How to fill out Louisiana DPSMV 1976

A short affidavit with a very long blank in the middle of it, and the blank is the form. You are asking the commissioner to issue a title on evidence that falls short of an assignment, and in exchange you promise not to hold him or the state responsible if it turns out badly. Its usual home is the good-faith possession route: a trailer, light trailer, boat trailer, farm trailer, travel trailer or manufactured home that has never been titled anywhere and for which the department has no record at all.

Written against DPSMV 1976 (Rev 04/06/2026), issued under R.S. 32:707.4, alternate procedures to transfer certain vehicles. Revised 6 April 2026. The form itself never mentions the good-faith possession procedure, the one-year wait or the inspection requirement - all of that lives in the department's policy rather than on the sheet, which is why a page written from this form's title alone would be almost entirely wrong about what it is for.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DPSMV 1976 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

   The said appearer

   The blank in the opening sentence.

   Watch out: The person who will hold the title if it issues. This affidavit is personal - it is your indemnity, not the vehicle's - so a company here needs a representative named in the signature block as well.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Vehicle description

   The full-width rule after the words issue a title covering.

   Watch out: Year, make, model, body style and VIN, all of them. A trailer with no VIN plate at all is a different and much longer problem, and it starts with the physical inspection rather than with this form.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The reason for executing this affidavit

   Eleven ruled lines occupying the middle half of the page.

   Watch out: Write the actual history: how the vehicle came to you, when, from whom, what has been done to find the owner, and what the department's own record search shows. This is the paragraph a supervisor reads when deciding whether to issue a title on no evidence of ownership.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Signed and Date

   Two boxes on one row, under the reason lines.

   Watch out: The date here should match the date in the jurat below. Two different dates on one affidavit means it was signed before it was sworn, which is the thing the jurat exists to deny.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   Sworn and subscribed before me this __ day of

   The jurat line, with the notary's signature, printed name and identification number beneath it.

   Watch out: The notary block on this sheet labels all three positions explicitly - signature, printed name, ID. Filling in two of the three is the version of this form that comes back.

What gets this one rejected

• •The reason lines left empty or filled with a single phrase. Eleven rules is the department telling you how much explanation it expects.
• •A vehicle description without a VIN. The indemnity is about one specific vehicle and there is nothing else on the sheet to identify it.
• •Sworn without the notary's identification number, which is fatal to any notarised document in Louisiana rather than to this one in particular.
• •Filed on its own for a trailer with no record. The good-faith possession route needs the affidavit plus a sworn statement of acquisition and price, an affidavit of physical inspection by a P.O.S.T. certified officer, and an NCIC check - and a title does not issue until a year after registration.
• •Used where an ordinary assignment was available. This is not a shortcut around a seller who will not sign; it is for a vehicle with no owner to sign.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The one-year wait is the point of the procedure. Under the alternate procedure, no title is generated at the original application: fees and tax are collected, a plate and sticker may be issued, and a title may be issued after one year from the date of registration provided no one claims ownership during that time.
• •Two more affidavits may be needed on top. Where you cannot show a bill of sale or a receipt proving how you came by the vehicle, the department wants two sworn affidavits from people with personal knowledge of how you acquired it, each carrying the full description.
• •An inspection by a police officer, not a mechanic. The physical inspection has to be done by a full-time P.O.S.T. certified law enforcement officer certified by the Office of State Police to inspect motor vehicles, and an NCIC check has to come from a certified officer as well.

Every line here was read off DPSMV 1976 (Rev 04/06/2026) 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.

Back to all Louisiana seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Louisiana involves.