How to fill out Louisiana DPSMV 1696

The route of last resort for a vehicle registered to somebody who has died. Louisiana would rather see a judgment of possession from a succession opened through the courts, or a validated Affidavit of Small Succession filed with the Department of Revenue with a descriptive list of property naming the vehicle. Where neither is possible, this is what the heirs complete instead - and the form says so in its own first line: it is to be used only when a vehicle is registered in the name of a deceased owner and the eligible heirs desire to confirm their ownership interest.

Written against DPSMV 1696 (R08/17/2023), issued under R.S. 32:707.1, titles to vehicles of deceased persons. Revised 17 August 2023. The form points you elsewhere for the money - refer to OMV Section 4, Policy 18.02, Affidavit of Heirship for applicable fees - and asks that any fees or taxes due are sent by check or money order payable to the Office of Motor Vehicles, and specifically not in cash.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DPSMV 1696 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
   Somebody else fills this in

   This is to certify that ______ (deceased owner)

   The blank in the opening paragraph, above the vehicle row.

   Watch out: The decedent's name exactly as it appears on the certificate of title. If the certificate and the death certificate spell it differently, that is a second problem and it needs an Affidavit of One and the Same alongside this one.

2. 2
   Somebody else fills this in

   Vehicle Identification No.

   The last box of the vehicle row, after Year, Make and Model.

   Watch out: Take it from the certificate where you have it and from the registration certificate where you do not. Where neither can be found, the OMV can still work from the title number and plate on the row underneath.

3. 3
   Somebody else fills this in

   Community property or separate property

   Two ticks under Please select one of the following, citing Civil Code articles 2340 and 2341.

   Watch out: This is the first question because it decides who the heirs are. Community property acquired during a marriage is presumed community under article 2340, and getting this wrong sends the whole affidavit to the wrong list of people.

4. 4
   Somebody else fills this in

   The decedent died intestate (i.e., no will)

   First of four ticks under Please select all that apply.

   Watch out: Tick testate instead and you owe the department a copy of the will, or a notarised statement made and signed by the person in possession of the original summarising what it says about vehicles. A verbal account of a will is not one of the options.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   The Surviving Spouse panel

   The upper left of four panels: name, address, city and state, telephone and a signature rule.

   Watch out: The spouse's panel is headed differently from the other three for a reason. Where the vehicle is being sold to a new owner and there is a surviving spouse, every heir signs this affidavit but only the spouse executes the notarised bill of sale or act of donation.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   Notary Public Signature, Printed Name, ID#, Parish

   The jurat under each panel, with four labelled positions.

   Watch out: Each panel is sworn separately, so four heirs can be sworn by four different notaries in four parishes on four different days. What none of them can be is unsworn, or sworn by a notary whose identification number is missing.

What gets this one rejected

• •Not accompanied by a photostatic copy of the death certificate, which the department requires with every heirship affidavit.
• •A testate box ticked with no copy of the will and no notarised statement of its contents relevant to vehicles attached.
• •Fewer than four heirs listed where there are more, and no supplementary list attached.
• •One notarisation covering four panels. Each heir's panel has its own jurat, and each is sworn.
• •A minor named without an age.
• •An out-of-state heir whose own state will not accept the Louisiana form, with no written documentation from that state saying so in the file.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The order of preference is not a suggestion. A succession opened through the courts is evidenced by a certified copy of the final judgment of possession showing the disposition of the vehicle. A small succession is evidenced by the validated affidavit and its descriptive list. This form is what happens when the requirements for either cannot be met.
• •The title assignment still has to be notarised. For a certificate issued on or after 1 January 1990, the department's own answer is that the assignment must be completed by one of the heirs and the recipient of the vehicle, and notarised. The heirship affidavit establishes who may sign; it does not replace the signing.
• •A federal odometer statement is still needed. Completed by the buyer and the seller, on vehicles within twenty model years - the same rule as any other transfer, applied to a transfer where the seller is an estate.
• •A lien on the decedent's title does not die with the owner. Where one is recorded, the department wants a satisfaction of lien on the lienholder's letterhead, naming the lienholder with an address and a telephone number.

Every line here was read off DPSMV 1696 (R08/17/2023) 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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