§33-5-16. Certificates of registration and numbers generally - Transfer of interest or destruction or abandonment of vessel; change of address; duplicate registration certificates.

(a) The owner shall furnish the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources notice of the transfer of all or any part of his or her interest other than the creation of a security interest in a vessel numbered in this state pursuant to this article or of the destruction or abandonment of such vessel within 15 days thereof. Such transfer, destruction, or abandonment shall terminate the certificate for such vessel; except, that in the case of a transfer of a part interest which does not affect the owner's right to operate such vessel, such transfer shall not terminate the certificate.

(b) Any holder of a certificate shall notify the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources within 15 days if his or her address no longer conforms to the address appearing on the certificate and shall, as a part of such notification, furnish the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with his or her new address. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources may provide in its rules and regulations for the surrender of the certificate bearing the former address and its replacement with a certificate bearing the new address or for the alteration of an outstanding certificate to show the new address of the holder.

(c) Any person who has purchased a registration number for his or her vessel and subsequently loses or misplaces the registration certificate may make application to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, accompanied by a fee of three dollars ($3) for a duplicate registration certificate. Such applications must be made upon forms furnished by the Division of Marine Police of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

(d) The Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources is authorized to provide by duly promulgated regulation a system wherein the probate judges and license commissioners in this state may issue duplicate registration certificates, and, in the event such probate judges and license commissioners issue such duplicate registration certificates, they shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars ($2) for each duplicate certificate.

(Acts 1959, No. 576, p. 1442, §14; Acts 1961, No. 878, p. 1377, §3; Acts 1965, No. 787, p. 1473, §2; Act 2007-420, p. 896, §1.)