How to fill out Alaska Form 809

Alaska will not sell you a blank certificate of title, and the only copy that exists is the one Anchorage posted to you or to your lender. When it is gone, this is the single page that replaces it - and it has to be sworn. The 809 is short enough to fill in at a counter in five minutes and strict about two things: who is allowed to sign it, and that the signature happens in front of a notary public or a DMV representative. The second of those is the useful part, because walking into a DMV office turns a notarised affidavit into a free one.

Written against Form 809 (Rev 06/08/2018), issued under the Division's duplicate title procedure; the application itself is sworn, under the false-statement provisions AS 11.56.210 and AS 28.35.135 printed on its face. Notice which name goes on this form. Where a lien is recorded, the certificate lives with the lienholder and the lienholder is one of the three parties allowed to certify on this page - so a lost title on a financed vehicle is very often the lender's application to make rather than yours. Ring them before you swear anything: if they hold the original and simply have not posted it, the fastest route is to ask them to.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 809 from the dmv.alaska.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 809 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 809 — Application for Duplicate Title PDF at dmv.alaska.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in Form 809 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual Form 809, rendered from the PDF the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.

Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below

A completed Alaska DMV Form 809, Application for Duplicate Title. The vehicle block shows plate NHV 725, serial number 5T7NU4FR7FX208461, year 2015, make Toyota, model 4Runner SR5, body style 4D SUV, colour Silver. Sole/Joint Owner is ticked in the first certification row and Lost is ticked in the second. The printed name and signature are Talia R. Sturdevant, dated 08/10/2026, with a mailing address of 3712 Pioneer Loop, Palmer, AK 99645, an email address and phone number, and the E-Mail notification box ticked. The notary block below is empty. — Rendered from the Division's own PDF and filled in as an owner filing for herself. Amber is the applicant's; the notary block is grey because it is completed by the notary public or the DMV representative who watches the signature, and only after the pen has moved. Every name, address and number is invented.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Plate and serial number
The current plate number and the vehicle identification number, in the top row of the vehicle block.
Watch out: The plate is still on the vehicle in Alaska, so read both off the car rather than off an old registration - the numbers are the only way the Division can find the right record.
2
You fill this in
Year, make, model, body style, colour
The five description boxes under the identification row.
Watch out: Match the Division's record rather than the manufacturer's brochure. If a previous certificate said 4D SUV, that is what this one should say.
3
You fill this in
Tick who you are
Sole/Joint Owner, Authorized Agent of the Company, or Lienholder - one of the three.
Watch out: On an OR title one joint owner may apply alone. On an AND title, the same conjunction rule that governs the sale governs this, so check the face of the record before you file.
4
You fill this in
Tick what happened to the title
Lost, Destroyed or Stolen, one box only.
Watch out: Stolen means stolen - if the certificate went missing when the car was broken into, that is the box, and it is worth having a police report number to hand.
5
You fill this in
Printed name
Your full name as the record holds it, above the signature rule.
Watch out: This form is sworn. A nickname here is a false statement on a document whose own paragraph prices false statements at a maximum of $10,000 or a year.
6
You fill this in
Sign it in front of the witness
The signature line, which names its own conditions: sign in front of Notary Public or DMV Representative.
Watch out: Take identification. The officer is verifying who you are, and the note at the foot of the form says plainly that is all they are verifying.
7
You fill this in
Where the title should be posted
The mailing address block, with city, state and zip.
Watch out: A post-office box is fine here - unlike the residence line on the application, this one only has to receive an envelope.
8
You fill this in
How you want to be told
The notification preference tick: E-Mail or Mail.
Watch out: Email is the faster of the two by a wide margin when the Division needs one more thing before it can issue.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
License Plate Number and Serial Number (VIN)	The top row of the vehicle block. Serial Number is the Division's own label for what everyone else calls the VIN, and it is used on most of its older forms.
Year, Make, Model, Body Style, Color	Five boxes across the second row, describing the vehicle the missing certificate was issued for.
I certify I am the	Three ticks and only one may be true: Sole/Joint Owner, Authorized Agent of the Company, or Lienholder. The certificate is issued to whoever ticks a box here, which is why a friend cannot file it for you.
I certify the title has been	Lost, Destroyed or Stolen. There is no fourth option for never received, and no option for damaged - a defaced certificate is surrendered rather than declared lost.
The penalty paragraph	Printed between the two tick rows: making a false statement or omitting a material fact is subject to a maximum penalty of $10,000 or 1 year imprisonment or both per AS 11.56.210 and AS 28.35.135. The same paragraph carries the liability-insurance certification under AS 28.22.011.
Printed Name	Full width, above the signature line. It is read against the name on the face of the record, so a shortened first name is a discrepancy.
Signature (Sign in front of Notary Public or DMV Representative)	The instruction is inside the label. Signing it at the kitchen table and taking it to a notary afterwards is not what it asks for - the notary is witnessing the signature, not certifying a document already signed.
Date	Beside the signature, and the date the oath was taken rather than the date you noticed the title was missing.
Company Name (if applicable)	Only for an authorised agent filing on a company's behalf. An individual owner leaves it empty.
Mailing Address (Where the title will be mailed)	The label is doing real work: this is the address the replacement certificate is posted to, not necessarily the address on the record. City, state and zip follow it.
Email Address, Phone, and notification preference	Contact details, then a two-way tick - I want to receive notifications by E-Mail or by Mail.
Notary block	Subscribed and Sworn to before me this day of, 20 __, a seal box, the signature of the notary public or DMV representative with a login ID and office location, and a commission expiration. It closes with the standard note that the officer verifies only the identity of the signer, not the truthfulness of the document.

What gets this one rejected

•A buyer filing it for the vehicle they just bought. The three ticks in the certification are owner, company agent and lienholder; a purchaser holding an unassigned certificate is none of the three and needs a different route entirely.
•An unsworn signature. The signature line names the two people who may witness it, and a form arriving with nothing in the notary block is an application nobody has taken an oath on.
•Two boxes ticked in the lost, destroyed or stolen row. They are alternatives, and stolen in particular carries different consequences from lost - do not tick both to cover the possibility.
•The mailing address left as an old one. Whatever you write goes on an envelope containing a security document, and the Division does not chase it if it is delivered somewhere you no longer live.
•Applying with a lien still recorded. The Division's instruction where a title is lost and a lender is named is to obtain a lien release from the financial institution first - the duplicate otherwise arrives with the same lien printed on it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•A DMV counter is a free notary. Every notarised Alaska vehicle form prints the same alternative on its signature line - sign in front of Notary Public or DMV Representative - and the notary block itself has a space for a DMV login ID and office location. If you are going to an office anyway, do not pay a notary first.
•The notary is verifying you, not your story. The note printed under the block says so in terms: a notary public or other officer completing this certificate verifies only the identity of the individual who signed the document, and not the truthfulness, accuracy, or validity of that document.
•Off-highway machines have no duplicate. There is nothing to replace for a snowmachine or an ATV, because Alaska issues them no title in the first place. A lost decal is a different, cheaper problem.
•Do it before you advertise. A duplicate is posted from Anchorage and a mailed application takes the Division roughly two months to process and return. Starting it the week a buyer appears is starting it a month and a half too late.
•A damaged title is not a lost one. If the certificate exists but has been written on wrongly, torn or defaced, 2 AAC 92.230 gives the Division a different set of options - accepting it with a notarised affidavit of explanation, accepting a dealer's letter, or requiring a duplicate. Which one applies is the counter's call, not yours.

Every line here was read off Form 809 (Rev 06/08/2018) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration 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 Alaska seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Alaska involves.

How to fill out Alaska Form 809

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Plate and serial number

Year, make, model, body style, colour

Tick who you are

Tick what happened to the title

Printed name

Sign it in front of the witness

Where the title should be posted

How you want to be told

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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