Transferring Your Vehicle to Your Trust in Nevada

There are several fact-specific reasons I don’t often counsel my clients to put their vehicles in their revocable trusts:

• You will go through several more vehicles during your life so it’s not worth the trouble.
• Your vehicle has no equity.
• Your insurer does not like to see a trust on registration.
• Nevada has a mechanism for small estates that will allow your vehicle to pass to your heirs without a court-supervised probate action.
• It is a huge hassle!*** (See update below!)

Despite those reasons, there are many clients who I do recommend titling their vehicle in their trust and Nevada provides way to do so.  Here are the steps (as of 11/14/2014):

1. The registered owner signs off as “seller” on the certificate of title and writes the trust name in as “buyer”.  Owner must record the lien information.  If none, write “none”.
2. If there is a lienholder you’ll need to get their approval.  Contact them, explain your goal, and beg for their cooperation.
3. The insured trustee of the trust completes the “Trustee Appointment and Powers Affidavit” (found here).  If you are at the DMV, you must sign this in front of a DMV technician, or you can mail it in as long as the form is notarized.
4. Include a check for $28.25 made payable to NV DMV Title Department
5. Mail all documents to:  NV DMV Title Department, 555 Wright Way, Carson City, NV 89711

Information directly from the DMV on the process is found at the bottom of the page here.  Due to the DMV being the DMV I can’t guarantee the process is foolproof, but I can vouch that it has worked for my clients in the past.

There is a similar form and process for Nevada OHV vehicles.

***NOVEMBER 2017 UPDATE

I recently put myself through the process to see just how much of a hassle the transfer to the trust really is firsthand.  My conclusion, so long as there is no lienholder and you have the right paperwork completed and you take advantage of the DashPass, the process is pretty simple.

First of all, making an appointment on Dash Pass makes a huge difference.  In my experience the soonest available appointment was two days later, but I was able to receive text reminders and jumped to the front of the line when I arrived at the DMV.  I walked into a separate shorter line just for Dash Pass users and was placed in line based on my appointment time, not when I arrived (to the dismay of some early birds I jumped in front of).  Once I checked in, I was given a number that was called out on the tote board, but once my number was called, I instantly received a text telling me what window to go to so I really didn’t need to focus so much on the numbers being called.

I brought proof of insurance (that displayed my name which needed to match me as trustee of the trust), my vehicle title, and my completed and unsigned ‘Trustee Appointment and Powers Affidavit’ (look for form VP-188 on the Nevada DMV website).  The employee walked me through how to fill in the ‘Buyer’ portion of the title wherein I wrote the name of the trust on the first line, and my name (as trustee) on the second line.  I also had to check the ‘Or’ box, not the ‘And’ box, because my insurance policy did not list my trust.  I then signed as both buyer and seller, paid the fee, and left.  A couple of weeks later my new title arrived in the mail showing my revocable living trust as the owner.

All in all, not bad.  There’s a learning curve, but in all my experiences, the DMV employees have always been patient and helpful.  As always, I would call ahead to the DMV first to confirm these instructions are still valid before you make your trip.