Two pages that decide who is allowed to sign the assignment block on a dead owner's certificate. The first is a decision table - four routes through an estate, each with its own list of documents - and the second carries the exception that moves up to two vehicles to a surviving spouse for no fee and no tax, with the statement that claims it printed at the foot. It is a bulletin rather than an application, which is why it is so often missed: nobody searches the forms index for a bulletin, and this is where the answer is.
Written against VT-021 (05/2018), issued under 23 V.S.A. s. 2023(e) for the surviving spouse exception and s. 3816 for vessels, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles; the statement is made under penalties of 23 V.S.A. s. 202, s. 203 and s. 3829(a)(4). The two pages answer different questions and only the second one has anything to sign. Read page one to find out which documents you need, and complete the statement on page two only if you are the surviving spouse claiming the no-fee exception.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VT-021 from the dmv.vermont.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VT-021 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is all 2 pages of the actual VT-021, rendered from the PDF the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Agency of Transportation publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
TEN ENT, JTEN, TEN COM, PTNRS, TOD, or nothing printed at all.
Watch out: Everything on page one branches from that one abbreviation, and the difference between two of them is a death certificate against a letter from a probate judge.
For tenants by the entirety, the copy has to identify the surviving spouse.
Watch out: Vermont town clerks issue certified copies of death certificates for deaths recorded in the town. Order two while you are there; the buyer's application keeps one.
A copy of the death certificate and the original title with the Release of Liens section completed if a lienholder is printed on it.
Watch out: The named beneficiary is now the owner and signs as the seller. Nothing they signed before the death has any effect.
Intestate or a will, probate or no probate. Four combinations, four different letters.
Watch out: The letter has to name the person who has the rights of ownership to the vehicle. A letter that merely confirms a death is not the letter the department is asking for.
Completed by the administrator or the executor, with any other owners, assigning the vehicle to the new owner.
Watch out: It is signed in the name of the estate's officer, not in the deceased's name. Signing a dead person's name into an assignment is a false statement, not a shortcut.
No more than two vehicles, and nobody other than the deceased and the spouse on the title.
Watch out: The cap is per person, not per estate, and the third vehicle simply reverts to the ordinary fees and tax. It is not a refusal.
Your name, the deceased's name, one of the two boxes ticked, and your signature and date.
Watch out: Tick the limb that is actually true. The second limb - a will that does not dispose of the vehicle to anyone other than you - is the one people miss because they assume any will closes the exception.
A VD-119 for a new owner who is not already a registered owner, or where the registration has expired.
Watch out: Under the exception no fee is assessed on up to two vehicles and the transaction is exempt from purchase and use tax, which is worth knowing before somebody pays it at the counter.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Definitions | Six of them, and they carry weight later: registered/titled owner, intestate, no probate, probate, officer of the court - an attorney or an official court officer such as a court clerk or probate judge - and vehicle, which here includes a vessel, an ATV and a snowmobile. |
| Route 1 - Jointly titled to Tenants By The Entirety (spouses) | One document: a copy of the death certificate identifying the surviving spouse. Nothing else. |
| Route 2 - Joint Tenants or Partners | A copy of the death certificate. The department treats both legends the same way here, which is itself the answer to a question its own forms disagree about. |
| Route 3 - Titled to deceased only with Transfer on Death | A copy of the death certificate, and the original title with the Release of Liens section completed by the lienholder if there is one. Excludes vessels, snowmobiles and ATVs. |
| Route 4 - Tenants in Common, or no legend printed, split four ways | Intestate with no probate, intestate with probate, will with no probate, will with probate. Each needs a different letter from a different court officer before anybody can sign. |
| Re-registering the vehicle | Three numbered notes: the deceased's name may be removed at any time during the registration year at a titled owner's request; names on registration and title have to match and change together; and a new owner who is not already a registered owner re-registers on a VD-119. |
| Surviving Spouse Exception - the conditions | Two vehicles maximum, no limit on vessels, snowmobiles or ATVs; it does not apply if anybody other than the deceased and the surviving spouse is on the title; and it applies where the spouse died intestate or the will does not specifically address the disposition of motor vehicles. |
| Surviving Spouse Statement: I, [name of surviving spouse], hereby certify that [name of deceased] died | Two blanks in one sentence, and the whole of the claim. |
| Without leaving a will / leaving a will that does not dispose of the vehicle to any person other than the survivor | Two boxes, one of which must be ticked. They are the two limbs of s. 2023(e). |
| I further certify that I was the legal spouse to the above named person at the time of his/her death | The second certification, printed above the signature line. |
| Signature and Date | One signature. The note underneath limits when it is needed: the statement is only required if the vehicle is being registered under the exception. |
Every line here was read off VT-021 (05/2018) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Agency of Transportation pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.
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