Wisconsin Lawyer: Letters:

Home > News & Publications > Wisconsin Lawyer > Article

April 05, 2007

Letters

Letters to the editor: The Wisconsin Lawyer publishes as many letters in each issue as space permits. Please limit letters to 500 words; letters may be edited for length and clarity. Letters should address the issues, and not be a personal attack on others. Letters endorsing political candidates cannot be accepted. Please mail letters to " Letters to the Editor," Wisconsin Lawyer, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158, fax them to (608) 257-4343, or email them.

Titling Repossessed Vehicles

The February article by Kelly Anderson and Steve Meili regarding changes to Wisconsin's automobile repossession law was great. However, practitioners also should be cautioned that the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will not change the owner shown on a certificate of title of a repossessed vehicle unless the repossessing creditor is named as a secured party on the debtor's certificate of title. A creditor who is not named in the debtor's certificate of title will have to get a judicial declaration of ownership or post a bond for the vehicle before DMV can re-title a motor vehicle in the creditor's name, even if the creditor already has lawfully repossessed the vehicle by self-help.

Paul E. Nilsen,
Assistant General Counsel
Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Wisconsin Lawyer