How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-167

Two affidavits printed on one sheet, and a private seller normally only needs the top half. Since January 2024 the plate stays with the seller when a Kentucky vehicle changes hands - so the plate matters again, and the day it goes missing, gets left on a sold car, or turns out to have been stolen, this is the affidavit that replaces it. The bottom half is the non-exchange affidavit, which is a dealership's or a lender's account of why a plate did not come back with a title action.

Written against TC 96-167 (05/2020), issued under KRS 186.180 and KRS 186A.990. If the plate went off with the car by accident, deal with it the same week. Kentucky ties insurance verification to the vehicle rather than to the plate, but a plate on somebody else's car with your registration number is a problem that only gets more expensive the longer it drives around.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC 96-167 from the transportation.ky.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank TC 96-167 — Affidavit for Replacement or Non-Exchange PDF at transportation.ky.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual TC 96-167, rendered from the PDF the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing 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

Kentucky form TC 96-167 filled in on its upper half only: Delphine R. Hoskins of Nelson County certifies that her registration plate HRT 419 is lost, requests a replacement, gives her Bardstown address and driver licence number, signs and dates it 2 September 2026, and swears it before notary Wanda C. Skaggs, with the entire non-exchange affidavit below left grey. — The top half used and the bottom half untouched, which is the ordinary shape of this sheet in a private seller's hands. One notary block at the foot serves either affidavit, so it is completed once.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The county, at the top of the upper half
The county the affidavit is being filed in - your county of residence.
Watch out: The lower half has a county rule of its own. Fill in the one belonging to the affidavit you are actually using.
2
You fill this in
What is being replaced
Certificate of Registration, Registration Plate or Decal, from the left-hand column.
Watch out: The plate and the decal are separate items and separate replacements. Losing a plate with a current decal on it means both.
3
You fill this in
Why
Lost, County Change, Stolen, Destroyed, Rusted, or Other with a description.
Watch out: Choose the one that is true. Stolen creates a record with a date on it; Lost does not, and the two are not interchangeable just because the outcome is the same.
4
You fill this in
The number, and the owner block
The plate, decal or certificate number, then owner names with a Social Security or licence number each, and the address.
Watch out: If the plate number has gone with the plate, your old registration receipt or a title history request will recover it.
5
You fill this in
Sign and date
One line per owner named on the registration.
Watch out: Leave the whole lower half alone. Repo, junked vehicle and salvage title belong to a different transaction and a different signer.
6
You fill this in
The single notary block at the foot
Subscribed and attested before me on this date, with the commission number and expiry.
Watch out: It is headed for replacement or non-exchange because one block serves both halves - which is also why filling in both halves produces a mess nobody can swear to.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Affidavit for Replacement, county	One rule at the top of the upper half.
What is being replaced, and why	Two columns of boxes. On the left, Certificate of Registration, Registration Plate or Decal. On the right, the reason: Lost, County Change, Stolen, Destroyed, Rusted or Other, with a Describe line beside Other.
The request line	I hereby request a replacement for Registration Certificate, Registration Plate, or Decal # - and then the number itself.
Owner block	Two owner name and identification columns - a Social Security or driver licence number for each - then street address, city, state and ZIP.
Two signature and date lines	One for each owner named.
Affidavit for Non-Exchange, county	The lower half begins again with its own county rule and a title or registration control number.
The title action, or the registration action	Two more columns of boxes: Repo, Junked Vehicle, Salvage Title, Title Only Transfer on the left; Plate Replacement, Vehicle Type Conversion, Registration Conversion, Registration Cancel on the right.
Why the plate is not attached	The plate, the identification number and the decal, then a reason - Lost, Stolen, Destroyed, Special Plate, Out of State or Other with a Describe line.
Company and owner blocks	Name of company or dealership with an identification number, a lending institution, and a separate owner column, each with its own address rows.
Two more signatures	Signature of authorised representative, and the owner's signature with a date.
One notary for either half	A single block at the foot headed Notary for Replacement or Non-Exchange, with a subscribed-and-attested date, a commission number and a commission expiry.
The header warning	KRS 186A.990 quoted across the top: any person knowingly giving false information in connection with an application or title shall be guilty of forgery in the second degree - and, separately, a line telling you that a duplicate title is the TC 96-182 rather than this sheet.

What gets this one rejected

•Using it for a duplicate title. The line under the heading says in as many words that a duplicate title application is a different form.
•Both halves completed. The single notary block serves whichever affidavit you actually used; filling in both makes two inconsistent statements.
•A reason box left unticked. The replacement affidavit is a statement about what happened to the plate, and Lost is not the same claim as Stolen.
•Other ticked with nothing on the Describe line. The line exists because the six printed reasons do not cover everything.
•One signature where the registration names two owners. Both columns have their own signature and date lines.
•An unsworn affidavit. The notary block at the foot covers whichever half you filled in, and neither works without it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Since 2024 this is a seller's form, not just an owner's. The plate leaving with the seller means a plate left on a sold car is now your problem to report, and the replacement affidavit is how you report it.
•A stolen plate is worth reporting for its own sake. Stolen is one of the six printed reasons, and the affidavit is a dated record that the number stopped being yours on a particular day.

Every line here was read off TC 96-167 (05/2020) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing 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 Kentucky seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Kentucky involves.

How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-167

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The county, at the top of the upper half

What is being replaced

Why

The number, and the owner block

Sign and date

The single notary block at the foot

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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