Request By:
Mr. John B. Nichols
Boyle County Clerk
Courthouse
Danville, Kentucky 40422
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have a problem concerning proper licensing of used motor vehicles. Your letter reads in part:
"For some time now people have been presenting themselves in the County Clerk's Office requesting that a motor vehicle be registered or transferred when they do not have the Bill of Sale or proper registration. This sometimes happens because the vehicle has been junked or the previous owner cannot be located, etc. Our usual past procedure has been to have the licensee obtain a "Court Order" drawn by the County Attorney and signed by the County Judge/Executive authorizing the County Clerk to issue the registration based upon an 'Affidavit' of the licensee. "
Question No. 1.:
"What is the proper procedure under law to license a motor vehicle in the situation described above?"
Assuming that the motor vehicle has been previously registered, and the ownership changes, then the purchaser is required by KRS 186.190(2) to deliver to the county clerk of the county in which the sale or trade is made the current registration receipt issued on the vehicle and the bill of sale. See KRS 186.190, in its entirety, as to the details of registration.
The bill of sale, provided for in KRS 186.190, must contain the date, the purchaser's name and post office address, the seller's name and post office address, and the information provided for in KRS 186.030 (application for registration) , and shall be subscribed and sworn to before any officer authorized to administer an oatn. See KRS 186.200 as to details about the bill of sale.
Where the owner junks or otherwise renders a motor vehicle unfit for future use, pursuant to KRS 186.190(5) he must deliver the registration plate and registration receipt to the county clerk of the county in which the motor vehicle is junked. The county clerk shall immediately return the plate and receipt to the Department of Transportation. The owner shall pay to the county clerk fifty cents (50 ) for his services. As we said, KRS 186.190 and 186.200 prohibit the transfer or sale of a motor vehicle without the simultaneous delivery of copies of the bill of sale to the county clerk. These statutes are revenue measures to insure payment of the motor vehicle usage tax at the time of registration.
Lexington Mack, Inc. v. Miller, Ky., 555 S.W.2d 249 (1977) 251. See KRS 138.460 (motor vehicle usage tax).
Thus where the vehicle is junked, and the registration plate and registration receipt are in the possession of the Department of Transportation, in order to get a transfer of registration under KRS 186.190(2), the transferee must obtain a bill of sale from the owner-transferor (deliver original and two copies to the county clerk) and the current registration receipt from the Department of Transportation. The owner-seller can write the division of auto licensing, Department of Transportation, reciting the facts about a change of mind as to the sale of the junked vehicle, and request that the plates and registration receipt be forwarded to the licensing county clerk.
If the registration receipt on the junked vehicle is destroyed or lost, the owner-seller can obtain a duplicate from the county clerk who issued the owner-seller' s copy of the receipt by filing an affidavit, upon a form furnished by the Department of Transportation, and he shall pay to the clerk a fee of two dollars ($2.00). See KRS 186.180(1). Where the registration plate is lost or destroyed, the owner-seller shall surrender his registration receipt to the county clerk from whom it was obtained and file a written statement as to the loss of the plate. See KRS 186.180(2).
Question No. 2:
"Whose responsibility is it to draw up any necessary supporting documents such as a 'Court Order' and 'Affidavit' preceding registration? "
No court order is involved under the above statutory procedure and assumed factual situation.
Suppose that the owner-seller sells the vehicle to the buyer and receives the consideration, but makes himself unavailable to execute a bill of sale. The buyer, as a claimed equitable owner, could go into the district or circuit court, depending upon the jurisdictional amount, for relief.
Where the court awards title to the buyer, the Department of Transportation, we are informed, will of course abide by the order by recognizing the title transfer and sending the registration receipt to the appropriate county clerk if it is available.