How to fill out South Dakota Form 1503

This is the document that ends a South Dakota seller's wait. Where a lien is noted, no paper title exists - the department holds the record electronically and prints nothing - so the certificate a buyer needs comes into being only when the lien is released. Lenders inside the Electronic Lien & Title system do it through their third-party provider and the department prints and mails the title. Form 1503 is for the rest: the instruction reads that this form is only to be completed by non-participating lenders, and that if a lender is participating, a lien release can be completed through their third-party vendor. It is the lender's form, not yours - but knowing it exists is what turns a vague wait into a phone call.

Written against Form 1503 (no revision printed), issued under South Dakota Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, executed by the lienholder under SDCL 32-3-44 and submitted to a county treasurer. Do not agree a completion date with a private buyer until the release is actually in motion. A South Dakota seller with a loan on the car has no certificate to assign and cannot create one - the title is printed after the release reaches the department, then posted. Ring the lender, find out whether it participates in the Electronic Lien & Title system, and ask for a date. If it does participate, nobody needs this form and the release is electronic; if it does not, this is the sheet that has to be signed, and the delay is postal rather than procedural.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 1503 from the sddor.seamlessdocs.com copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 1503 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   The lienholder fills this in

   The vehicle being released

   Year, make, model and VIN, under the form's own sentence ordering the lien released.

   Watch out: Where the title has been electronic since it was issued, the owner may never have seen a VIN in writing. Take it from the loan contract, not from memory.

2. 2
   The lienholder fills this in

   Title owner and county of record

   The owner as the department's record holds them, and the county the lien was noted in.

   Watch out: The name must match the record. A borrower who married since the loan was written is still recorded under the old name until a title is issued in the new one.

3. 3
   The lienholder fills this in

   Lender name and email

   The releasing institution, with an address the department can reach a person at.

   Watch out: A credit union branch email is more use here than a central one. This is the address a county treasurer uses when something does not reconcile.

4. 4
   The lienholder fills this in

   Where the printed title should go

   The mailing block. On release the department prints the title and mails it to the owner unless the lender directs otherwise.

   Watch out: If the sale is already agreed, this is the address the certificate physically arrives at - so make sure it is one where post is collected daily.

5. 5
   The lienholder fills this in

   The unsworn declaration and agent signature

   Day, month, city and state, then the agent's printed name and signature under penalty of perjury.

   Watch out: There is no notary block on this form and none is wanted. South Dakota substitutes the unsworn declaration throughout its motor vehicle library.

What gets this one rejected

• •A release written by the owner rather than the lender. The form is an order to release the lien, and only the lienholder can give it.
• •A participating lender using this form. Where the lender uses a provider, the release goes through the provider electronically and this sheet is redundant.
• •The wrong county in the county-of-record box. Liens can be cancelled in any county, but they are noted in the titled owner's county of record, and the record is keyed to it.
• •A mailing address that is neither the owner's nor a direction from the lender. On release, the title is printed and mailed to the owner unless directed otherwise by the lender.
• •An agent name with no signature under it. The declaration is what makes the release effective, and the form separates the printed name from the signature line.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Twenty days is the lender's deadline, not yours. SDCL 32-3-44 requires the lienholder to execute a release within twenty days after final payment is received, and to mail or deliver the release to the owner.
• •Where the lender holds the paper title. The department's page splits the two cases: on titles held by the lienholder, it is the lienholder's responsibility to have the lien released by the county treasurer within twenty days of final payment.
• •Where the owner holds it. The owner forwards the certificate of title and the lien release to any county treasurer. No fee is assessed for the release of a lien.
• •No fee, either way. The department states it twice on its own page: no fee is assessed for the release of a lien. The notation fee belongs to putting a lien on a certificate, not to taking one off.
• •It travels to a county, not to Pierre. The instruction is to complete this form and submit it to the county treasurer's office.

Every line here was read off Form 1503 (no revision printed) itself — the PDF is here — and off the South Dakota Department of Revenue, 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.

Back to all South Dakota seller paperwork, or what selling a car in South Dakota involves.