The only lever a Kentucky seller has, and it does not become available until day sixteen. One paragraph, sworn, saying that you executed an assignment and warranty of title to a named person on a named date and that they have not completed the transfer - and asking the clerk to revoke the registration until they do. It is not a release of liability and Kentucky does not have one; it is a request to freeze the record.
Written against TC 96-3 (05/2020), issued under KRS 186A.215(1) and KRS 186.180(4).
The form asks the clerk to act under KRS 186.180(4). In the version of KRS 186.180 effective 27 June 2025 the subsection numbered (4) deals with reinstating a registration revoked for lack of insurance rather than with revoking one, so the cross-reference printed on this 2020 form no longer lands where it once did. The authority the clerk actually works from is KRS 186A.215(4), which is quoted in full on the hub page.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC 96-3 from the transportation.ky.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual TC 96-3, 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
Dated three weeks after the sale, which is the earliest this form has anything to say. The vehicle block asks for three things and no more - year, make and vehicle identification number - because the clerk is looking the car up rather than describing it.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
I, ______
Your name printed into the opening rule, over the label Seller/Transferor Name.
Watch out: The name as the certificate printed it. If two owners were named on the front, the one signing here should be the one whose name matches the assignment.
2
You fill this in
On or about ______
The date of the vehicle transfer - the day the keys and the certificate actually left your hands.
Watch out: On or about is the form's own wording, so an approximate date is acceptable where the exact one has gone. Do not stretch it to make the fifteen days look longer.
3
You fill this in
Year, make, vehicle identification number
Three rules, and the third one is the one that matters. No plate number, no title number, no mileage.
Watch out: Take the number off your photograph of the completed title, or off an old registration receipt. Getting it wrong here freezes somebody else's car.
4
You fill this in
To ______
The buyer's name, address, city, state and ZIP, all on the one wide rule.
Watch out: This is why copying their identification at the handover matters. Without an address the clerk has a name and nothing to attach it to.
5
You fill this in
Sign it, with your own address underneath
Signature of seller or transferor, then your address, city, state and ZIP.
Watch out: Your address decides where this is filed - the clerk in your county of residence, not the buyer's.
6
You fill this in
Subscribed and attested to before me
The jurat: the date in month, day and year, the attesting official's signature and title, the commission number and its expiry.
Watch out: Same rule as everything else here - sign it at the desk. Kentucky's county clerks notarise, so the trip that files it can be the trip that swears it.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The certifying sentence
I, [seller or transferor name], hereby certify that on or about [date of vehicle transfer] I transferred my interest in the following described vehicle.
The vehicle
Three rules only - year, make, and vehicle identification number. No plate, no title number, no mileage.
To
One wide rule taking the buyer's name, address, city, state and ZIP together.
What you are certifying you did
Printed, not written: that you executed an assignment and warranty of title to the transferee in the space provided on the Certificate of Title and executed the applicable portions of the vehicle transaction record.
The request
Further, I request the registration on this vehicle be revoked as provided by KRS 186.180(4) or by any other law until this transfer has been processed.
Signature and address
Signature of seller or transferor, then address, city, state and ZIP on two rules underneath.
The jurat
Subscribed and attested to before me this date, broken into month, day and year, then the attesting official or notary signature and title, a commission number and a commission expiry.
What gets this one rejected
•Filing it early. The statute behind it turns on a transferee who did not submit the necessary document within fifteen calendar days, so day ten is not a case.
•A buyer's address you cannot actually give. The one wide rule wants name, address, city, state and ZIP together, and a first name and a phone number is not that.
•Signing it without an attesting official. The jurat is the whole of its authority - unsworn, it is a complaint rather than an affidavit.
•Taking it to the buyer's county clerk. The statute says the clerk in the seller's county of residence, which for once is your own.
•Using it after a dealership took the car. The subsection it rests on does not apply to transactions involving licensed Kentucky motor vehicle dealers.
•Expecting it to undo the sale. It restricts registration transactions on the vehicle; it does not put the car back in your name or refund anything.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It names two documents, and you must have completed both. The printed sentence says you executed the assignment on the certificate and the applicable portions of the vehicle transaction record. A seller who never signed cannot swear to this.
•What it actually does is stop the clock for the buyer. The clerk enters data that restricts any registration transaction on that vehicle until the transfer has been processed - which is a problem the buyer has to come and solve.
