A half-page instruction telling the Michigan Department of State to post the new certificate somewhere other than the owner's own address. It travels with a title application rather than on its own, and the Vehicle Dealer Manual lists it alongside the appointment of agent as one of the two things that make a duplicate title transaction workable for a customer who is not there.
Written against TR-114 (08/13), issued under Public Act 300 of 1949, as amended.
This is a durable instruction, not a one-off redirection. Naming a lienholder here keeps sending them your duplicates until the lien is terminated, so it is worth being deliberate about who goes in the block.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TR-114 from the michigan.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual TR-114, rendered from the PDF the Michigan Department of State publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Short enough to fit on half a page, and the signature rule above the printed name is deliberately empty: there is no signature widget anywhere in this PDF, so it is signed in ink after printing rather than typed.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Name, in the Mail or Release Title To block
Who the department should send the certificate to instead of you.
Watch out: Read the paragraph on the left first. If the party you name is a lienholder, duplicates keep going to them until the lien is terminated.
2
You fill this in
Street Address, City, State, Zip
The full address the title is going to, under the name.
Watch out: A postal address, not an office you intend to call in at. This form is an instruction to post, and the department follows it literally.
3
You fill this in
Printed Name of Owner
Your name, beneath the signature rule on the left.
Watch out: The name on the title record, so the department can match the instruction to the vehicle it belongs to.
4
You fill this in
Description of vehicle or watercraft as shown on application
Year, make and vehicle identification number, along the bottom.
Watch out: As shown on application is the instruction. Copy it from the title application this form is travelling with rather than from the car.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The direction
Two printed paragraphs on the left. The first directs the department to mail or release the new title to the party listed on the form; the second warns that if that party is a lienholder, any duplicate title will also be sent to the lienholder until the lien is terminated.
Mail or Release Title To
Name, street address, city, state and zip - the block on the right, and the only reason the form exists.
Signature of Owner
A printed rule with an X in front of it, above the printed name.
Printed Name of Owner
Your name, under the signature rule.
Description of vehicle or watercraft as shown on application
Year, make and vehicle identification number, in a three-box strip along the bottom right.
What gets this one rejected
•Sending it alone. The form describes itself as accompanying a title application - the department has nothing to attach it to otherwise.
•Naming a lienholder without meaning to. The second paragraph is a standing instruction: once a lienholder is named, duplicates go there too until the lien is terminated.
•A vehicle description that does not match the application it travels with. The heading says as shown on application, and a mismatch is what an examiner looks for.
•Leaving the printed name blank under the signature. The department cannot tie an unnamed signature to an owner of record.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•There is no signature field to fill in on screen. The PDF carries ten fillable boxes and the owner's signature rule is not one of them. The form is completed, printed, and then signed in ink - which is also true of the TR-11L.
•It works for a release as well as a posting. The wording is mail or release. A dealer collecting an instant title over the counter for a customer is relying on the same sentence a posting to a different address relies on.
Every line here was read off TR-114 (08/13) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Michigan Department of State pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
