How to fill out South Dakota Form 1023

The one document that lets somebody else sign the assignment for you, and one of only three in the department's motor-vehicle library that has to be notarised. Its scope is deliberately narrow - complete this application to designate power of attorney only to make an application for title or to assign a certificate of title - and the Procedures Manual makes the attachment mandatory rather than helpful: papers of appointment must be attached to the title document when the assignment is made by an appointed agent. A general financial power of attorney drawn by a lawyer will often be accepted too, but this one-page form is what the department publishes and what a county treasurer expects to see stapled to a certificate.

Written against Form 1023 (no revision printed), issued under South Dakota Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, attached to the certificate or the title application as papers of appointment. The odometer disclosure is where a power of attorney gets people into trouble in every state, and South Dakota is no exception. An attorney in fact signing an assignment is also completing the odometer statement inside it, under a certification that carries a Class 6 felony for a false entry. Whoever holds this form needs the actual reading, not a remembered one - and where the vehicle is subject to federal odometer regulations and a dealer is on the other side of the transaction, the manual's secure power of attorney rules apply instead of this form's. If the owner can be reached at all, a photograph of the reading sent the same day is worth more than the appointment.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 1023 from the sddor.seamlessdocs.com copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 1023 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 1023 — Power of Attorney - MVD PDF at sddor.seamlessdocs.com · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in Form 1023 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual Form 1023, rendered from the PDF the South Dakota Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division 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

A completed South Dakota Power of Attorney, Form 1023. The Vehicle box is ticked and the vehicle block identifies a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox LT by year, make, model, vehicle identification number and title number. The appointing sentence names Marlene D. Tschetter of the city of Brookings. One attorney is appointed, Curtis L. Hofer of Volga, South Dakota, and the second appointee block is shaded grey. In Group 2 the box granting power to assign all rights, title and interest is ticked. The instrument is dated, the first printed-name line carries the owner's name, and the notary block at the foot is shaded grey. — Completed for the ordinary case - one owner, one attorney in fact, and the power to assign rather than to apply. Group 1 is left alone because only one person is appointed; the notary block at the foot is washed grey because it belongs to the notary, and this is one of the three South Dakota motor-vehicle forms that genuinely needs one.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Tick Vehicle, and identify it
Vehicle or boat, then year, make, model, VIN or HIN and the title number.
Watch out: Take the title number off the certificate if you can still see it. Where the title is electronic or lost, the VIN alone is what identifies the record.
2
You fill this in
Your name and your city in the appointing sentence
The undersigned, of the city of - with South Dakota pre-printed as the state.
Watch out: Use the name exactly as the face of the title prints it. The appointment has to line up with the signature it is standing in for.
3
You fill this in
Who you are appointing
Full name and complete address for the attorney in fact. Two blocks are printed if you want a fallback.
Watch out: If you name two people, you must then answer Group 1. Severally is what makes a second appointee useful; jointly means neither can act alone.
4
You fill this in
Group 2: which power, or both
To apply for a certificate of title, to assign all rights, title and interest, or both. One or more selections must be made.
Watch out: A seller wants the assignment power. A buyer's agent wants the application power. Ticking both is normal where one person is handling the whole transaction.
5
You fill this in
Date it, print and sign - every owner
The day, month and year of execution, then a printed name and signature for each person who would otherwise have signed the assignment.
Watch out: An AND title needs both owners here. One owner appointing an agent does not give that agent the other owner's signature.
6
Somebody else fills this in
The notary block
Sworn to and witnessed by the notary, with the date and the expiry of their commission.
Watch out: This block names a notary only. A county treasurer can take the acknowledgement on the succession affidavit and on the rebuilt-vehicle application, but this form does not offer that alternative.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Vehicle or Boat	One tick. The form covers both, and the department titles boats over twelve feet and all motorised boats.
Year, Make, Model, VIN/HIN, Title Number	The vehicle block. This appointment is vehicle-specific - it is not a standing authority over everything you own.
Let it be known that the undersigned ___ of the city of ___	Your name and your city, written into the appointing sentence. South Dakota is pre-printed as the state.
Appointed Name, Address, City, State, Zip Code	The attorney in fact. Two full blocks are printed, so two people can be appointed on one form.
Group 1 - Jointly or Severally	To be used only if more than one person is named above. Jointly means both people named must sign; severally means either person named can sign.
Group 2 - the powers themselves	One or more selections must be made: to apply for a certificate of title for the described vehicle or boat in the name of the undersigned, and to assign all rights, title, and interest in the described vehicle or boat on behalf of the undersigned.
In witness whereof, the undersigned has executed this instrument on this ___ day of ___, 20___	The date of execution, written across three boxes.
Name and Signature, twice	Two printed-name and signature pairs, for a vehicle titled in more than one name. Every owner who would have had to sign the assignment has to appoint.
Sworn to and witnessed by me this ___ day of ___, 20___, Notary Signature, My commission expires	The notary block. Unlike the succession affidavit, this one names only a notary - it does not offer a county treasurer as an alternative.

What gets this one rejected

•An unnotarised form. This is one of the three South Dakota motor-vehicle documents where the signature genuinely has to be witnessed, and the block is printed at the foot for that reason.
•One owner appointing on an AND title. If both names would have had to sign the assignment, both have to appoint - the form prints two signature lines for exactly that case.
•Neither power ticked in Group 2. The form says one or more selections must be made, and an appointment with no powers granted authorises nothing.
•Two attorneys named with no choice made in Group 1. Jointly and severally are opposite answers to the question of whether one signature will do.
•A form filled in after the fact. The Procedures Manual requires the papers of appointment to be attached to the title document when the assignment is made - not produced afterwards to explain a signature already there.
•Using it to let one person sign as both seller and buyer on a recent vehicle. Federal regulations prohibit the same person from signing as both the seller and the buyer in the same transaction where a dealer is involved, on vehicles nine model years old and newer under 16,000 lb gross weight.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Secure and non-secure are different things. The manual distinguishes them. A secure power of attorney can only be used where the title is with the lienholder or held electronically, or where the title has been lost and a duplicate is required.
•This is the non-secure one, and that is the normal one. In the manual's words, a non-secure power of attorney may be used when the vehicle is not subject to federal odometer regulations, and non-secure powers of attorney are commonly used in private transactions.
•It travels stapled to the certificate. For an assignment, the appointment goes with the title. For a duplicate application, the department asks for a copy and tells you to keep the original in case it is needed for assigning the duplicate later.
•The department's own page repeats the rule. An application for title and registration must be signed by the record owner or by an authorised agent for the record owner, and a power of attorney document must be attached to verify the appointment.
•One vehicle, one form. The vehicle block at the head is not decoration. An appointment naming no vehicle is not what this form is.

Every line here was read off Form 1023 (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.

How to fill out South Dakota Form 1023

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Tick Vehicle, and identify it

Your name and your city in the appointing sentence

Who you are appointing

Group 2: which power, or both

Date it, print and sign - every owner

The notary block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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