Updated October 8, 2026. Quick answer: Yes, for securities and vehicles. Delaware’s Uniform TOD Security Registration Act, Title 12 of the Delaware Code, chapter 8, lets an owner register a security in beneficiary form, and the owner may cancel or change it “without the consent of the beneficiary”. The Division of Motor Vehicles separately publishes a Transfer on Death Application for vehicles.
How Delaware handles transfer-on-death registration
| Item | What the state documents say |
|---|---|
| Brokerage and securities accounts | Delaware’s Uniform TOD Security Registration Act is chapter 8 of Title 12 of the Delaware Code, sections 801 to 812. It defines beneficiary form as a registration of a security that shows the present owner and who becomes owner when the owner dies. Registration may be shown by the words transfer on death or the abbreviation TOD, or by pay on death or POD, after the owner’s name. Only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership, or ownership by two or more with right of survivorship, may use it. |
| Effect on the will and probate | A transfer on death from a registration in beneficiary form takes effect through the contract between the owner and the registering entity and the chapter, not through a will. On the death of the last owner, the security passes to the beneficiaries who survive all owners. If no beneficiary survives, the statute says the security belongs to the estate of the last owner. |
| Changing the beneficiary | The designation has no effect on ownership until the owner’s death, and the sole owner or all surviving owners may cancel or change the registration at any time. The beneficiary has no say while the owner is alive. |
| Vehicle titles | The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles publishes Form MV2025, a Transfer on Death Application, on which the vehicle owner or owners certify the named applicant as the beneficiary to whom the motor vehicle will be transferred on their death. Every owner must sign, and the form provides signature lines for up to three beneficiaries. The form does not itself state how the transfer relates to probate, so the Division is the place to confirm the process after an owner dies. |
A $250,000 brokerage account split
An owner holds a brokerage account worth $250,000 and registers it in beneficiary form to two named beneficiaries, with each to receive half. Each share is computed as $250,000 x 50% = $125,000. The 50/50 split is the owner’s illustration, not a rule of the state: the owner names the beneficiaries and, where the form allows it, the shares.
Real estate, probate and estate tax
A transfer on death deed is a different instrument for real property: see Delaware transfer on death deed. For what probate costs in Delaware, see Delaware probate cost, and for Delaware’s own estate or inheritance tax, see Delaware estate and inheritance tax. Which of these your account or vehicle falls under depends on how it is titled.
What changed recently
The chapter’s definitions and form-of-registration sections were amended by 84 Del. Laws, chapter 391, and now address investment and securities accounts held with financial institutions.
Related: Delaware probate cost, how Delaware taxes retirement income, Delaware estate and inheritance tax, Delaware transfer on death deed, and car titles after a death, by state.
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Answer againSources
- Delaware Code Title 12, Chapter 8, Uniform TOD Security Registration Act, sections 801 to 812: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c008/index.html
- Form MV2025, Transfer on Death Application: https://dmv.de.gov/forms/veh_serv_forms/pdfs/TOD Application.pdf
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 8, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the plan administrator or the agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.