Guides · Disabled parking
New Jersey handicap placard application (SP-41): the practitioner’s letter
- New Jersey’s application is the SP-41. You complete Section E, and you also attach a certification on a prescription or your letterhead.
- A physician, podiatrist, chiropractic physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner licensed in New Jersey or a bordering state may certify.
- You write in the item number of the qualifying condition, from 1 to 6.
- Your signature has to be dated within 60 days of the application, and the patient attaches the original, not a copy.
New Jersey’s placard and its disability license plates use one application, the SP-41, and the version I am describing is R7/25. It is on the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission website (PDF), along with a checklist, the SP-41A (PDF). New Jersey is a little different from most states, because the form asks for your certification twice, once in Section E and once as a separate letter or prescription attached to it.
Who may certify
The SP-41A says Certifications can only be authorized by the following medical practitioners: a physician, podiatrist, chiropractic physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner licensed to practice in this state or a bordering state or a physician stationed at a military or naval installation located in this State who is licensed to practice in any state.
The regulation, N.J.A.C. 13:20-9.1, lists the same practitioners.
The conditions
Section E says that by law, eligibility is limited to these conditions, and that no other person is eligible. In the form’s words:
- The patient has lost one or more limbs as a consequence of paralysis, amputation, or other permanent disability.
- Is severely and permanently disabled and cannot walk without the use of or assistance from a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device.
- Suffers from lung disease to such an extent that the applicant’s forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for one second, when measured by a spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty mm/hg on room air at rest; or uses portable oxygen.
- Has a cardiac condition to the extent that the applicant’s functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to standards set by the American Heart Association.
- Is severely and permanently limited in the ability to walk because of an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition; or cannot walk two hundred feet without stopping to rest.
- Has a permanent sight impairment of both eyes as certified by the NJ Commission for the Blind (Placard only).
There is a seventh item, for a veteran the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs certifies as permanently 100 percent disabled, and that one is certified by a VA representative rather than by you.
Section E, and the letter
Section E asks for your name, telephone number and address, the patient’s name, and your signature under this sentence. I CERTIFY, UNDER PENALTY OF LAW, THAT MY PATIENT (print name) HAS BEEN PERSONALLY EXAMINED BY ME AND MEETS THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AS SPECIFIED IN ITEM NUMBER(S) (select from above)
, and so on. The checklist says the item number from 1 to 6 must be written in.
The form also says the patient must attach a certification statement on either a prescription or your official letterhead, certifying the qualifying disability and including your professional identification information. The regulation says it must include your name, address and professional identification information. The checklist adds three things I would not miss.
- It has to be the original. No photocopies are accepted.
- You sign and date the application, and the date has to be within 60 days of when it is submitted.
- If you are not allowed to write prescriptions, you write a letter with the same information a prescription would have.
In practice, what I do is write the letter so it says the same thing as Section E, names the item numbers, and carries my license details, and then sign both on the same day so the 60 days start together.
The form also warns that a false statement on the application is a fourth-degree crime.
Renewal, and temporary placards
Temporary placards are not on the SP-41. The form says the placard and the identification card are recertified every three years, and the regulation says the patient resubmits a full application, with a new certification of their condition, at that point.
A temporary placard is a different process with a different form. The Motor Vehicle Commission’s disability page says temporary placards are issued for six months with one six-month renewal, and that the application goes to the municipal chief of police rather than to the Commission.
Where the patient sends it
The patient takes the SP-41 to a motor vehicle agency or mails it to the Commission’s Special Plate Unit in Trenton, whose address is printed at the top of the form. The Commission’s page says there is no fee for the plates or the placard.
For the other states, see disabled parking placard forms, state by state.
FAQ
Who can certify a New Jersey handicap placard application?
A physician, podiatrist, chiropractic physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner licensed in New Jersey or a bordering state, or a physician stationed at a military or naval installation in New Jersey who is licensed in any state.
Does New Jersey need a letter as well as the SP-41?
Yes. The SP-41 says the applicant must attach a certification on a prescription or on the practitioner’s letterhead, and the checklist says it must be the original.
How recent does the doctor’s signature on the SP-41 need to be?
Within 60 days of when the application is submitted, according to the SP-41A checklist.
Disclaimer: This article is general information for medical practices, not legal advice. States change their forms and rules, so the current form and the state's own page are what count. References: N.J.A.C. 13:20-9.1 (read through Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, because the state’s own copy of the code was not reached); Form SP-41 (R7/25) and the SP-41A checklist; the Motor Vehicle Commission’s disability, qualifications and FAQ pages, all as read on October 1, 2026.
Write the SP-41 letter faster.
I built PatientPapers to make this paperwork faster and easier. It is my own product, so weigh this accordingly. For New Jersey it writes the signed letter that goes with the SP-41, on your letterhead, saying which of items 1 to 6 apply, with your license details. You still sign Section E of the SP-41 by hand. It does not cover the veteran item or the temporary placard. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere. $250 per year or $25 per month, per certifying provider.