The court's version of the same idea. Where a vehicle changes hands under a court order rather than by agreement, the officer who conducted the sale - a trustee, an assignee, a clerk or another officer - swears this instead of producing an assignment, and the purchaser gets a title on the strength of it. A private seller never fills it in, and may very much need to read one.
Written against RV-F1311201 (Rev 08-20), issued under Tenn. Code Ann. 55-4-119.
The purpose paragraph lists five ways a nonvoluntary transfer can be secured - title, endorsed bill of sale, special conditional sales contract, lienor repossession, or court order - and this affidavit is only for the last of them.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank RV-F1311201 from the tn.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual RV-F1311201, rendered from the PDF the Tennessee Department of Revenue 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
Signed by a clerk and master rather than by an owner, and that is the whole point of it: the vehicle moves on the authority of the court and the affidavit of the officer who ran the sale.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Block A, who is swearing and under what authority
The county, the date, the affiant's capacity, and the court and county the proceedings were in.
Watch out: For a former owner reading a copy, this block is the one to check first. It names the proceeding, which is what tells you where to go to ask questions.
2
You fill this in
Block B, the vehicle
Year, make, model, body and vehicle identification number.
Watch out: The vehicle identification number is what the Department matches to the record. Everything else on the block is description.
3
You fill this in
Block C, the sale
The purchaser, their address, the date and place of the sale, the price and how it was paid.
Watch out: Place of sale matters in a judicial sale in a way it does not in a private one - a courthouse step is not the same as a lot, and the notice should have named it.
4
You fill this in
The two attachments
A true copy of the court order and a true copy of the notice of sale, each with its own tick box.
Watch out: Both, not either. The order is the authority and the notice is the evidence that the owner had the chance to know.
5
You fill this in
Liens the new title must carry
Two lines listing any remaining encumbrances, under the statement that the purchaser has good title subject to them.
Watch out: A judicial sale does not automatically clear every lien. What is written here is what the new certificate will show.
6
You fill this in
Why no certificate is enclosed, and the signature
One line explaining why a transferred certificate from the former owner cannot possibly be filed, then the affiant's signature.
Watch out: It is a single signature line with no date beside it, which is unusual on a Tennessee form - the date lives at the top of the oath instead.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
A. Oath
The county and date, the capacity of the person swearing - trustee, assignee, clerk or other officer - and the court and county the proceedings were in.
B. Vehicle information
Year, make, model, body and vehicle identification number.
C. Purchaser information
Who the vehicle was sold to, their address, the date of sale, the place of sale, the price and how the consideration was paid.
D. Certification statement
Two tick boxes for the papers attached - a true copy of the court order and a true copy of the notice of sale - then the statement, under penalties of perjury, that all necessary legal provisions were complied with and that the purchaser has good title subject to the liens listed.
Remaining liens
Two lines to set out any liens the new title has to carry.
Why no title is attached
A line reading: a transferred certificate of title from former owner cannot possibly be filed because.
Signature
One line, marked Affiant.
What gets this one rejected
•Neither attachment box ticked. The court order and the notice of sale are what turn an assertion into a record.
•A blank capacity line. The form asks who the affiant is - trustee, assignee, clerk or other officer - because it decides whether they had authority to sell.
•No court named. The oath sentence has two blanks in it, the court and the county, and both are load-bearing.
•Liens left off. The purchaser gets good title subject to the liens listed, so an omission here creates a title that does not match the debt.
•A private individual signing it. A judicial sale is conducted by an officer of the court, and this is that officer's affidavit.
Every line here was read off RV-F1311201 (Rev 08-20) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Tennessee Department of Revenue pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
