The lienholder's sworn account of taking a vehicle back, and the document that lets a new certificate be issued without the previous owner's signature. It is on this site because the person who searches for it is often the person it was used against: if your car has been repossessed, this is what was filed, and reading it tells you exactly what the lender had to swear to.
Written against TDMV 16 (Rev 03/23), issued under RSA 261:16, II.
If you are the debtor named on one of these, the sentence to read twice is the one about seizure without process of law under the authority of the conditions of the lien contract. New Hampshire lets a lender take a vehicle back on the strength of the agreement you signed rather than a court order, and this affidavit is where the lender states which route it used and on what date. That date is worth checking against your own record of events.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TDMV 16 from the dmv.nh.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our TDMV 16 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual TDMV 16, rendered from the PDF the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles 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
Everything on this page is the lender's, and the greyed blocks are the alternative it did not use. Only one of the two dates should ever be filled in - voluntary surrender or seizure - because they describe two different things that cannot both have happened to one car.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The lienholder fills this in
The lienholder identifies itself
Name and address, inside the swearing sentence at the top.
Watch out: This has to be the entity named on the certificate of title, which is not always the entity that services the loan.
2
The lienholder fills this in
The debtor
Name and address of the person the debt was due from.
Watch out: If that is you, check the address. A repossession affidavit carrying an address you left years ago tells its own story about what notice you were given.
3
The lienholder fills this in
The sum and the lien date
The amount secured and the date of the valid lien.
Watch out: The lien date should match the date recorded against the title, not the date of the last missed payment.
4
The lienholder fills this in
The vehicle
Year, make, body type, identification number and colour.
Watch out: The identification number is combed, one character per cell, so there is no room for an abbreviated entry.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Voluntary surrender, or seizure
One of the two alternatives, with the date it happened.
Watch out: These are not interchangeable. Voluntary surrender means the debtor handed the car over; seizure without process of law means the lender took it under the contract.
6
The lienholder fills this in
The certification and signature
That the repossession was lawful and in accord with the statutes, signed by an officer, trustee or partner.
Watch out: The form says SWEAR twice. It is an affidavit, and a lender that treats it as a routine form is making a sworn statement carelessly.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Name and address of lienholder
Who is swearing, at the top of the page inside the sentence 'I ______ DO HEREBY SWEAR THAT THERE WAS DUE FROM'.
Name and address of debtor
The person the money was owed by.
The sum, and the lien date
The amount secured, and the date of the valid lien with its year.
Vehicle described as follows
Year, make, body type, vehicle identification number in a seventeen-cell comb, and colour.
Which of two things happened
Either that the debtor voluntarily surrendered possession on a stated date, or that the lienholder seized the vehicle without process of law on a stated date under the authority of the conditions of the lien contract.
The certification
That the vehicle was lawfully repossessed under the terms of a valid agreement and in full accord with the pertinent sections of the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated.
Signature block
Name of lienholder, and the corporation officer, trustee or partner signing for it.
What gets this one rejected
•An affidavit signed by anybody other than the lienholder or an officer, trustee or partner able to bind it.
•Neither of the two alternatives completed. The form offers voluntary surrender or seizure without process of law and the Bureau needs to know which.
•A lien date left blank. The sworn statement is that a valid lien existed on a particular date, and the date is the thing being sworn to.
•A stamped signature on a document that begins 'DO HEREBY SWEAR'.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•What the statute expects to see. RSA 261:16, II requires the transferee to deliver the last certificate of title, an application for a new certificate, and an affidavit made by or on behalf of the lienholder that the vehicle was repossessed and that the interest of the owner was lawfully terminated or sold pursuant to the terms of the security agreement.
•A lender that keeps the car need not re-title it. The same paragraph says that if the lienholder succeeds to the interest of the owner and holds the vehicle for resale, it need not secure a new certificate of title but shall, on transfer to another person, deliver the certificate, the affidavit and the other documents.
•It does not end what you owe. Nothing in this form addresses a deficiency balance. It establishes who owns the vehicle, and that is all it establishes.
Every line here was read off TDMV 16 (Rev 03/23) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New Hampshire Division 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.
