The Expert Podcast

So you ended up with a vehicle with no title, and you're trying to get a legal title certificate. You've probably gotten the runaround or no answers from the DMV or your titling authority, and you've been scrambling to try to get a title. It may have been weeks or months; sometimes we have clients that have spent years trying to get a title. What do you do? Well, in some states, you could do a bonded title, but a lot of clients don't want to do that because you have to buy a surety bond, and your title is branded as bonded.

In the past, people have tried to use some loopholes with Vermont, South Dakota, or West Virginia, which always turn out to be rejected by your state, have a lot of fees, or sometimes have been canceled. So, what do you do? Well, the most powerful and authoritative title option is a court-order title. Now, I know that a lot of times when people hear the title of a the title of a court order, they don't want to do it because they don't want to go to court and they don't want to deal with a lot of hassles. Well, a court order title is not like the Law and Order Jack McCoy big courtroom scene where you're battling it out; it's usually done with paperwork.

Even though it's a little bit of a secret, hidden method, all the information is available. Here's the thing: if you walk into your courthouse and say, "I want to do a court order title," they're not going to know what you're talking about because they don't do titles; they do court procedures. It's kind of like walking into a court and saying, "I want to do a dog bite lawsuit." They don't categorize their cases based on what's in the case, right?

However, there are a couple of clues you can use, and we're going to look at a few counties that have very specific court-ordered processes. First of all, we'll look at the state of Florida. In Florida, there's actually a state law; it's Section 4426, Administrative Order 2021-13. It says, "Florida law requires a purchase over motor vehicle to obtain a court order directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a title when such individual does not receive a title at the time of purchase." It's right there; Florida law requires a court order title when you didn't get a title.

Now, Florida does have a surety bond process available, but it's very limited. The vehicle has to be from Florida originally, with the last title from Florida. I have to be within a certain year range, but other than that, it's required that you do a court order title, and it has uniform procedures to ensure the DMV is made a party to the procedures. So, this is pretty common. This is a bulletin that happens to be from Broward County, but this is the state law. What do you have to have? And it goes through all the documents you need, how to categorize them, and how to fill them out, right? You need a petition, an affidavit, and a letter of non-interest, and let's take a look at some of the counties that have this.

Here's a complaint for declaratory judgment filed with the clerk's office. Here's the complaint: you need a summons; you need to serve the defendant. And in Hernando County, the same thing: a vehicle ownership information sheet. This is the instructions for a court order title affidavit and vehicle title application. It tells you how it works; there are 10 steps. So, it's not something that is hidden, secret, or made-up. However, if you walked into the clerk of court and said, "I want to do a court order title," even though they have this, they may not be familiar with it. You have to walk in with all these forms completed, all these documents done, and probably a few other steps from their checklist just to show it's not a made-up thing.

This one happens to be from Ohio. Insufficient evidence? Let us help you make your court order title as simple as possible. This is right from the county clerk, right? And they have about the same thing: eight or nine steps you have to do: visit the clerk, visit the BMV; you have to do all these things. Step-by-step guide to applying for a court order title. This is Highland County; step one, step two, how many steps do they have? Four, five, six, eight. It's almost like there are always eight steps, right? It's always the same thing: obtain a court order title for a motor vehicle. Yeah, what county is this? This is Luzerne County; this is actually in Pennsylvania. Here's another state that has it: scheduling order petitions. You notice there's always a petition, there's almost always an affidavit, and it's a step-by-step process.

What's this one? This one is Lake County; I believe this is Ohio. The process is as follows: one, two, three; they probably have about eight steps, right? So, the court-order title process is not something that is imaginary; it's offered by the state in order to get you a legal title certificate. This is what you want, right? You want a title; you don't want just a car in your driveway with keys and possession but no title; you want to get an actual legal title. This is how you do it. You can play around with a lot of other things, like a like a bonded title, trying to contact the prior owner, trying to get a lien release, and trying to do some loopholes from North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming, right? You can play around with those all you want, but they're always going to take longer and jump through more hoops than doing a court order title.

Don't be afraid of the fact that you hear the word court, right? You're not going to have to go through some big, long jury trial; it's usually done by mail. In fact, when we do it, we recommend to the client that when you have all these documents completed, don't bring them to the courthouse in person; send them by mail because when you bring them in person, the clerk who's there might still not even know what it is, and they might tell you, "We don't do this here; I don't know what to do." If you mail it, they have to put it on the docket; it's given to a magistrate or given to a judge for them to take action on it.

So, what do you have to do? What are the steps you have to take? Well, the most important thing is getting the paperwork right. If you get the paperwork and forms right initially, that's 90% of it. After they're filed, the court is going to do some background checks on the vehicle, make sure it's not stolen, make sure there's no open liens, people are looking for it, and make sure there's no other owner that wants it back. Once they make sure your vehicle is legitimate and you have a clear vehicle, they're going to check you out to make sure that you have a good story, right? How did you purchase a vehicle? Where did you get it? Do you have any bills of sale or not? Do you have any receipts? Do you have any text messages?

Once everything's checked out, they're normally just going to sign that judgment of ownership and give that to you to bring to DMV to get a title. Now, if your state requires things like an inspection of the vehicle in order to get it titled or registered, you still have to do that. This doesn't evade any other requirements; it just gets you a legal document so that you can get one of these, right? You can get a title, and you don't have to pay a bond. Right, sometimes bonds are one and a half times the value of the vehicle. There's probably some court filing fee you have to pay. If your state requires sales tax on the vehicle, you have to pay that just like you would if you had a title.

You probably have to show a copy of your license to the court; sometimes they'll want to have you take a photo of the VIN number to prove that you're in possession of the vehicle to make sure you're not just getting a title for something you don't have. But normally, that's done by mail. Sometimes, at the end of the process, they want you to come into the lobby of the court, raise your right hand, and swear everything you said is true, but that's usually done once everything is done. It's not like it's like, like we talked about, a Big Jack McCoy Courthouse thing like Law and Order.

So, consider the court order title on our website; you'll see instructions for how to do it for your county. We even have title consultation if you want some discussion with a title agent. You can even pay us to do the paperwork for you. So, court order title is a good option when, as it says, if you did not receive a title at the time of purchase, and even if you did, if you've lost it, it's the same thing, right? Every county in the country—there are 3,611 counties—has some type of process to do this. They may not call it a court order title; they may call it something different, but at least you have the option as a backup.

Remember, going to the court is like going over the head of the DMV; it's like going to their boss. The DMV has certain limitations; if you bring them the old title for the vehicle, they can give you a new one. If you don't have one, they're not allowed by law to give you one, period, even if they like you, even if they say, "Yeah, your story's good." They have to have something more than just your word and a bill of sale. So consider it and look at all the options; our website will tell you some other methods you may have. If you have any questions, reach us at cartitles.com or our help desk at cartitles.com by email.