How to fill out Alaska Form 821

What you file when the Division has already issued a title and it should not have - a signature that is not yours, an assignment completed after the owner died, a vehicle sold twice, a forged release. It is a sworn statement asking the Division to look again at a transaction it has already processed, and unlike almost everything else in the Alaska set it is written in prose rather than boxes: eight ruled lines in which you say what happened. The instruction at the head of the form is the one to act on first, because it is a precondition rather than advice.

Written against Form 821 (Rev 10/25), issued under the Division's administrative title review procedure, run out of its Anchorage office and sworn under the false-statement provisions AS 11.56.210 and AS 28.35.135 printed on the affidavit. This is the form for a transaction that has already happened. If nothing has been issued yet and you simply cannot produce a title, the surety-bond route is the one that applies instead, and if the certificate has merely been lost the duplicate application is a five-minute job by comparison. Filing an administrative review for a lost title is a slow way of getting the answer you could have had at the counter.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 821 from the dmv.alaska.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 821 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 821 — Affidavit Requesting Administrative Review of Title Transaction PDF at dmv.alaska.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in Form 821 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual Form 821, 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 821, Affidavit Requesting Administrative Review of Title Transaction. The applicant is Talia R. Sturdevant of 3712 Pioneer Loop, Palmer, AK 99645, with an Alaska driver licence number, email and telephone. The vehicle is a 2003 GMC with plate GKM 314 and vehicle identification number 3G8KHT9C93M714026. Physical possession of the vehicle is answered Yes and physical possession of the title is answered Yes. The affidavit section describes a title issued on 12 August 2026 to a person the applicant has never met, a registered owner who died on 3 March 2026, the pickup garaged in Palmer since, the original title held with a photocopy attached, and an Alaska State Troopers report number taken at Palmer on 19 August 2026. The printed name and signature are the applicant's, dated 08/24/2026, and the notary block is empty. — Rendered from the Division's own PDF and completed as the form asks - the sequence of events in the applicant's own words, with the documents that support each sentence attached. Amber is the applicant's; the notary block is grey because it is filled in by the officer who watches the signature. Every name, address, report number and vehicle identification number is invented.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Your full legal name
The applicant block at the top of the page.
Watch out: Use the name the Division holds for you. This affidavit is being read against a record, and the first thing the reviewer does is find you in it.
2
You fill this in
Licence number, date of birth or social security number
One of the three, as the form offers them.
Watch out: An Alaska licence number resolves fastest. The other two exist for people the Division has no driver record for.
3
You fill this in
Address, email and daytime telephone
Mailing address on one line, then the two contact fields.
Watch out: Give a telephone number you answer during office hours. A review is a conversation, not a transaction, and it stalls when nobody picks up.
4
You fill this in
The vehicle
Plate number if there is one, the vehicle identification number, year, make and model.
Watch out: The VIN is what the review runs on. A plate can have been surrendered, reassigned or never issued.
5
You fill this in
Do you have the vehicle?
The first of the two possession questions, answered yes or no.
Watch out: Answer it honestly even when the answer weakens your position. The Division's next step depends on where the vehicle physically is.
6
You fill this in
Do you have the title?
The second possession question - and if yes, a photocopy goes in the envelope.
Watch out: Photocopy both sides. The assignment on the back is usually the part of the document the dispute is actually about.
7
You fill this in
Write what happened
The eight ruled lines: when, where and who, if known.
Watch out: Plain chronology beats indignation. Dates first, then documents, then who did what - and name every attachment in the text so the reviewer knows what should be in the envelope.
8
You fill this in
Sign it under oath and date it
Printed name, signature in front of a notary public or DMV representative, and today's date.
Watch out: Take the attachments with you and have them stamped or initialled if the office will do it. It is one more thing tying your affidavit to the papers it relies on.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The instruction at the head	In bold before anything else: if you are the victim of a crime, you must report the incident to the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the alleged crime occurred, and a copy of the police report must be included with this form, if applicable.
Applicant Information	Full legal name, then Alaska driver licence number or date of birth or social security number - one of the three - then mailing address, city, state and zip on a single ruled line, and email and daytime telephone.
Vehicle Information	Licence plate number if there is one, the vehicle identification number, then year, make and model. No colour and no body style: this form is about a record, not a description.
Are you in physical possession of the vehicle?	Yes or no. It is the question that determines what the Division can practically do while it reviews.
Are you in physical possession of the vehicle title?	Yes or no, with the instruction attached - if yes, include a photocopy of the title.
Affidavit Section	Eight ruled lines under one instruction: briefly describe what happened, and include when, where and who, if known. Everything the Division will act on is in here.
The perjury paragraph	The same wording the Division uses across its affidavits: personally reviewed, certified under penalty of perjury, and a maximum penalty of $10,000 or 1 year imprisonment or both per AS 11.56.210 and AS 28.35.135.
Printed name, signature, today's date	Three boxes across the foot of the page, with the signature line carrying its own condition: sign in front of Notary Public or DMV Representative.
Notary block	Subscribed and sworn, a seal, the officer's signature with login ID and office location, and a commission expiration, closing with the note that the officer verifies identity only.
Where it goes	Printed at the foot: mail or deliver to DMV Office, 4001 Ingra Street Suite 101, Anchorage, AK 99503, ATTN: Admin Title Review.

What gets this one rejected

•Filing it without the police report where a crime is alleged. The form's own first instruction requires the report to be attached, and forgery of a signature on a title is a crime whether or not you want to treat it as one.
•An affidavit section that describes a feeling rather than a sequence. When, where and who, if known - dates, addresses, names, and what document you say is wrong.
•Holding the title and not attaching a copy. The question asks whether you have it and then tells you what to do if you do; an unanswered attachment is a review that stalls on its first day.
•Signing at home. The signature line names the two officers who may witness it, exactly as the duplicate title and the power of attorney do.
•Sending it to a local office because it is closer. The form directs it to one address in Anchorage, marked for Admin Title Review, and it is a specialist queue rather than a counter transaction.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•It is a review, not an appeal against a person. What you are asking is that the Division re-examine a transaction it processed. It does not resolve ownership between two private parties - that is a court's job - but it can stop a wrongly issued certificate being used.
•Possession of the vehicle and possession of the paper are separate questions. The form asks both because the answers point in different directions: someone holding the vehicle and no title, and someone holding a title and no vehicle, are two different disputes.
•The story is the evidence. There are no tick boxes for what went wrong. Eight lines, written plainly, with the documents attached that support them - the death certificate, the estate paperwork, the police report, the photocopied title.
•A false statement here is priced on the form. Ten thousand dollars or a year, or both. The affidavit is sworn precisely because the Division may act on it against somebody else's certificate.
•Keep a copy of everything you send. It goes into a review queue in Anchorage rather than being processed at a counter, and the copy you keep is what you will be discussing on the telephone weeks later.

Every line here was read off Form 821 (Rev 10/25) 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 821

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Your full legal name

Licence number, date of birth or social security number

Address, email and daytime telephone

The vehicle

Do you have the vehicle?

Do you have the title?

Write what happened

Sign it under oath and date it

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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