Signing Over a Car
ORC 4505.06 — a signed title is not a transferred one
Handing somebody a signed title and taking their money feels like the end of a sale. On the record it is the middle of one, and the gap that follows is where the problems live.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
The assignment has to be notarized, not just signed. Signatures on the assignment of ownership have to be affirmed or sworn in the presence of a notary public or somebody else authorized to administer oaths. A title signed across a kitchen table with nobody watching is not an assigned title, whatever both parties intended by it.
The transfer completes when a new title is issued, and that is the buyer's step. The seller assigns; the buyer applies. Until the buyer goes and gets a new certificate issued, the record still shows the seller. There is a late filing fee where the new title issues more than thirty days after the date the assignment was notarized, which tells you the state expects it to happen inside that window rather than whenever the buyer gets round to it.
The date of notarization is therefore doing two jobs. It makes the assignment effective, and it starts the thirty days. A notary date left blank, or filled in later, moves both.
The odometer statement is required, with named exceptions. A completed odometer disclosure is required from a seller, and the exceptions are specific rather than general: a bequest, a transfer under the laws of intestate succession, a transfer to a survivor or to a transfer on death beneficiary, one made in connection with creating a security interest, and a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating over sixteen thousand pounds.
| Step | Who does it |
|---|---|
| StepComplete the assignment of ownership | Who does itThe seller, before a notary |
| StepOdometer disclosure | Who does itThe seller, unless a named exception applies |
| StepApply for a new certificate of title | Who does itThe buyer |
| StepThirty days from the notarization | Who does itAfter which a late filing fee applies |
“What date was the assignment notarized, and has a new title been issued.”
Titles for vehicles bought out of state, salvage and rebuilt salvage titles, liens recorded on a title, transfer on death designations, and what to do about a lost title each have their own provisions and forms and are not on this page. Every county clerk of courts runs its own title office and publishes its own fees. What a particular transfer requires, and what happens where a buyer never applies, are questions for the title office in the county or for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- ORC 4505.06 — Applying for a certificate of title, and the notarized assignment it takes
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.