Arkansas Power of Attorney for Vehicle Title Transfer (DFA Form 10-313)

Your parent is in a care facility and their car needs to be sold, re-registered, or transferred to a family member. You have a general durable power of attorney — but the DFA Revenue Office wants a specific vehicle form before they'll process anything. Here's what you actually need and how to avoid the rejection that sends most people home empty-handed.

Why the DFA Wants a Vehicle-Specific Form

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) Office of Motor Vehicles technically accepts a general durable financial power of attorney for vehicle transactions. In practice, local DFA Revenue Offices strongly prefer — and often effectively mandate — the vehicle-specific Power of Attorney for Vehicle Transactions (Form 10-313).

The reason: a vehicle-specific form identifies the exact car by year, make, model, and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). This prevents the agent from using a blanket financial POA to transfer vehicles the principal never intended to include, reducing fraud exposure for the DFA.

What Form 10-313 Authorizes

The DFA vehicle POA authorizes your designated agent to handle:

• Vehicle registration and renewal
• Licensing applications
• Duplicate title applications (when the original is lost)
• Transfer of ownership (selling or gifting the vehicle)
• Title corrections and amendments

Each form typically covers one specific vehicle. If your parent owns multiple vehicles, you may need a separate Form 10-313 for each — or a general durable POA with explicit personal property management authority as a backup.

Documents Required for a Vehicle Transfer

When your agent walks into the DFA Revenue Office to transfer title, they'll need:

1. Completed Form 10-313 — the vehicle-specific power of attorney, signed by the principal and notarized.

2. Vehicle Registration Application (Form 10-381) — the formal application for a new or duplicate title.

3. Odometer Disclosure Statement — required for any vehicle less than 20 years old. In Arkansas, this is merged into the standard DFA bill of sale form (Form 10-313 also carries odometer disclosure fields). The mileage must be recorded accurately at the time of transfer.

4. The existing title or certified copy — if available. For a duplicate title when the original is lost, the agent applies through Form 10-381 with the POA as authorization.

5. Photo identification — the agent's valid state or federal photo ID.

6. Death certificate — only if the principal has passed. However, if the vehicle was registered with a designated transfer-on-death beneficiary using a Certificate of Title with Beneficiary, the surviving beneficiary can transfer ownership directly with just a death certificate and the title — no POA, attorney, or probate required.

The General POA as Backup

If you have a comprehensive durable financial power of attorney that explicitly grants authority over personal property, you can present this at the DFA instead of or alongside Form 10-313. However, expect pushback:

• The clerk may need manager approval to process without the vehicle-specific form
• Processing may take longer as they verify the general POA's scope
• Some Revenue Offices in rural counties may refuse and insist on Form 10-313

The safest approach: have both. Execute the general durable POA for broad financial authority, and complete Form 10-313 for any specific vehicle you know will need attention.

Common DFA Rejection Scenarios

Missing VIN. Form 10-313 requires the complete Vehicle Identification Number. A partial or incorrect VIN results in immediate rejection.

Expired principal. If the principal has died, the POA is automatically terminated. You cannot use a POA to transfer a deceased person's vehicle. Instead, you need either a court-ordered transfer through probate or the transfer-on-death beneficiary process.

Unnotarized signature. The DFA requires notarized documents for title transfers. An unnotarized POA — even if technically valid for other purposes — won't be processed for vehicle transactions.

Agent not named on the form. The person appearing at the Revenue Office must be the specific agent named in the POA. A family member who is not the designated agent cannot present someone else's POA.

Transfer-on-Death Vehicle Titling

Arkansas allows vehicle owners to designate a transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary directly on the Certificate of Title. This is the simplest way to handle vehicle succession:

• Owner registers the vehicle with a named beneficiary while alive and competent
• Upon death, the beneficiary presents the title and a death certificate to the DFA
• Title transfers without probate, court order, or attorney involvement
• No POA needed for this specific scenario

If your parent's vehicles aren't already titled with TOD beneficiaries, setting this up now (while they have capacity) eliminates the need for a vehicle POA entirely for post-death transfers.

The Arkansas Power of Attorney Kit includes step-by-step DFA vehicle transaction instructions, the forms list you'll need at the Revenue Office, and the odometer disclosure requirements that trip up most first-time filers.

See more Arkansas guides →