Government amends rules to transfer vehicle ownership in case of owner's death

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made some amendments in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 in order to facilitate those who want to nominate a person in their vehicle registration certificate.

This would be helpful if a motor vehicle will need to be transferred in the name of the nominee in case of death of the owner. As per the amended rules, an owner can put the name of a nominee at the time getting his/her vehicle registered. The nominee can also be added later with the help of an online application. The owner of the vehicle will have to submit identity proof of the nominee.

At present, before the new amendment comes into affect, the procedure of transferring the vehicle to a nominee in case of death of a registered owner of a vehicle requires complying with a raft of procedures and frequent visits to different offices. The process is not uniform across the country and quite cumbersome.

When the owner of a motor vehicle dies, the person nominated by the vehicle owner in the certificate of registration or the one who is succeeding to the possession of the vehicle can use the vehicle as his/her own for a period of three months from the death of the owner. For this, the person will have to inform the registering authority about the occurrence of the death of the owner within 30 days of the nonoccurence of death.

Further, to transfer the vehicle in his or her name, the nominee will have to apply in Form 31 within the period of three months from the death of the owner of the motor vehicle.

In cases where the owner wants to change the nominee of the motor vehicle in case of contingencies like divorce or division of property, s/he may change the nomination with an agreed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).