How to fill out Montana MV7

One page and one modest fee, and it is the answer to more Montana problems than any other form here. A title that is lost, mutilated or illegible; a title voided because somebody reached for the correction fluid; a title still showing a lien the lender released years ago; a title in two names where one owner has died and the survivor needs a document to sign. It is also one third of the electronic-record route the division offers when a Montana-titled, currently-registered car is sold to a Montana resident and the certificate cannot be found. The division warns that a replacement can take up to four weeks to arrive, which is the number that decides whether a sale waits or moves.

Written against MV7 (6/26), issued under MCA 61-3-204, replacement certificate of title; fee under MCA 61-3-111. Do not apply for a replacement and then keep the old certificate in the drawer as a spare. Issuing the replacement voids the original outright, and a buyer who is handed the voided one has bought a document the county will refuse - after the car has gone.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV7 from the mvdmt.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV7 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

   Section 1: the vehicle

   Year, make, model, VIN, plate, the year the registration expired, and the title number if you have it.

   Watch out: The title number is marked optional because the whole point of the form is that you cannot find the document. An old registration receipt or a renewal notice usually carries it.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The plate and the expiry year

   The licence plate number and the year the registration expired.

   Watch out: These are how the bureau finds a record when the title number is missing. A permanently registered light vehicle has no expiry year, and saying so beats inventing one.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Section 2: the owner, as the record holds them

   Owner and co-owner names with identification numbers.

   Watch out: Names cannot be added or removed here. If a co-owner has died or a marriage changed a surname, that is a different transaction and this form will not carry it.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Where the replacement is posted

   A name and address for the new certificate - your own, or a dealership's if that is who is handling the sale.

   Watch out: Get this right first time. A replacement sent to an old address is a second $10.30 and another four weeks.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   One signature, and what it voids

   Printed name, legal signature and date, certifying that the title is lost, mutilated or illegible.

   Watch out: Signing this voids the certificate you are replacing. If the original turns up next week it is waste paper, and handing it to a buyer would be handing them a dead document.

What gets this one rejected

• •A name added or removed. The manual: a name cannot be removed or added when applying for a replacement title. Removing a deceased owner is an estates transaction, not a replacement.
• •A signature from someone not on the face of the title. The certification says the signer is the same person named on the face, and a buyer who has not yet been titled is not.
• •A personal representative applying without letters. The manual accepts a personal representative, a guardian, a trustee or a conservator, but the documents appointing them must accompany the application.
• •A payment for the wrong amount. It is $10.30 in U.S. funds, and the fee already includes the 3% administration charge - adding it again is as much a problem as leaving it off.
• •Continuing to use the old title after the replacement arrives. The manual puts it in capitals: when a replacement title has been issued the original title is void.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •One signature, however many owners. The manual's first rule for replacements, and the division's selling page repeats it: only one owner's signature is required.
• •It is the cure for white-out. The division: white-out or attempts to erase or scratch out entries void the title. The manual adds that information corrected with white-out correction ink is treated as an erasure. This form is what follows.
• •It is how a released lien comes off the paper. The division: should the owner wish to have a new title issued without the security interest showing, the owner can submit this application and the fees to the Vehicle Services Bureau - or take the release to a county treasurer.
• •A personal representative rarely needs it. The manual notes a personal representative can apply for a replacement although there is no need to do so, as the vehicle can be transferred without the title.
• •Online, or by post. The division offers the transaction through MVD Online Services; the paper route is this form and a cheque to the Vehicle Services Bureau in Helena.

What it costs

Every line here was read off MV7 (6/26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, Vehicle Services Bureau 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 Montana seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Montana involves.