How to fill out Hawaii CS-L(MVR)201

A Hawaii certificate of title is posted, not handed over - the county says so about a paid-off lien, where the title is updated and mailed to the address on file. When the envelope never arrives, this is the form. It covers four different items with one tick list: certificate of title, certificate of registration, emblem and license plate. The affidavit is narrower than a duplicate application and its certification says why: you are swearing not only that the item did not arrive but that the address of record is your correct mailing address, which is what tells the county the loss was in the post rather than in their file.

Written against CS-L(MVR)201 (01/2026), issued under City and County of Honolulu Department of Customer Services, Division of Motor Vehicles, sworn by the registered owner or by the lienholder the document was mailed to. The affidavit turns on one sentence: the address of record is my correct mailing address. If you have moved and not told the county, that sentence is untrue, and the honest sequence is to file the change of address first and then chase the missing document - not to swear to an address you no longer live at because it is quicker.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank CS-L(MVR)201 from the www4.honolulu.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our CS-L(MVR)201 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Plate number and VIN

   The two identifiers at the top. They let the county find the mailing record for the item you say never arrived.

   Watch out: Both, not one. The department-use block records the date originally mailed, and the clerk needs the record before they can look at that.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Which item did not arrive

   Four boxes: certificate of title, certificate of registration, emblem, license plate. Tick only what was actually posted to you.

   Watch out: For a seller the title box is usually the one, and it usually follows a lien being paid off. Ticking registration as well because it is also old is a second claim you cannot support.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Printed name, and who you are

   The line is captioned printed name of registered owner or lienholder for duplicate title, which is the form acknowledging that a lender may be the one making the claim.

   Watch out: If a lender is on record and the title was mailed to them, the claim is theirs to make. Ask them before you file your own.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Signature

   The affidavit's main signature, directly under the printed name.

   Watch out: No notary block appears anywhere on this sheet, so nothing here needs witnessing - it is an affidavit in name and a signed certification in practice.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Address of registered owner

   The address you are certifying is correct and current. This is the pivot of the whole document.

   Watch out: If it differs by so much as an apartment number from the county's record, sort the address out first. A replacement posted to the same wrong place solves nothing.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Signature of co-owner

   A second rule for a jointly held record.

   Watch out: Leave it blank on a solely owned vehicle rather than signing twice yourself, which is what people do when they read it as a witness line.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Date

   The date of the affidavit, at the foot of your half of the sheet.

   Watch out: Give the post a reasonable interval first. Swearing non-receipt three days after the county mailed something is a claim you may have to withdraw.

8. 8
   Somebody else fills this in

   The department use only block

   Six fields the clerk completes: transaction control number, date originally mailed, new license plate, new emblem, clerk name, date processed and a supervisor's signature.

   Watch out: Leave every one of them empty. The date originally mailed is the county's own record, and filling it in yourself is answering a question that was asked of them.

What gets this one rejected

• •Using it for something you had and lost. This affidavit is for an item the county mailed that never reached you; a certificate that arrived and then went missing is a duplicate application instead.
• •Certifying an address that is not current. The certification is that the address of record is your correct mailing address - if it is not, the fix is a change of address, and this form would be false.
• •Not returning the original if it turns up. The undertaking is printed on the form: if the original is subsequently delivered, you will return it together with the envelope that contained the items mailed.
• •One signature on a jointly held record. There is a separate rule for a co-owner and it is there to be used.
• •Ticking more than the county actually mailed. Each box is a separate claim about a separate item, and the department-use block records the date each was originally mailed.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •A replacement voids what was sent. The affiant acknowledges that upon issuance of a replacement, the original will no longer be valid for any purpose.
• •The lienholder can be the affiant. The printed-name line reads registered owner or lienholder for duplicate title, which is consistent with the county mailing a title to whoever the record says holds it.
• •It is the honest answer to a paid-off title that never came. Honolulu's route for an electronic title is that the lienholder notifies the branch and the title is updated and mailed. If that envelope does not arrive, this affidavit is the next step rather than a duplicate application.
• •The county records what it sent. The department-use block includes the date originally mailed, so the claim is checked against a record rather than taken on trust.
• •Do not sit on it. A title you are waiting for is a sale you cannot make. The affidavit is one page and needs no notary.

Every line here was read off CS-L(MVR)201 (01/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the City and County of Honolulu Division of Motor Vehicle, Licensing and Permits pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

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