Texas Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle (VTR-262)

You just lost someone, and now there is a car in the driveway still titled in their name. Somebody mentioned probate. Somebody else said "just sign it over." The glovebox has an old registration card but no title, and the county tax office website is full of form numbers that mean nothing to you right now. That confusion is normal, and for most Texas families the answer is a two-page state form, not a courtroom.

This guide covers when the affidavit works, who has to sign it, how to fill it out box by box, what to bring to the tax office, what it costs, and what to do when it doesn't fit your situation. It is checked against the form itself, the Texas Estates Code, and TxDMV, Comptroller and county tax office guidance as of September 2026.

When You Can Use the Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle

By signing VTR-262, the heirs swear to a specific set of facts. The certification on the form has you check one of two boxes, and one of them has to be true:

• The owner left no will, or
• the owner left a will, but no application for administration or probate has been filed, or a court has determined no administration is necessary.

The heirs also swear that there is no need for an administration of the estate or for probate of a will, that they are the sole and only known heirs at law, that all of the will's beneficiaries are signing if there is a will, and that they all agree who the title should go to.

If those statements are true for your family, VTR-262 is almost always the fastest and cheapest route. If they aren't (a will has already been filed for probate, an executor has been appointed, or the family doesn't agree on who inherits), the affidavit is the wrong tool. Skip ahead to when VTR-262 won't work.

One thing the process does not require is the title. The Travis County Tax Office says it directly: you do not need the vehicle's title to inherit it, but state law requires specific documentation before you can title and register it in your name, sell it or give it as a gift.

Who Has to Sign VTR-262

The signers are called affiants, and Texas is specific about who they must be:

• If there is a surviving spouse, the spouse signs. If the decedent also had children with someone other than that spouse, those children must sign too.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the form says all of the decedent's children (if any) must sign as affiants.
• If the decedent left neither a spouse nor children, the form tells you to get advice on who the heirs at law are. That is the point where a short call with a probate attorney pays for itself.

Every heir's signature must be notarized. The form has room for three heirs. If there are more, or everyone can't meet the same notary, each heir can fill out a separate affidavit, and each one must be notarized. Sign in front of the notary, not before.

Take the certification seriously: the form itself states that falsifying information on it is a third-degree felony. If you are unsure whether someone counts as an heir, settle that before anyone signs.

How to Fill Out Form VTR-262, Section by Section

The current VTR-262 is two pages: the form, then the instructions. Work through it in this order:

1. Vehicle/Decedent Information. VIN, year, make, body style and model; the title or document number (the form says to leave it blank if you don't know it); license plate state and number, if there is one; the date of death; the county and state where the owner died; and the recorded owner's full name. Copy the VIN from the car or the old registration, not from memory. One wrong character and the county can't match the record.
2. Surviving Heir(s) of Decedent. Name and address for up to three heirs.
3. Transferee(s). The person or people the title is being transferred to. This is usually one heir. If you plan to sell right away, ask your buyer whose name should go here before anyone signs.
4. Affiant (Heir) Certification. Check exactly one box, "no will" or "a will was left, but no application for administration or probate has been filed, or a court has determined no administration is necessary," then each heir signs.
5. Notary. The notary completes the acknowledgment for the heirs who appeared.
6. Odometer section. Don't skip it. Travis County points out that federal law requires the mileage to be signed for on both sides of a transfer. On the heirship form, one heir signs on the first line (representing the seller) and one heir signs as the recipient (representing the buyer).

What to Take to the County Tax Office

You file at your county tax assessor-collector's office, the same office that handles every Texas title transfer. For an heirship transfer, the Travis County Tax Office asks for:

• The notarized Affidavit(s) of Heirship, Form VTR-262
• An Application for Texas Title and/or Registration, Form 130-U
• If a court was involved, the original or a certified copy of the court document showing no administration is necessary
• A release of lien if the car had a loan. The county notes it can see a lien in the state's motor vehicle database even if you don't have the title.
• If you are registering the car in your name: an emissions inspection where your county requires one, and proof of insurance that meets the Texas minimums of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage
• Valid photo ID. Since March 5, 2026, TxDMV requires stricter identification for ownership changes that involve initial registration, such as a valid, unexpired REAL ID-compliant driver's license or state ID, or a valid U.S. passport.

Travis County's list also includes Form 14-317, the gift transfer affidavit. That line predates the 2025 law change covered in the next section, so call your county office and ask whether they still want it from an heir.

Not on the county's list, but worth having in your folder: a certified copy of the death certificate, the will if there is one, and any loan paperwork. It is easier to carry them and not be asked than the other way around.

What It Costs, and the 2025 Tax Change Most Guides Miss

For an heirship transfer, the Travis County Tax Office charges $35.50: a $33 title transfer fee plus a $2.50 filing fee. Registration fees are extra if you register the car, and notaries charge separately. Other counties can differ, so confirm with yours.

What heirs should not pay any more is the $10 gift tax. Until 2025, a car passing from a decedent's estate to an heir was taxed like a family gift, at $10. Senate Bill 2064 changed that effective September 1, 2025. In TxDMV's notice to county offices, vehicles inherited through a decedent's estate or acquired by a rights of survivorship agreement "are exempt from motor vehicle sales tax, which eliminates the $10.00 gift tax previously collected." The Comptroller's Motor Vehicle Tax Guide says the same.

Plenty of pages, including some county tax office pages and Google's own search summaries, still describe the $10 gift tax for heirs. That is out of date for any transfer on or after September 1, 2025. Transfers completed before that date follow the old rule.

Form 14-317 itself still exists. It applies when a living family member gives someone a car, such as a parent to a child or one sibling to another.

When VTR-262 Won't Work

The affidavit is off the table once a probate application has been filed, and it is the wrong tool when the family disagrees about who inherits or it isn't clear who the heirs are. In those cases, one of these routes applies:

An executor or administrator has been appointed. The court-appointed executor or administrator transfers the car using the original or a certified copy of the letters testamentary, letter of authority or letters of administration, together with a Form 130-U and a release of lien if there is one.

Small Estate Affidavit (Texas Estates Code Chapter 205). This covers the whole estate, not just the car. Under Section 205.001 it is available when the owner died without a will, at least 30 days have passed since the death, no petition for a personal representative is pending or has been granted, the estate's assets (excluding the homestead and exempt property) are worth $75,000 or less, the affidavit is filed with the court, and the judge approves it. Once approved, the heirs are entitled to the estate's property, vehicles included, without waiting for a personal representative.

Muniment of Title (Texas Estates Code Chapter 257). This applies when there is a valid will and the estate has no unpaid debts other than debt secured by real estate. A court can admit the will "as a muniment of title," which serves as legal proof of who inherited what, including vehicles, without appointing an executor.

Full administration. This is the longer, more expensive probate process. It generally becomes necessary when there are unresolved debts, disputes about who is entitled to what, no will and no agreement among the heirs, or complications like multiple marriages, estranged family members or unclear heirship. If any of that describes your family, talk to a probate attorney before you touch the title paperwork. Forcing a shortcut in a contested estate creates bigger problems than the one you started with.

If There's Still a Loan on the Car

The loan doesn't disappear when the owner dies. Before a clean title can be issued, you need a release of lien from the lender, and the county will see the lien in the state database whether or not you have the title. If the balance hasn't been paid, call the lender first and ask for a payoff figure. Our guide to selling a car with a loan on it in Texas walks through payoffs and what happens when you owe more than the car is worth.

The form also covers one unusual case: if the lienholder recorded on the title is itself deceased and the lien has been paid, the affidavit can have the title issued free and clear of that lien to the transferee.

Selling the Car Once It's Out of the Owner's Name

Once the affidavit is signed, notarized and filed with the Form 130-U, you have a few paths:

• List it yourself and handle the transfer with a private buyer, which in many counties means both of you dealing with the tax office.
• Trade it toward a replacement vehicle at a dealership, which shifts some of the paperwork to the dealer.
• Sell it as-is to a company that buys cars in any condition, which is often the simplest option if the car is older, has mechanical problems, or nobody in the family wants to run a private sale.

If the car has been sitting since the death (dead battery, flat tires, maybe storm damage), a private buyer may balk, but condition doesn't stop a legal sale. It changes the offer, not whether you're allowed to sell. This is a situation we handle often: heirs calling about a car that has sat untouched in a garage or driveway since a parent passed, title never transferred, no idea where to start. We've bought inherited cars sitting untouched in a Lubbock driveway and running fine in a San Antonio garage, and the affidavit process works the same in both places.

At CashMyCarTX, we walk sellers through the affidavit-of-heirship paperwork, and we can tell you exactly which signatures and documents your situation needs before you drive anywhere. If you would rather talk it through, call us at (214) 617-0955. For the other ways to sell a Texas car when the title is missing, see selling a car without a title in Texas. If the car has no clean title history at all, rather than just a missing title, the bonded-title process for long-abandoned vehicles is a different route.

After any sale, file the vehicle transfer notification so later tickets and tolls don't come back to the estate. Our DMV paperwork after selling a car in Texas guide covers it.

When the Heirs Don't Agree

This is often the hardest part, and it has nothing to do with paperwork. A car sitting in an estate can become a stand-in for bigger tensions: who was closer to the parent, who paid for the funeral, who thinks they deserve more. VTR-262 needs the signatures of all the heirs at law precisely so that one heir can't dispose of shared property alone. If agreement isn't there yet, that is a family conversation to have first. No form can substitute for it.

Getting the Car Off Your Plate

Losing someone is hard enough without a car title turning into a second project. Texas built VTR-262 so families don't have to hire a probate attorney just to move a car out of a relative's name. For most straightforward situations (one surviving spouse, or a cooperative group of children, and no contested debts), the affidavit is enough.

Ready to get a real number for the car? Get an instant cash offer from CashMyCarTX, with free towing anywhere in Texas. We'll tell you plainly what paperwork we need and what the car is worth.