For the title that is in a name you no longer use. Two sides, and the choice between them is the whole form: Side A changes the registration card only and produces no new title and no fee; Side B produces a corrected certificate and costs a title fee. A seller almost always needs Side B, because the assignment has to be signed in the name printed on the certificate.
Written against MV-41A (3-25), issued under 75 Pa.C.S. 1115.
Do the name change before you take a deposit. A buyer standing at a notary with a title in your maiden name and a licence in your married one leaves without a car, and the fix is weeks in the post rather than an afternoon.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-41A from the pa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual MV-41A, rendered from the PDF the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 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
Page 1 of 2. Side A. Free, and it produces a corrected registration card only - the words “Side A - No new title will be produced” are printed across the top of it.Page 2 of 2. Side B, the seller’s side. The same person, the same former name, but a title fee and the certificate attached - and this is the one that makes the certificate match the licence.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Choose the side
Side A for a corrected registration card with no new title and no fee. Side B for a corrected certificate of title, with the title and a fee attached.
Watch out: If you are selling the car, it is Side B. The assignment gets signed in the name on the certificate, and no registration card can bridge that gap.
2
You fill this in
The reason
Marriage, divorce, court order or pending divorce - plus a general other route on Side B.
Watch out: Each reason names its own attachment. Pending divorce is the fussy one: a written notice to resume a prior surname, carrying the caption and docket number, stamped by the court.
3
You fill this in
Section A, the vehicle
Title number and registration plate number.
Watch out: A tick box on Side A says the title is held by a lienholder in the electronic programme and no title will be attached. Check with the lender rather than guessing.
4
You fill this in
Section B, the correct name
Your correct last, first and middle name, a co-owner if there is one, licence or photo ID number, date of birth and current street address.
Watch out: It has to match the updated Pennsylvania credential you are attaching, character for character. This form is a request to make the record agree with that card.
5
You fill this in
Section C, the former name
The name currently on the record - last, first and middle.
Watch out: Write it as the certificate has it, including any initial the department typed in. This is the line the record is matched on.
6
You fill this in
Section D, certification
Your signature, a co-owner's, a telephone number and the date, which the form notes must be listed.
Watch out: On Side B the lienholder has a block of their own further down. If a lender is recorded, the corrected certificate waits on them, not on you.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Side A, no new title
Only for marriage, divorce or a pending divorce, and only where you want a corrected registration card. A reason tick, a block to say the lienholder holds the title electronically, the title and plate numbers, the correct name and address, the former name, and a certification.
Side A, what to attach
A copy of the updated PA driver's licence or photo ID showing the desired name. For a pending divorce, also a copy of the written notice to resume a prior surname, carrying the caption and docket number of the divorce and stamped by the court.
Side B, new title requested
Any reason for a name change, including a court order and a general other route. The certificate of title and a title fee are required, and where the title is not attached a further section and a second title fee come into it.
Side B, the lienholder block
If the original title carries a recorded lien, the lienholder has a section of their own to complete before the corrected certificate can issue.
What gets this one rejected
•Using Side A when the certificate needs correcting. Side A produces no new title at all - the department prints "Side A - No new title will be produced" across the top of it.
•Using Side A after the lender has released an electronic title. Once the electronic indicator is released and a paper title is produced, that option is no longer applicable and Side B is the only route.
•Sending Side A with a fee. No fees are required with that option, and a cheque only complicates it.
•Attaching an old photo ID. Every route wants a copy of the updated Pennsylvania credential showing the name you are asking for.
•A pending-divorce claim without the court's stamp. The notice must include the caption and docket number of the proceeding and be date stamped from the court.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Marriage, divorce, court order, pending divorce, other. Side A covers the first four minus the general one. Side B covers all of them, including a name that is not a birth name, a spouse's surname or one given by a court.
•Two title fees if you have no title. The pattern PennDOT applies across its correction forms: where the certificate is not attached, a duplicate has to be produced first, and the fees are additive.
•What a seller actually needs. The name signed into the assignment has to match the name printed on the certificate. A corrected registration card does nothing for that, which is why Side B is the seller's side.
Every line here was read off MV-41A (3-25) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
