How to fill out Louisiana Affidavit of One and the Same

One sworn sentence, and it fixes the commonest reason a Louisiana title file stops: the name on the certificate and the name on the identification are not the same name. Married since the title was issued, a court-ordered change, a surname the department recorded without its second half, a suffix on one document and not the other - all of them are this form. The department's own rule is that the applicant's name must read the same on all documents, and where it does not, this is what makes it read the same.

Written against Affidavit of One and the Same (no revision printed), issued under R.S. 35:12, names to be given in full by notaries. This form carries no code and no revision - it is titled Affidavit of One and the Same and nothing else, and the OMV's forms index lists it that way too. There is nothing on it to check an edition against, so take it from the department's index rather than from a saved copy.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Affidavit of One and the Same from the public.powerdms.com copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Parish of

   The blank under State of Louisiana at the head of the page.

   Watch out: The parish the notary is commissioned in and where the affidavit is being sworn. It has nothing to do with where the vehicle lives or where either name was first recorded.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Name as it appears on the Certificate of Title

   The first full-width rule on the sheet, immediately below the words personally came and appeared.

   Watch out: Transcribe it character for character off the face of the certificate, including the misspelling. Correcting it here defeats the whole document - the point is to swear that the wrong name and the right name are one person.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Name as it appears other document(s)

   The second full-width rule, after the words who declared to be also known as.

   Watch out: The name on the identification the OMV will be looking at, which means the driver's licence or ID card rather than a passport or a utility bill.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Serial # (VIN)

   First of the three vehicle boxes, under the purpose clause.

   Watch out: The affidavit is made in connection with the ownership transfer of one described vehicle, so this number is what limits it. An affidavit with the wrong VIN reconciles two names about somebody else's car.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Printed Name

   The right-hand of the two rules above the jurat, beside the signature line.

   Watch out: Print the current legal name - the one on the identification - rather than the old one from the title. The affidavit has already recorded the old spelling two lines up.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   Louisiana Notary Identification No.

   The last line on the sheet, under the notary's printed name.

   Watch out: It has to be filled in and it has to be legible. An attorney puts their bar roll number here instead; a Justice of the Peace puts the identification number the Secretary of State assigned them, next to their name, and adds the office they hold.

What gets this one rejected

• •The name copied off the certificate tidied up on the way. It has to be transcribed exactly as it appears, including the error that made the affidavit necessary.
• •A serial number that does not match the certificate. The affidavit conforms names in connection with one described vehicle.
• •Sworn without a notary identification number, which is a general rule rather than a rule about this form - anything notarised after 1 January 2005 without one must be rejected.
• •Used for a missing middle name. The department does not require an affidavit where a middle name is absent from a document, or where one document has an initial and another the full middle name.
• •Signed by somebody other than the person whose two names are being reconciled.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It is not for every mismatch. The department names the cases: a change in marital status, a court-ordered name change, or a first name, surname or suffix that is not identical on every required document. Those need it. A missing middle name or an initial in place of a full middle name does not.
• •A business can need one too. Where a company name on the titling documents does not correspond with its Secretary of State filing, or a notary has recorded it wrongly, the same affidavit reconciles the two.
• •No initials, no nicknames, no ranks. The underlying rule the affidavit serves is that names go on a Louisiana title in full - initials, nicknames and pet names cannot be used for first names or surnames, and titles such as Dr. or Col. are not prefixes or suffixes.

Every line here was read off Affidavit of One and the Same (no revision printed) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Louisiana Office 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.

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