Bill
S 2381
Allows sole-title vehicle owners to designate beneficiaries who automatically receive title upon death, outside probate, with a 60-day post-death application window.
Short title (from text): An Act providing for motor vehicles transfer on death
Status and key dates (as provided)
- Filed: January 9, 2025 (Senate Docket No. 221 / Senate No. 2381)
- Referred to Transportation: January 16, 2025 (multiple entries)
- House concurred: February 27, 2025
- Hearing scheduled: May 13, 2025
- Read twice and referred to Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: July 22, 2025
- Current status (provided): Referred to Transportation
Purpose
- To allow an owner of a motor vehicle titled in sole ownership to designate one or more beneficiaries on the vehicle’s certificate of title who will automatically assume ownership of the vehicle upon the owner’s death, without the transfer being treated as a testamentary (probate) transfer.
Key provisions
- New Section 15B is added to Chapter 90D of the Massachusetts General Laws.
- Designation:
- A vehicle owner with sole title may designate beneficiaries in writing in a space provided on the certificate of title.
- The owner retains full ownership rights during life and may change or cancel the beneficiary designation at any time without beneficiary consent.
- Post-death procedure and time limit:
- Beneficiaries must apply to the Registrar for issuance of a new certificate of title and registration within 60 days after the owner’s death.
- Required documents: the original certificate of title showing the beneficiary designation, the owner’s death certificate, proof of beneficiaries’ identities as required by the Registrar, and payment of applicable title/registration fees.
- Failure to apply within 60 days bars the beneficiary from obtaining title under this section.
- If no designated beneficiaries survive the owner, the vehicle becomes part of the deceased owner’s estate.
- The transfer under this section is explicitly non-testamentary (i.e., it is not governed by probate as a will disposition).
- Creditor and lienholder protections:
- The section does not limit creditors’ rights under other Massachusetts law.
- Notice of such a transfer must be sent to any recorded lienholder.
Who is affected
- Motor vehicle owners holding sole title who wish to make a non-probate transfer on death.
- Named beneficiaries who would receive title and registration after the owner’s death.
- Registry of Motor Vehicles (Registrar) — administrative processing of designations and post‑death applications.
- Lienholders and creditors — preserved rights and entitled to notice of transfers.
- Estates when no beneficiaries survive.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Benefits: provides a simple, non-probate mechanism to transfer vehicle ownership on death, reducing delay and administrative burden for survivors.
- Administrative: RMV/Registrar will need processes to accept designations, verify identity, process death-certificate-based title transfers, and notify lienholders.
- Risks/limitations: beneficiaries must apply within a strict 60-day window; failure to do so forfeits the statutory transfer right. Creditors’ remedies remain available, so transfers do not shield vehicles from valid claims.
- Legal effect: creates a transfer-on-death mechanism similar to payable-on-death designations for other assets, but expressly non-testamentary and subject to existing creditor/lien rights.
Related/ancillary information
- Document references a prior-session bill S.6677 and replaces SD 221.
- The bill text as filed is attributed to Massachusetts legislators (presented by Senator Peter J. Durant, with petitioners including Bruce E. Tarr and John J. Marsi).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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