How to fill out North Dakota SFN 16782

The narrow, free version of a duplicate. Where a credential the department issued never reached you at all - it was printed and posted, and nothing arrived - this sworn affidavit gets it reissued at no cost, and it covers titles, registration cards, licence plates, validation decals and mobility impaired placards alike. The certification is precise about the difference: the items listed have never been delivered to me or to the address listed in the records at the Motor Vehicle Division. A title that arrived and was subsequently lost is not this form's business; that is a duplicate application with a fee.

Written against SFN 16782 (4-2026), issued under North Dakota Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division; sworn under NDCC chapter 12.1-11, cited in the form's own penalty note. The distinction this form draws is a legal one, sworn to in front of an officer, and it is not a nuance to be casual about. Never received means never received. If the certificate came in the post two years ago and has since vanished into a house move, the honest route is the duplicate application and its fee - and the penalty printed at the foot of this sheet, a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum of $1,000 and/or one year in jail, is what the department has put behind the difference.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank SFN 16782 from the dot.nd.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our SFN 16782 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

   Legal Name, telephone and address

   Your name as the department's record carries it, a daytime number, and your mailing address.

   Watch out: If this address is not the one the department has on record, say so when you send the affidavit - the certification you are signing is about what was delivered to the address in the record.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Year, Make, Model, Style

   Year, make, model and style, as the certificate that never arrived would have carried them.

   Watch out: Take it from your registration card if the certificate is the thing that never arrived. The two documents describe the vehicle identically.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle Identification Number and Title Number

   The two entries that identify the record rather than the car.

   Watch out: The title number appears on the registration card. If you have neither document, ring the Motor Vehicle Division before completing the affidavit rather than guessing at it.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Check all applicable items

   Tick Title, and any other credential that also failed to arrive - placards, decals with their month and year, registration card, or plates with their number.

   Watch out: Only tick what genuinely never came. Every box on this list is covered by the same oath and the same penalty note at the foot.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Name printed, and the Legal Signature line

   Print your name, then sign - and the label tells you where: before a Notary Public or Authorized Officer.

   Watch out: You are also promising to forward the original promptly if it ever surfaces. That undertaking does not expire when the replacement arrives.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   The Acknowledgement block

   State, county, sworn date, the notary's printed name, the stamp, the notary's signature and a commission expiration date if it is not on the stamp.

   Watch out: Leave every line of it alone. Turning up at the notary with this block pre-filled is the fastest way to be sent away to print a fresh sheet.

What gets this one rejected

• •Using it for a certificate that arrived and then went missing. The affidavit's own words are that the item has never been delivered - a lost title is a duplicate application, with its fee.
• •An address that differs from the department's record. The certification is that nothing was delivered to you or to the address listed in the records at the Motor Vehicle Division, so a stale address on the record is part of the story rather than an inconvenience.
• •Signing it outside a notary's presence. The signature line sends you to a Notary Public or Authorized Officer, and the Acknowledgement block below records the oath.
• •Ticking Title and hoping. If the department's record carries a lien, the reissued certificate follows the lien - the same rule that governs a duplicate.
• •Leaving the plate number or decal month blank on the rows that ask for them. Two of the five boxes carry their own detail lines, and an item cannot be reissued without identifying it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Nothing to pay, something to swear. This is the one route to a replacement credential at no cost, and the price of that is an oath in front of an officer with a Class A misdemeanor behind it.
• •The undertaking outlives the form. You are promising that if the original turns up you will promptly forward it to the Motor Vehicle Division. Two live certificates for one vehicle is precisely the situation the department is protecting itself against.
• •One sheet covers several items. Check all applicable items means what it says - a title and a registration card that both failed to arrive travel on one affidavit rather than two.
• •It is worth trying before the fee route. If a credential genuinely never arrived, this is the cheaper and quicker path. If you are not sure whether it arrived, it is not.

Every line here was read off SFN 16782 (4-2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the North Dakota Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division 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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