The sworn half of a bonded title - for the person who bought a vehicle and never got a certificate, or cannot get one from the previous owner or dealership. You swear you are the legal owner by virtue of the attached bill of sale, name who the vehicle came from with a reachable telephone number, explain in your own words why you cannot surrender the current certificate, and certify the mileage. With the surety bond and the bill of sale, it is the application file for a title built on evidence instead of paper.
Written against 78-013 (Rev 08/21), issued under the possessor of the vehicle, sworn before a notary, with the bill of sale attached.
This form cannot conjure a title for a vehicle you know has a live Mississippi certificate somewhere - that is the replacement application's job, and it is cheaper and faster. The bonded route exists for genuinely broken chains of ownership, and the Department reads these files closely precisely because of what they can launder.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 78-013 from the dor.ms.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our 78-013 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual 78-013, rendered from the PDF the Mississippi Department of Revenue, Motor 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
The actual 78-013 at Rev. 08/21, sworn for the way this actually happens - a truck bought from an estate sale whose certificate never surfaced. The explanation lines name dates and people rather than adjectives; the mileage certification at the foot is the same no-tenths statement every Mississippi transfer document carries; and the signature rule stays empty here because it is signed in ink before the notary whose jurat is dated beside it.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The buyer fills this in
County, name, address, oath
The county where you are swearing, then your name and full address into the deposition's opening.
Watch out: The county is the notary's venue, not the vehicle's - swear it where you actually stand.
2
The buyer fills this in
VIN, year, make
The vehicle in three blanks.
Watch out: Read the VIN off the vehicle itself - on a bonded application the plate on the dash is the one identity nobody is vouching for yet, and the DPS inspection will read it off the metal too.
3
The buyer fills this in
The seller, findable
Who the vehicle came from, their address, the required telephone number, and the state where it was last registered.
Watch out: An estate, a defunct lot, a private name - give what exists and make the explanation lines carry the rest. The examiner's first question is always whether the real owner can be asked.
4
The buyer fills this in
Your own words, doing real work
Why the current certificate cannot be surrendered, in the space provided.
Watch out: Dates, names, attempts made. This paragraph is what the bond underwriter and the examiner both price the risk on.
5
The buyer fills this in
The tag question and the mileage
Whether a tag was on the vehicle and its state and number if so, then the odometer certification with its two exception statements.
Watch out: The tag number is a gift to your application - it lets the Department walk the registration record backwards to the last titled owner.
6
The buyer fills this in
Inspection if it is young, notary regardless
Ten model years or less: DPS substation first, MVCT-59 in hand. Then print, sign and swear before the notary.
Watch out: Sequence matters - inspection before application, oath before filing, and the bond's own 30-day filing window ticking behind all of it.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The oath's opening
State of Mississippi, county of - then your name and address, who after being duly sworn, deposes and states that they are the legal owner by virtue of the attached bill of sale.
The vehicle
Vehicle identification number, year and make - three blanks, no more, because the bill of sale carries the rest.
Where it came from
The name of the person you acquired the vehicle from, their address, and a telephone number at which the seller may be reached - marked (Required), because the examiner may actually ring it. Then, also required: in what state was the herein described vehicle last registered.
The explanation
In your own words, state the reason you are unable to surrender the current Certificate of Title of the vehicle - the ruled lines that decide the application.
The tag question
Was there a license tag on the vehicle when you acquired it? If so, give state and tag number - the record trail the Department can follow backwards.
The inspection instruction and mileage
If the vehicle is ten (10) model years or less, it must be taken to the nearest Mississippi Department of Public Safety substation for inspection and issuance of Form MVCT-59 by the inspecting officer prior to making application. Then the standard certification - the odometer now reads (no tenths) miles - with the two exception statements, the buyer's printed name and signature, and the notary's jurat.
What gets this one rejected
•No bill of sale attached. The whole oath hangs on by virtue of the attached bill of sale - without it you are swearing to ownership evidenced by nothing.
•An unreachable seller with no explanation. The telephone line is printed (Required); a disconnected number with no account of why invites the examiner to stop reading.
•A newer vehicle with no MVCT-59. Ten model years or less means a DPS substation inspection first, and the officer's form travels with the application.
•A thin story on the ruled lines. Never received a title from the previous owner is a start; when, from whom, and what you did about it is what a sworn statement of this kind is for.
•Forgetting this is half a file. The FAQ's bonded-title recipe is three items - surety bond for one and a half times the average trade-in value, completed affidavit of ownership, bill of sale - and an affidavit alone titles nothing.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The thirty-year alternative. For a vehicle at least thirty years old and lacking proper documentation, the regulation allows a title application supported by an affidavit of ownership - the antique-barn-find route, where the bond machinery may never be needed. Ask the county before buying a bond for a truck older than the title act.
•Sellers meet this form from the other side. The name, address and telephone number on it belong to whoever sold the vehicle - you, if your buyer never got the certificate you promised. Being reachable and honest at that phone number is the difference between their bonded title sailing through and a fraud file with your name in it.
