For the gap between the name on the certificate and the name on everything else. Marriage, divorce, a middle initial the BMV never had, a company that reorganised - all of them stop a title at the counter, and all of them are fixed by swearing that two names belong to one person or one entity. Three sections in parallel columns: individuals, business entities, registered Indiana dealers.
Written against State Form 13637 (R6 / 11-24), issued under IC 9-17-2 and IC 9-13-2-124.
Do this before you list the car, not on the day of the handover. It costs nothing, it takes five minutes, and a certificate in a name you no longer use is one of the very few Indiana problems that is genuinely trivial to fix in advance and genuinely obstructive on the day.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank State Form 13637 from the forms.in.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual State Form 13637, rendered from the PDF the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles 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
Only the first of the three sections is amber. The two below it - business entities and registered Indiana dealers - are laid out identically and are deliberately untouched, because the form's own instruction is that you complete the one that applies to you and no other.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Work out which section is yours
Section 1 for an individual, Section 2 for a business entity, Section 3 for a registered Indiana dealer.
Watch out: One only. Three completed sections do not make the affidavit three times as convincing, they make it a form the counter has to send back.
2
You fill this in
The first name box
The name exactly as the certificate of title carries it, in the order last, first, middle initial.
Watch out: Copy it character for character, including a middle initial you never use. The whole point is to bridge the certificate to the present, so the certificate's version has to be one end of the bridge.
3
You fill this in
The second name box
The name you use now, and the one on the identification you will be showing.
Watch out: The one on your driving licence, not a preferred spelling. A branch associate is comparing this affidavit against a document in their hand.
4
You fill this in
For a business, add the identification number
A Federal Identification Number under each business name in section 2, and a full address for each.
Watch out: Two different numbers means two different entities and the affidavit does not apply. If the number changed, what happened was a reorganisation and the BMV will want to see it.
5
You fill this in
Sign the block that belongs to your section
Signature of Affiant, printed name and date, immediately under the section you completed.
Watch out: The three signature blocks look alike and swear different things. Read the sentence above the one you are signing.
6
You fill this in
Send it or take it in
It goes with the certificate to a branch, or by post to the Central Office address printed at the top right.
Watch out: Do it before the sale. Once the buyer is standing at the counter with your certificate, a name mismatch is a second trip for somebody who is not you.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
SECTION 1 - INDIVIDUALS
Two name boxes side by side, each in the order last, first, middle initial. The two names are the ones being declared to be the same person.
SECTION 2 - BUSINESS ENTITIES
Two columns, each with a Business Name, a Federal Identification Number and a full address - number and street, city, state, ZIP.
SECTION 3 - REGISTERED INDIANA DEALERS
The same layout again with a Dealer Number under each business name.
Three signature blocks
One under each section: Signature of Affiant, Printed Name and Date Signed, each above the affirmation appropriate to that section.
The affirmation wording
The individuals block reads that the individuals named above are one and the same; the entity blocks say the business entities, or the registered dealers, named above are one and the same.
The Central Office address
Printed top right - Central Office Finance, 100 N. Senate Avenue, Room N440, Indianapolis - with the BMV's contact number beneath it.
What gets this one rejected
•Filling in more than one section. Instruction 4 divides them: individuals must fill out Section 1, business entities must fill out Section 2, dealers must complete Section 3.
•Using it to skip a dealer reassignment. Instruction 3 forbids it in terms - the affidavit must not be used to circumvent or skip a dealer reassignment.
•Declaring two people to be the same person. The affirmation is about one person under two names, not about two individuals who agree to be treated alike.
•A business entity without its Federal Identification Number. Section 2 asks for one under each business name and it is what makes the declaration checkable.
•Signing the wrong block. Each section has its own signature row and its own affirmation wording, and the wording is what is being sworn.
•Bringing it after the sale. A name mismatch found at the counter is the buyer's delay, and it is your name that has to be reconciled.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It covers entities as well as people. Instruction 2 says a person, as defined by Indiana Code, may present this affidavit to clarify any differences or discrepancies between owner name as indicated on a title and/or registration application - and adds that this includes individuals and business entities.
•Both names go in, in the same order. Each box asks for last, first, middle initial. Writing one name in one order and the other in another makes the comparison harder for no reason.
•No notary. Like almost everything else in the Indiana set, it is sworn under penalty of perjury and witnessed by nobody.
Every line here was read off State Form 13637 (R6 / 11-24) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
