When a car owner dies in Ontario: the papers ServiceOntario asks for

When the registered owner of a car dies in Ontario, the car does not move into anyone's name until someone goes in person to a ServiceOntario centre with papers that show who is now entitled to it. Which papers depends on two things: how the car was registered, and whether the owner left a will. The government page that sets this out is the Ministry of Finance guide to retail sales tax on specified vehicles, last updated June 30, 2025, because the same papers that prove entitlement are what make the transfer exempt from the tax.

Many of the lists published online merge every situation into one long checklist. The ministry guide does not. It treats a legally married co-owner, a beneficiary named in a will, and a beneficiary where there is no will as separate cases, and the documents differ from one to the next.

Four situations, four sets of papers

Who receives the car	What the ministry guide asks to see
A legally married spouse who was a joint registered owner	A death certificate, or a certified copy of it. The will and estate papers are not required.
Any other surviving joint owner, common-law spouses included	The same supporting documents as a beneficiary, depending on whether there is a will
A beneficiary, and there is a will	The will, original or certified copy, naming the estate trustee and the beneficiary; extra papers if either name is missing
A beneficiary, and there is no will	A letter from the estate trustee with a court certificate, or a letter from a lawyer, carrying set details about the deceased, the beneficiary and the car

The rest of this article walks through each row, then through the papers that every transfer needs regardless of the row.

The married co-owner: one document

Where two legally married people were both registered owners and one of them dies, the guide lets the survivor transfer the car exempt from retail sales tax with a death certificate, or a certified copy of one. It states that the will and estate documents described for beneficiaries are not required in that situation.

The guide draws the line at marriage. For every other kind of joint ownership, and it names common-law spouses expressly, the surviving owner has to show the same supporting documents a beneficiary would. Being on the ownership permit together is not enough on its own.

A car left to someone in a will

The starting document is the will itself. The guide asks for the original will or a certified copy, and the will has to clearly name both the estate trustee and the beneficiary who is receiving the car.

When the will does not name the estate trustee

If the will does not identify the estate trustee, the guide adds a court document: either a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with a Will, or a Small Estate Certificate. Both are issued by the Superior Court of Justice through the probate process; the will alone does not establish who has authority over the estate in that case.

When the will does not name the beneficiary

A will often leaves a car inside the residue of the estate rather than to a named person. Where the beneficiary is not clearly named, the guide asks for a letter from the estate trustee confirming who the beneficiary is, in addition to the will.

Signing a will and the affidavit that later proves it are a separate subject, covered in the article on the affidavit of execution.

When there is no will

Without a will there is nothing to name a beneficiary, so the guide relies on a letter. It accepts either a letter from the estate trustee, presented together with a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee without a Will or a Small Estate Certificate, or a letter from a lawyer. Whichever letter is used, the guide lists what it has to state:

1. that a will does not exist;
2. the full name of the person who died, with their date of birth;
3. the date of death;
4. the full name of the beneficiary receiving the car;
5. the car itself: its vehicle identification number, year, make and model.

The guide does not say the letter has to be sworn or notarized. It is a letter, and its weight comes from who signs it and from the court certificate that goes with the estate trustee's version. Who may apply for that certificate when there is no will is set out on ontario.ca's probate pages, linked below.

What "certified copy" means on that list

Two items in the guide can be brought either as originals or as copies:

original or certified copy

That is the guide's wording for the will, and it uses the same idea for the death certificate. It does not say who has to do the certifying. A certified copy is a photocopy carrying a statement, signed and sealed by an official, that it is a true copy of an original the official saw. In Ontario a notary public can make that statement about an original document placed in front of them, and the copy then travels while the original stays with the family or the estate trustee. What such a copy is, and how it differs from an ordinary photocopy, is explained in the article on certified true copies.

A death certificate is a slightly different case. The certificate issued by ServiceOntario's Office of the Registrar General is itself an original government document. A notarial copy certifies that a photocopy matches that certificate; it does not replace the certificate. Whether a ServiceOntario centre takes a notarial copy of either document for a particular transfer is the centre's decision, and the guide leaves it there.

Papers every transfer needs, whatever the route

The documents above prove who is entitled to the car. The transfer itself still runs on the ordinary vehicle paperwork that ontario.ca lists for moving a car between people:

• the vehicle ownership permit, with the application for transfer on its back filled in;
• proof of Ontario insurance on the car;
• the receiving person's Ontario driver's licence;
• a Safety Standards Certificate, except between spouses, where a spouse declaration is used instead;
• a plate transfer declaration, if the plates are moving with the car.

The spouse declaration and the plate transfer declaration share one form, 023-SR-LV-139, published in Ontario's Central Forms Repository. The form's page describes the spouse part as a declaration that the car is going to an eligible spouse, which exempts that spouse from the safety certificate and the emissions test requirements. It does not say the form needs a commissioner's signature. The transfer is done in person at a ServiceOntario centre; it cannot be completed online.

The form that does need a commissioner

One sworn form sits close to this subject and is often listed with it: the Sworn Statement for a Family Gift of a Used Motor Vehicle. The ministry guide ties it to gifts between eligible family members, not to transfers on death, and it says plainly that the form requires the signature of a Commissioner of Oaths or a Commissioner for Taking Affidavits.

It comes into play when a car is given from one living relative to another, for example after a spouse or beneficiary has already taken the car into their own name and then passes it on to a son, a daughter or a sibling. Ontario allows one tax-exempt transfer of the same car between family members in any 12-month period. The 23 relationships printed on that form, and what the person signing it swears to, are set out on the vehicle gift sworn statement page.

Bringing the originals to a notary

For a certified copy of a will, a death certificate or a court certificate, the original is what has to be on the desk, because the statement on the copy is that it matches an original the notary saw. The person bringing it shows identification. The work on estate papers done at this office is described on the wills and estate documents page, and copies of other originals on the document certification page. Whether ServiceOntario registers a particular transfer is decided at the counter, by ServiceOntario.