How to fill out West Virginia DMV-5-TR

The sworn sentence that makes a gift a gift in West Virginia. One printed declaration - I do hereby transfer to the named person a described vehicle for no consideration, monetary or otherwise - with both parties certifying that the transfer does not involve any exchange of goods, service or money in return for the vehicle. Parents, children and spouses are excused from filing it; every other relationship that hands a car over free needs this sheet sworn, or the recipient is taxed on the full book value as though the word gift had never been said.

Written against DMV-5-TR (Rev 09/2021), issued under W. Va. Code 17A-3-4 and 11-15-3c. Read who is excused before you book the notary: a parent-to-child or spouse-to-spouse gift of a West Virginia-titled vehicle files no affidavit at all, provided the family member's tax was previously paid on it. The relationships one step wider - a brother gifting a brother is the example the Division's own page works through - are exactly the ones this form exists for, and skipping it there prices the gift at book value.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DMV-5-TR from the webapps.transportation.wv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our DMV-5-TR guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank DMV-5-TR — Affidavit of Transfer of Ownership Without Consideration PDF at webapps.transportation.wv.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in DMV-5-TR guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual DMV-5-TR, rendered from the PDF the West Virginia 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

The West Virginia DMV-5-TR filled in for a gift: Rosalie M. Burdette transfers a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt to her nephew Tyree J. Slack of Nitro for no consideration, both certification blocks completed with license and phone numbers, and the signature rules and notary blocks awaiting the shared sitting. — An aunt-to-nephew gift - a relationship outside the parent-child-spouse exemption, which is precisely when this affidavit is mandatory. The signature and notary lines wait for the sitting itself - and only the first notary block will be needed, because both parties can appear before one commission together.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The declaration line
Your name, the recipient's name, and the vehicle's year, model, VIN and title number written into the printed sentence.
Watch out: The sentence is the affidavit. Everything below it identifies and swears; this line is what is actually being certified.
2
You fill this in
Certification of current ownership
Name, address, license or ID number, phone, then sign and date - in front of the notary.
Watch out: The license number asked for here is also the one the Division will match against the title record. Use the credential, not memory.
3
The buyer fills this in
Certification of new ownership
The recipient completes the mirror block with their own details and signature.
Watch out: Recipients still pay the title fee and file the DMV-1-TR - this affidavit rides with that application, it does not replace it.
4
Somebody else fills this in
The notary block - one or two
Together, one block serves both signatures. Apart, each party swears before their own notary in their own block.
Watch out: If the two of you swear separately, the vehicle line must already be complete and identical on the sheet each notary sees - two half-finished copies cannot be stapled into one affidavit.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The declaration	Name of current vehicle owner, name of new vehicle owner, then year, model, vehicle identification number and title number, all embedded in the single printed sentence that ends for no consideration, monetary or otherwise.
Certification of CURRENT ownership	The giver's half: name of current owner(s), address, license/ID number, phone number, and an (X) signature with its date.
Certification of NEW ownership	The recipient's mirror image - name, address, license/ID number, phone and signature.
Current owner's certification by notary public	A sworn block with a subscribed-and-sworn date, notary signature, commission expiry and a stamp panel - with a starred instruction that only one notary certification is required if both current and new owners are available and present at the same time.
New owner's certification by notary public	The second block, used only - its own instruction says - if the current and new owners cannot sign under witness of the same notary at the same location and time.
The warnings at the foot	Any changes, alterations, or erasures will void this affidavit; and an application providing incorrect, false or fraudulent information about the consideration exchanged subjects the applicant to the revocation, suspension and/or cancellation of any and all driver's licenses, registration plates, cards, and permits issued to the applicant.

What gets this one rejected

•Using it where money, work or barter actually moved. The declaration certifies no exchange of goods, service or money - a lawnmower traded in part payment makes the whole affidavit false.
•A price on the title beside a gift affidavit. The titles page rejects applications containing a designated purchase price on the title sheet paired with a conflicting gift affidavit.
•Skipping it for a sibling, grandparent or in-law. The exemption the Division recognises runs strictly between parent and child, child and parent, or spouse and spouse - nothing wider.
•A correction squeezed onto the sheet. Its own foot says any changes, alterations, or erasures will void this affidavit - a slip means printing a fresh one.
•Treating a lien as part of the gift silently. A gifted vehicle carrying a lien is not exempt: the tax is calculated on the recorded lien amount, and pretending otherwise is the false statement the foot warns about.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•One notary trip if you travel together. The starred instruction makes the second block unnecessary when both parties stand before the same commission at once - the cheapest possible version of this form is a shared visit.
•The penalty is aimed at both names. Revocation, suspension and cancellation of licenses, plates, cards and permits - the foot's list attaches to the applicant, and both of you have certified.
•It answers the tax question, nothing else. Title, odometer and plate rules all still apply to a gift. This sheet only explains why no price appears.

Every line here was read off DMV-5-TR (Rev 09/2021) itself — the PDF is here — and off the West Virginia 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.

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

How to fill out West Virginia DMV-5-TR

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The declaration line

Certification of current ownership

Certification of new ownership

The notary block - one or two

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

Want the paperwork handled instead?

Or send the details — we'll come to you