One page that lets somebody else sign your title over for you. The undersigned appoints a named attorney-in-fact to make and execute the assignment of, or application for, a certificate of title covering one described vehicle. It is the only substitute Ohio accepts for an owner who cannot be at the counter, and the BMV's instruction is that the original is required - not a copy.
Written against BMV 3771 (12/25), issued under Ohio Revised Code 4505.06 and 4505.063.
This is a strong document written in old-fashioned language, and the strongest phrase in it is full power of substitution - the person you appoint may appoint somebody else. Give it to somebody you would hand the keys to.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank BMV 3771 from the dam.assets.ohio.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual BMV 3771, rendered from the PDF the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles 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 BMV 3771. Note the block order: the person receiving the authority is named at the top, and the person giving it signs at the bottom - which is the opposite of what most people expect and the reason names sometimes end up in the wrong half.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
The appointee, at the top
Last name including suffix, first name, middle initial and full address of the person you are appointing.
Watch out: This is the person receiving the authority, not you. The form opens with the words the undersigned does hereby appoint, and the boxes underneath belong to whoever is being appointed.
2
You fill this in
The vehicle
Year, make, model and vehicle identification number, and a Yes or No on the replica question.
Watch out: One vehicle per form. A second car needs a second form, because the authority is described by the vehicle rather than by the relationship.
3
You fill this in
The printed name of the person giving power of attorney
Your printed name, in the block below the grant paragraph.
Watch out: The name as the certificate of title holds it. This document has to line up with the title it is going to be filed alongside.
4
You fill this in
Last four digits of your Social Security number
Four digits, in their own block.
Watch out: Four, not nine. The form asks for the last four and nothing else, and writing the whole number puts it into a permanent public title record.
5
You fill this in
Your signature
Signed in front of the notary, under the printed grant.
Watch out: Read the grant first. It gives full authority to do and perform every act about the premises, with full power of substitution and revocation - which is a long way past signing one line of a title.
6
You fill this in
The acknowledgement
The notary completes the county, the state, the seal, their signature and the date their commission expires.
Watch out: Then the original goes with the title to the clerk of courts and is not returned. Photograph it before you hand it over.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The appointee
Last name including any suffix, first name, middle initial, street address, city, state and ZIP code of the person being given the authority.
The vehicle
Year, make, model and vehicle identification number, followed by the replica question with its own year, make and model boxes.
The grant
A printed paragraph granting the attorney-in-fact full authority to do and perform every act requisite, necessary and proper about the premises, with full power of substitution and revocation, ratifying whatever the attorney or his/her substitute lawfully does.
In witness whereof
The day and year the undersigned caused their name to be subscribed.
The principal
The printed name of the person giving power of attorney, the last four digits of their Social Security number, and their signature.
Acknowledgement
The notary block: sworn to and subscribed in my presence, the county, the state, the seal, the officer's signature and the date the commission expires.
What gets this one rejected
•A photocopy. The BMV says the original Power of Attorney for Certificate of Title is required, and a clerk keeps it as part of the permanent title record.
•A blank appointee. A signed and notarised form with nobody named on it is an open authority over the vehicle.
•Reusing it. The Clerk of Courts Association's guidance to notaries is that a power of attorney form may only be used for one transaction.
•A health care power of attorney offered in its place. The same guidance accepts a durable power of attorney and does not accept a health care one.
•An executor or trustee delegating. Somebody already acting for an estate or a trust cannot give power of attorney to somebody else to sign on their behalf.
•Skipping the notary. The signature of the person giving the authority is the whole force of the document, and the acknowledgement is what proves they gave it.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It names one vehicle. The grant covers the certificate of title of the motor vehicle described on the form. It is not a general authority over whatever the holder finds in the driveway.
•A dealer is exempt from the notarisation and you are not. The note at the foot is precise about who: a motor vehicle dealer licensed under R.C. 4517 who is the owner or purchaser of the motor vehicle is not required to have this document notarised under R.C. 4505.063.
Every line here was read off BMV 3771 (12/25) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
