§852.6. Prohibition of vessel or outboard motor sale, assignment, or transfer without certificate of title or documentation

A.(1) No person shall sell, assign, or transfer a vessel or outboard motor titled by the department or documented with the United States Coast Guard without delivering to the new owner or the new owner's designee a certificate of title or a certificate of documentation with an assignment in the new owner's name.

(2)(a) Notwithstanding the requirements of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection or any other law, regulation, or policy of the department to the contrary that requires the signature of a notary public on a document evidencing the transfer of ownership of a vessel or outboard motor, if a person sells, assigns, or transfers a vessel or outboard motor to a purchaser who obtains a secured loan from a federally insured financial institution that takes a security interest in the vessel or outboard motor, the bill of sale or seller's assignment of the certificate of title shall be signed by the seller and may, in lieu of being signed in the presence of a notary public, be signed in the presence of an authorized officer who shall verify the identity of the seller and subscribe his name as a witness.

(b) The federally insured financial institution shall provide the department with a separate document identifying the name and job title of the authorized officer for the purpose of verifying that the person signing as a witness is an authorized officer of that particular financial institution.

(c)(i) For the purposes of this Section, "authorized officer" shall mean any officer of a federally insured financial institution operating in Louisiana who is designated to witness a bill of sale or assignment of a certificate of title of a seller, on behalf of a federally insured financial institution, for the purpose of executing the transfer of either a vessel or an outboard motor.

(ii) A federally insured financial institution may designate one or more officers to serve as authorized officers.

B. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to vessel or outboard motor dealers and supervised financial organizations or licensed lenders as defined in R.S. 9:3516, when they acquire or dispose of such vessels or outboard motors in connection with enforcement of any security interest held therein.

Acts 2007, No. 319, §2, eff. July 1, 2008; H.C.R. No. 25, 2008 R.S., eff. May 28, 2008; Acts 2009, No. 508, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2011; Acts 2017, No. 305, §2.