How to fill out Washington 420-050

Two independent documents on one page. The upper half releases an interest in a vehicle without touching the certificate - the route for an owner who cannot be there, a lienholder settling a loan, or a seller whose certificate has gone missing. The lower half appoints somebody to sign the paperwork on your behalf. Either half can be used alone, and each has its own signatures and its own notarisation block.

Written against 420-050 (R/7/21), issued under WAC 308-56A-265 and RCW 11.125.050. The commonest use of this form has nothing to do with being absent: it is the sheet a private seller reaches for when the certificate has gone missing and the buyer needs something signed. It works, and it works only if witnessed - which is the exact opposite of the rule that applies to the certificate itself.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 420-050 from the dol.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 420-050 — Release of Interest/Power of Attorney PDF at dol.wa.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual 420-050, rendered from the PDF the Washington State Department of Licensing 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 Washington Release of Interest/Power of Attorney, form 420-050, for a 2015 Toyota RAV4: the vehicle band at the top, the registered owner release completed and signed by Rosalind Vandermeer of Spokane with her driver licence and telephone number, the first seal block underneath left empty, and the power of attorney half appointing Tobias Lindqvist as attorney-in-fact with its own signature and its own empty seal block below that. — Both halves completed, which is unusual - most sheets use one or the other. The lienholder blocks at the top have been left grey because no lender is involved in this sale; they are the only part of the page where a business signature escapes the notary.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The vehicle band
Licence or registration number, identification number, model year, make and model.
Watch out: Complete it even if you are only using the power of attorney half. The authority granted below is for the vehicle described here and for no other.
2
The lienholder fills this in
The lienholder blocks
Two blocks for a secured party releasing its interest, each with a name, a business title and a signature.
Watch out: A business lienholder signing with the current Washington title attached needs no notary. An individual lienholder does, and people miss the distinction because it is printed in small type above the block.
3
You fill this in
The registered owner release
Printed name, driver licence or identity card number, telephone number, then the signature.
Watch out: Everyone the certificate names has to appear here. One owner releasing on behalf of two does not transfer the second one's interest.
4
You fill this in
The first notarisation block
State, county, date, the names of the people who signed, and the notary or agent's details.
Watch out: It covers the release half and only the people who signed in front of that person. A co-owner who signed the week before at a different office needs their own sheet.
5
You fill this in
I appoint
The name of the person you are authorising to sign title and registration papers for this vehicle.
Watch out: Name a person, not a company. The authority is to act as attorney-in-fact, and the department is looking for a human signature at the other end of it.
6
You fill this in
The grantor blocks
Name, driver licence or identity card number, telephone, and signature for each person granting the power.
Watch out: Two owners means two grantors. A power of attorney signed by one of two registered owners can only do half the job.
7
You fill this in
The second notarisation block
The same details again, for the power of attorney half.
Watch out: Two blocks, two witnessings. Leaving the lower one empty because the upper one is complete leaves you with an unwitnessed power of attorney, which is no power at all.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
License/Registration number, identification number, model year, make, model	The vehicle band at the top, shared by both halves of the sheet.
Release of interest - Lienholder	Two blocks for a secured party, each with a name, a title if the signer is a business, and a signature line.
The lienholder notarisation exception	Printed above those blocks: businesses do not need a notarized/certified signature with a current Washington title, and if not a business, your signature must be notarized or certified.
Release of interest - Registered owner	Two blocks with name, driver licence or identity card number, a ten-digit telephone number and a signature line - under a heading that reads, flatly, signature must be notarized or certified.
The release declaration	One printed sentence above each set of signatures: I release all interest in the above described vehicle/vessel, followed by a declaration under penalty of perjury of the law of Washington.
First Notarization/Certification block	A seal block sitting immediately under the release, and covering nothing below it. Place, date, the person whose signature was watched, then the witness by signature, printed name, title and number.
Power of attorney - I appoint	One name, and then the authority: to act as my attorney-in-fact to sign all papers and documents that may be necessary in order to secure, or release, Washington title and/or registration for the vehicle/vessel described above.
The indemnity	A printed agreement to guarantee and save the state of Washington, and the Director of Licensing, from all responsibility for any legal action which might arise from the issuance of a certificate of title or registration for the vehicle.
Two grantor blocks	Name, driver licence or identity card number, ten-digit telephone number and signature, so a jointly owned vehicle can appoint one attorney-in-fact for both owners.
Second Notarization/Certification block	A separate block for the power of attorney half, because the two halves may be signed at different times by different people.

What gets this one rejected

•A registered owner's release signed at home and posted. The heading over that block says the signature must be notarized or certified, and this is the sheet the exemption on the certificate does not cover.
•One notarisation stretched over both halves. There are two blocks because there are two documents.
•A power of attorney appointing the person who is going to buy the vehicle, where an odometer disclosure is involved - the federal rule forbids a transferor giving power of attorney to the transferee to complete it.
•A lienholder release from an individual with no notarisation. The exception on this form is for businesses with a current Washington title, and only for them.
•A typed signature. Each line prints the same instruction: print completed form and sign here.
•Using the release half as a Report of Sale. Releasing interest tells the department who no longer owns the vehicle; it does not tell them who does.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•This is the sheet Washington's notary rule was written for. A release of interest provided on the certificate of ownership is exempt from notarisation. A release of interest provided on this form is not - the rule says all signatures must be notarized or certified in accordance with the certification rule.
•Business lienholders get an exception and nobody else does. A secured party that is a business, releasing on a department-approved form submitted with the current certificate of ownership, needs no notarised signature.
•Certification is free at a counter. Both blocks print the same sentence: you don't need your signature notarized if you sign in front of a WA vehicle licensing agent, who can certify your signature.
•The power of attorney is vehicle-specific. It is granted for the vehicle described above, not generally - which is why the vehicle band at the top of the sheet has to be completed even where only the lower half is being used.
•A release of interest is not the only acceptable document. The rule lists others the department will take, including a bill of sale, an affidavit in lieu of title with the release portion completed, a letter of release, an affidavit of repossession and a certificate of junk vehicle - and adds that these items may be subject to notary requirements.

Every line here was read off 420-050 (R/7/21) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Washington State Department of Licensing 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 Washington seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Washington involves.

How to fill out Washington 420-050

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The vehicle band

The lienholder blocks

The registered owner release

The first notarisation block

I appoint

The grantor blocks

The second notarisation block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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