How to fill out Minnesota PS2017

One sheet that does three separate jobs, and a seller only ever needs the middle one. Ticking Release turns it into the document that takes a lender off a Minnesota title - and it is the one form in the ordinary run of a sale that has to be notarised, in a boxed notice on its own face: this form must be notarized to release a lien.

Written against PS2017 (5/2026), issued under Minnesota Statutes 168A.17 to 168A.20. Only the first side of this form is fillable; the fees and the numbered instructions for all three transactions are printed on the reverse, and the reverse is the half that tells a lender what it has to do and by when.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank PS2017 from the assets.dps.mn.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank PS2017 — Notification of Assignment, Release or Grant of Secured Interest PDF at assets.dps.mn.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual PS2017, rendered from the PDF the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services 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

Minnesota form PS2017 filled in as a lien release: a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, VIN 2GNFLFEK7F6104782, title number MN4180937, owner Marit K. Solberg of Grand Rapids, secured party North Shore Credit Union of Duluth, the Release box ticked with a date of release of 3 July 2026, and section B left grey and empty. — The face of the form completed as a release. Section B is greyed because an assignee only exists where a lender is handing its interest to another lender. The two signature rules and the notary block on the right are printed rules with no fillable box behind them, which is why they are the only thing left blank here - and the boxed notice beside them is what makes filling them in compulsory.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The lienholder fills this in
The vehicle row
Year, make, type, model, vehicle identification number and title number, copied from the certificate this release will travel with.
Watch out: Type is the department's own classification, not a body style. If the lender guesses at it the release still works, but a title number that disagrees with the certificate stops the transaction.
2
The lienholder fills this in
Owner's name and address
The left-hand column of section A: the owner as the title spells them, then street address, city, state, zip code and county.
Watch out: County is asked for on both sides of section A and is the box lenders outside Minnesota most often leave blank.
3
The lienholder fills this in
Secured party's name and address
The right-hand column of section A - the lender releasing its interest.
Watch out: It has to be the lender named on the title. A servicer that bought the loan is an assignment first and a release second, which is what the top tick is for.
4
The lienholder fills this in
Tick Release
The middle of the three boxes: the secured party named in section A no longer claims a security interest in the vehicle described above.
Watch out: One tick only. A form with two boxes ticked is a form nobody can act on, and the three transactions carry three different fees.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Date of release
The date the security agreement was satisfied, on the line beside the Release tick.
Watch out: The instructions give the lender 15 days from satisfaction to complete the form, so a date months in the past on a form signed today invites a question.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Leave section B alone
Assignee's name, street address, city, county, state and zip code - all of it completed only with an assignment.
Watch out: Empty is the correct state of section B on a release. Helpfully writing the buyer's details into it turns the form into something else.
7
The lienholder fills this in
Signature and title of authorized agent
The right-hand rule in section A, signed by the person releasing on the lender's behalf.
Watch out: The owner's rule on the left stays empty. It is marked necessary only with grant and a release signed by the owner is not a release.
8
Somebody else fills this in
The notary block
Subscribed and sworn to before me, the day, the month, the year, the notary's signature, county and commission expiry.
Watch out: This is the step lenders skip and deputy registrars refuse. The notice beside it says the form must be notarized to release a lien, and DVS repeats it on its own lien page.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The vehicle row	Year, make, type, model, vehicle identification number and title number, straight across the top. Every one of them has to match the certificate the form will be submitted with.
Section A, owner and secured party	Two columns. On the left the owner's name, street address, city, state, zip code and county; on the right the secured party's name and the same five lines again.
Signature of owner(s), necessary only with grant	The left-hand signature rule. On a release the owner does not sign at all - the qualifier is printed on the form.
Signature and title of authorized agent	The right-hand rule, and on a release this is the only signature the form carries.
Assignment	The first of three ticks: the secured party named in section A has assigned his interest to the secured party named in section B.
Release	The second tick: the secured party named in section A no longer claims a security interest in the vehicle described above, with a date of release beside it.
Grant	The third tick: the owner(s) have granted to the secured party named in section A a security interest in the vehicle described above, with a date of security agreement.
Section B, assignee	Name, street address, city, state, zip code and county for the assignee - completed only where the first box is ticked and a lender is handing its interest to another lender.
The notary block	Subscribed and sworn to before me this ___ day of ___ 20___, notary public, county, my commission expires - and beside it the boxed notice that the form must be notarized to release a lien.
The fee lines on the reverse	Printed in the instructions rather than on the face. An assignment is $1 plus $12 filing fee; a release is the $12 filing fee; a grant is $2 plus $12 filing fee.

What gets this one rejected

•A release that has not been notarised. The notice is boxed on the front of the form and it is not advisory.
•The owner signing the release. The left-hand rule says necessary only with grant, and a release is signed by the secured party's authorized agent alone.
•A release sent on its own. Instruction 4 under RELEASE is that it must be submitted with the current certificate of title.
•A title number that does not match the certificate. The whole top row is checked against the title, and a number copied off an old lien card is a number from a title that no longer exists.
•Section B completed on a release. That block belongs to an assignment - a lender passing its interest to another lender - and filling it in on a release asks a deputy registrar which of the two you meant.
•A lender taking its time. Instruction 1 under RELEASE is that the secured party must complete this form within 15 days after satisfaction of the security agreement.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•This is not the only acceptable release. DVS accepts three things: the lien card signed by the lender, a release on the lender's own letterhead, notarised, or this form, notarised. A lender who will not use the form will usually use its own paper.
•A lien is never carried forward. When a vehicle changes hands the existing security agreement cannot continue. It is released, and the buyer's own lender - even if it is the same institution - is recorded fresh with its own date.
•Three ticks, three fees, one form. The fees are printed on the reverse and they differ: $1 plus $12 filing fee for an assignment, $12 filing fee for a release, $2 plus $12 filing fee for a grant.
•An electronic lien never touches this sheet. Where the lender holds the lien electronically it releases it in the department's own system and the release reaches the record without paper. The form is for the ones that do not.

Every line here was read off PS2017 (5/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all Minnesota seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Minnesota involves.

How to fill out Minnesota PS2017

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The vehicle row

Owner's name and address

Secured party's name and address

Tick Release

Date of release

Leave section B alone

Signature and title of authorized agent

The notary block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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