title so that when one of them dies the car belongs to the survivors, with no probate and no heirship affidavit. The beneficiary designation names who gets the car after you; this one makes somebody a co-owner now.
Written against VTR-122 (Rev 08/16), issued under Texas Transportation Code 501.031.
Survivorship and a beneficiary designation solve the same problem in opposite ways. Signing this hands somebody a present ownership interest in your car - they are an owner, and selling it later needs their signature too. If that is not what you want, the VTR-121 is the lighter tool.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VTR-122 from the txdmv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VTR-122 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual VTR-122, rendered from the PDF the Texas Department 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 real VTR-122, filled in for a married couple putting one car into joint ownership with rights of survivorship. Only Part A is completed, because the first certification box is the one ticked - the form tells you which parts belong with which box.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle information
VIN, year, make, body style and model, for the one vehicle this covers.
Watch out: One vehicle per agreement. A second car needs a second form.
2
You fill this in
Name everyone, in the right part
Spouses in Part A, everyone else in Part B, and a deliberately excluded spouse in Part C.
Watch out: A parent adding an adult child is Part B, not Part A. Married is doing real work in that heading.
3
You fill this in
Tick the matching certification
Part A only, Parts A and B, or Part B only.
Watch out: Each box names the parts it goes with. Ticking one and filling in a different part is the commonest reason this comes back.
4
You fill this in
Everyone signs and dates
A signature line for each person named, and a separate certification for a Part C spouse.
Watch out: No signature, no agreement, for that person. The survivorship only covers people who actually signed.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle information
VIN, year, make, body style and model. One vehicle to an agreement.
Part A: individuals married to one another
Two name rows, for spouses.
Part B: individuals not married to one another
Four more name rows, for anyone else joining the agreement.
Part C: spouse not included
One row, for a spouse who is deliberately outside the survivorship agreement.
Certification and signatures
Three tick boxes covering Part A alone, Parts A and B together, or Part B alone - then a dated signature line for every person named, and a separate certification for the Part C spouse.
What gets this one rejected
•Completing a part the tick box does not call for. Each certification says which parts belong with it: the first is Part A only, the second is Parts A and B, the third is Part B only.
•A missing signature. Every individual named in the parts you completed signs, and the agreement is between the people who sign it.
•Leaving Part C blank when a spouse is being excluded. If a married person joins a survivorship agreement without their spouse, the spouse completes Part C and signs their own certification.
•Using it to add somebody to a car you do not yet own outright. This rides with a title application, not on its own.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It changes ownership today, not on death. Everyone who signs becomes a joint owner from that day forward. That is the trade against the beneficiary designation: more certainty, less control.
•The survivor takes the whole car. The agreement’s own words: in the event of the death of any person named, ownership of the vehicle transfers to the survivor or survivors.
•Married and unmarried co-owners are handled separately. Part A is for spouses and Part B for everyone else, and the tick boxes let you combine them. A parent and an adult child use Part B.
•The excluded spouse has to say so in writing. Part C exists because Texas is a community property state. The spouse outside the agreement signs a certification acknowledging that their spouse is party to it.
Every line here was read off VTR-122 (Rev 08/16) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Texas 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.
