The sworn explanation for a strikeover in an assignment - on a certificate of title or a manufacturer's certificate of origin - naming the vehicle, ticking why the pen went wrong, and travelling stapled to the document it excuses. Its limits are the interesting part: it cannot cure an erasure, correction fluid, an odometer reading, a purchase date or a wrongly recorded lien. For those, replacement documents or a different affidavit entirely.
Written against 78-008 (78-008-17-8-1-000), issued under the person who made the strikeover, swearing before a notary.
This form is free, but it is not casual: it is a sworn instrument, and the county will read the strikeover, the tick and the attached document together. If the strikeover is in the buyer's name and the sale then falls through, Customer changed mind is a real box - resist the urge to strike over the strikeover.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 78-008 from the dor.ms.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our 78-008 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual 78-008, rendered from the PDF the Mississippi Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Services 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
The actual 78-008, prepared for the commonest strikeover there is - a corrected letter in the buyer's name. The signature rules carry no fillable fields in the Department's PDF, because they are signed in ink in front of the notary whose jurat sits beside them. Note which boxes stay quiet: nothing about mileage, dates or liens, because the form's own footnote rules all three out, and an examiner finding one of them struck over will be looking for replacement documents, not this affidavit.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Date it and name the vehicle
The date, then year, make, model and VIN of the vehicle whose assignment you spoiled.
Watch out: Copy the VIN from the certificate itself - an affidavit about careful writing is a bad place for a transposed digit.
2
You fill this in
Tick the reason that actually happened
One box from the ten, or Other with the three lines of explanation.
Watch out: The specific boxes beat Other: Seller made strikeover in purchaser's name tells the examiner exactly what to look for, while a vague paragraph invites questions.
3
You fill this in
Explain, if explaining is needed
The Other lines take a short, plain account - what was written, what it should say.
Watch out: Write what a stranger can verify against the document: corrected from R to J, not made a mistake.
4
You fill this in
Sign in front of the notary, not before
The maker of the correction signs; the notary completes sworn to and subscribed with day, month and year.
Watch out: A pre-signed affidavit is the classic bounce - the whole instrument is that somebody watched you swear it.
5
You fill this in
Staple it to the document it excuses
The affidavit travels with the certificate or certificate of origin into the buyer's application.
Watch out: Give the buyer both together and photocopy the pair - the correction only exists as an attachment, and a detached affidavit protects nobody.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The date and salutation
A date line and To Whom It May Concern - this is a letter to the title examiner in Clinton as much as a form.
The vehicle
Year, make, model and vehicle identification number of the vehicle whose assignment carries the strikeover on the attached Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin or Certificate of Title.
The reason boxes
Ten of them: Typographical error; Customer changed mind; Seller signed their name incorrectly; Seller assigned title to wrong party; Assignment placed in dealer assignment in error; Notary Public placed signature in wrong space; Purchaser's name misspelled; Seller made strikeover in purchaser's name; and Other, with three ruled lines to explain.
The jurat and signatures
Sworn to and subscribed before me this (day) of (month), 20 (year) - two signature lines for the person or persons who made the correction, and the Notary Public's signature beneath.
The IMPORTANT footnote
The rules of the road in small print: the person who was required to complete the assignment where the correction was made must complete this form; it cannot be used where information has been blocked out by erasure or the use of correction fluid/tape; and it cannot correct an odometer reading, a purchase date, or an incorrectly recorded lien or security interest holder.
What gets this one rejected
•The wrong person swearing it. The footnote assigns the affidavit to whoever was required to complete the spoiled assignment - a buyer cannot swear away a seller's strikeover, or the reverse.
•White-out anywhere on the assignment. Strikeovers are explainable; blocked-out information is not - in these cases, replacement documents must be obtained, which for a certificate means the replacement-title process.
•Using it on mileage. An odometer strikeover is beyond this form by name; the cure for a wrong reading is the corrected-title affidavit, sworn by every owner since the discrepancy.
•Using it on a lien. For an incorrectly recorded lien or security interest holder, the form demands a release of lien from the wrongly recorded party - a correction cannot un-record a lender.
•Skipping the notary. The jurat is the document: an unsworn explanation of a strikeover is just handwriting about handwriting.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Read the reason list as a map of the assignment. The Department publishes no picture of its certificate, but this form's tick boxes sketch one: a purchaser's name that can be misspelled, a seller's signature that can go wrong, dealer assignment sections a private seller wanders into, a notary space a signature can land in wrongly. It is the assignment's anatomy, drawn in failure modes.
•One affidavit per correction event. The two signature lines are for the person or persons behind one strikeover. Separate mistakes by different hands need their own sworn pages - the examiner matches each correction to its author.
