How to fill out West Virginia DMV-12-A-TR

The lender's sworn statement that its claim on your car is over, written as one long legal sentence with blanks in it: the named lien holder, with its lender code number, releases a conditional sale contract, reservation of title, chattel mortgage, deed of trust, or other character of lien created to secure payment of a spelled-out sum, dated, recorded on a numbered West Virginia certificate. A seller needs it in two situations the Division's own titles page describes: when the paper title never came back after payoff, and always before a duplicate can issue clean - if a title is lost while a lien is on file, a formal release from the original lender must be obtained before a duplicate can be printed.

Written against DMV-12-A-TR (Rev 11/2022), issued under W. Va. Code 17A-4A-7. Chase this paper the week the loan ends, not the week a buyer appears. Lenders merge, rename and close - the officer and corporate name the acknowledgement wants must be the current holder of the old lien, and finding who that is years later is the slowest step in every stuck West Virginia sale we hear about.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DMV-12-A-TR from the webapps.transportation.wv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our DMV-12-A-TR 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

   Lender name and code

   The lienholder writes itself into the opening of the sentence, with its Division lender code.

   Watch out: As the borrower, verify the name matches the lien on your certificate. A lender that rebranded since the loan must explain the chain, not just sign the new name.

2. 2
   The lienholder fills this in

   The character and amount of the lien

   Which instrument secured the debt, and the sum in words and figures with its date.

   Watch out: These come from the original filing, not from the payoff letter. The release describes the lien as recorded, whatever the final balance was.

3. 3
   The lienholder fills this in

   Certificate, owner and vehicle

   Title number, issue date, the registered owner's name and address, and the year, make and VIN.

   Watch out: Read your certificate to the officer if you must - every identifier here has to match the state's record, and you hold the document that shows it.

4. 4
   The lienholder fills this in

   Corporate signature

   The corporation's name signed by its authorised officer, with title and date.

   Watch out: Ask who is authorised before the appointment. Branch staff often are not, and an unauthorised signature is the polite word for a worthless one.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   The acknowledgement

   A notary records that the named officer appeared and signed for the corporation, then signs with a commission expiry.

   Watch out: Then file it - with your clear title application, or inside the duplicate-title packet. A release in a drawer clears nothing.

What gets this one rejected

• •The sum in words fighting the sum in figures. The form asks for both precisely so they can be compared, and a mismatch voids the point of asking.
• •An officer signing without the corporate formula. The witness-whereof block wants the corporate name signed by a titled officer, duly authorized - a loose signature releases nothing.
• •No notary acknowledgement. The release is sworn corporate paper; the acknowledgement block is what lets the Division rely on it.
• •A release naming the wrong certificate. The title number and issue date tie the release to one document - a refinanced car with a newer certificate needs the release written against that one.
• •Assuming the state read it. The titles page is blunt that the DMV database is not electronically updated when a lender signs a physical release - the paper must still be filed with a clear title application.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Get it even though your title shows the release. When a loan is paid off the lender validates the release section and posts the title - and the Division's advice is that the owner should immediately apply for a clear title, because the state record stays encumbered until one issues.
• •It unlocks the duplicate. A lost title with a lien ever on file cannot be reprinted clean without this document - the same rule the duplicate affidavit enforces through its own section D.
• •The lender code does real work. It is the Division's index of lenders, and it is how the release is matched to the lien as filed. A release without it invites a manual hunt through the record.

Every line here was read off DMV-12-A-TR (Rev 11/2022) itself — the PDF is here — and off the West Virginia Division 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.

Back to all West Virginia seller paperwork, or what selling a car in West Virginia involves.