Affidavit of Friends or Family Witnessing Your Relationships

​ Footstep by pace guide - Preparing your Affirmation

Pace 1: Know what orders you want the court to brand

Before you commencement preparing your Affirmation, yous must know what orders y'all want the court to make. The purpose of your Affidavit is to persuade the court to make the orders yous are seeking. It is your evidence.

Step two: Make a plan

Information technology is important to accept a programme every bit your Affidavit will include a lot of data the courtroom needs to grant a Divorce Club. If you lot don't include all the relevant information, the court may adjourn or dismiss your Awarding for Divorce.

Before you lot offset writing your Affidavit, you may want to plan:

• what data you will include
• what documents you will include
• how your Affirmation volition be structured.

It is important that your Affidavit is easy to read then the court tin can empathise what y'all are trying to say. To do this:

• write in chronological order (the order in which things occurred)
• divide your Affirmation by topics using headings
• go along it cursory
• recall who yous are writing to - the court has no personal cognition of your human relationship so yous must tell them all of the facts.

Yous should only include information that is relevant to the orders you want the court to make. The court tin't consider irrelevant or unnecessary information. If you include besides much irrelevant or unnecessary data in your Affidavit, the court may refuse to read it.

Examples of relevant information you should include:

• your date of separation
• changes to your financial circumstances
• the name of your kid's schoolhouse.

Examples of irrelevant information that you shouldn't include:

• your personal opinion, for instance, 'I could tell that John wasn't prepare to commit'
• hearsay testify - bear witness of what someone else saw, heard, or otherwise witnessed, for case, 'Sarah told me that she saw John at the supermarket'
• hypothetical statements, for example, 'If Jane hadn't travelled and then much for piece of work, nosotros wouldn't accept broken up'
• generalisations, for example, 'All men are agape of delivery'
• offensive comments, for example, 'John is a bounder'
• submissions, for instance, 'The court can be satisfied Jane and I take been separated for 12 months'
• legal communication you accept received
• your interpretation of the police force.

Step 3: Consider what Affidavits you need

If you are making a sole Application for Divorce, y'all need to file an affidavit.

If you are filing a articulation Awarding for Divorce, your spouse will also need to ready an Affidavit. Either you or your spouse will be applicant 1 and the other person will be applicant two.

Y'all may besides demand to become an affidavit from a Third Party.

Affidavit in lieu of wedlock certificate

If you tin can't get a copy of your Marriage Certificate, in the Affidavit you file with your Application for Divorce, y'all will have to explain:

• y'all are married
• your marriage is recognised nether Australian law
• why you don't take a copy of your marriage certificate
• your attempts at getting a copy of your marriage certificate.

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Affidavit in lieu of Matrimony Certificate

Sample: Affirmation in lieu of Spousal relationship Certificate

Separation nether i roof

If, after separating, you and your spouse connected living in the aforementioned house, you tin all the same apply for a divorce in one case you have been separated for at least 12 months.

In the Affirmation you file with your Application for Divorce, you will have to explain:

• the date y'all and your spouse separated
• the dates yous and your spouse lived in the aforementioned firm
• why you lot and your spouse continued living in the aforementioned firm
• who you lot told nearly the separation, for example, friends, family, authorities agencies
• whatever changes to sleeping arrangements, finances, parenting, and sharing of household tasks.

If you lot are filing a sole Awarding for Divorce, you should file:

• your Affidavit
• an Affidavit prepared by an independent third party, such as a friend or family member, explaining how they learned most your separation.

If you are filing a joint Application for Divorce, you lot should file:

• your Affidavit
• an Affidavit prepared by your spouse.

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Affirmation – Separation nether one roof

Sample: Affidavit – Separation under i roof

The tertiary political party who prepares an Affirmation may exist asked to go to the hearing to confirm their evidence.

Instructions: Instructions for completing a tertiary political party Affidavit – Separation under one roof

Sample: Third party Affidavit – Separation under one roof

If a 3rd party doesn't empathise or can't complete this Affirmation, they should get legal communication.

Spousal relationship less than two years

If you and your spouse take been married less than ii years, you lot will demand to get a Counselling Document to file with your Application for Divorce.

If you are unable to attend counselling with your spouse, you must inquire the court's permission to apply for a divorce. To exercise this, y'all must include in the Affirmation y'all file with your Awarding for Divorce an explanation of:

• why you have not attended counselling, and
• any special circumstances that have prevented you from getting a counselling certificate, for instance a history of domestic violence.

Alternatively, y'all tin can wait until you accept been married for more than two years before you apply for a divorce.

Your safety is of import. If you feel unsafe or are experiencing any violence, contact the police, a domestic violence counsellor or go legal advice.

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Affirmation – Marriage less than two years non-filing of counselling certificate

Sample: Affidavit – Marriage less than 2 years not-filing of counselling document

If you don't empathize or tin't complete this Affirmation or have concerns about what to include, you should become legal advice.

Change of name

If your surname on your Application for Divorce is different from your married or maiden names, y'all must:

• file a copy of your Change of Proper noun Document with your awarding
• prepare an affirmation explaining why your name is different to your married or maiden name.

Instructions: Instructions for completing an Affirmation – Modify of name

Sample: Affidavit – Change of name

If you don't understand or can't complete this Affidavit, you should get legal communication.

Step 4: Go your documents

Before yous first writing your Affidavit, yous should become all the documents y'all want to attach.

For more information, see Getting your supporting documents.

Y'all must use the right form to write your Affidavit.

To download an Affidavit form, see Affidavit on the Federal Circuit and Family unit Court of Commonwealth of australia website.

Step 5: Preparing your Affirmation

Contents

When you are preparing your Affirmation y'all must:

• utilise plain language
• write in the get-go person
• only state the facts
• be specific - use dates, times, amounts, locations and names where possible
• refer to any conversations using the actual words spoken, for example, I said to Jane words to the effect, "That's fine."
  
• split each topic using headings
• include merely one event per paragraph
• number each paragraph
• number each page consecutively, including whatsoever annexures.

Don't include whatsoever information or documents that suggest or prove you have committed a criminal offense. This can exist used equally bear witness against you later if you lot are charged. If you are not sure what to include, you should get legal communication.

Formatting

Your Affidavit should be:

• double spaced
• left aligned
• size 12 font
• in an piece of cake to read font, for example Arial or Calibri
• written in English language.

Don't sign your Affirmation until you are fix to have it witnessed.

Step six: Attach your documents to your Affidavit

Where you can support the facts in your Affidavit with a document, yous must attach a copy of the document to your Affirmation, for example photos, letters or emails. These attached documents are chosen annexures.

To include documents in your Affidavit:

• refer to each of the documents in the text of your Affirmation - if there is more than one document, give it a number or letter of the alphabet, for example 'Annexure 1'
• attach the documents to the dorsum of your Affidavit in the order that they are mentioned in your Affidavit
• create a comprehend page for each certificate, with the argument:
  

'This is the certificate referred to as Annexure [insert reference number] in the Affirmation of [insert deponent's name], sworn/affirmed at [insert place] on [insert date] before me [authorised person to sign and provide name and qualification].'

• continue the page numbering in your Affidavit across all annexures.

Make certain the documents you attach to your Affidavit are clear and easy to read. If they are not, the court may not consider them, or they may inquire yous to provide another copy.

Don't include original documents in your Affidavit - merely adhere photocopies. The documents you file become the courts holding. You will not be able to get them back once your example in finished.

Footstep vii: Become your Affidavit witnessed

You must swear (religious adjuration) or affirm (non-religious oath) that the contents of your Affidavit are truthful.

You must sign, and take each folio of your Affidavit witnessed, by a Justice of the Peace or lawyer. You must also become any annexures witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or lawyer.

For more information about where to find a Justice of the Peace, run across Finding a JP on the Department of Communities and Justice website.

To prepare any fault(s) in your Affidavit, cross out the mistake(southward) and write your initials adjacent to your alter(due south). The person witnessing your Affirmation must also write their initials adjacent to each change.

If you lot are unsure what to write in an Affidavit, or what documents to attach, y'all should become legal advice.

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Source: https://www.lawaccess.nsw.gov.au/Pages/representing/Divorce/Applying%20for%20a%20divorce/Preparing-your-Affidavit---step-by-step-guide.aspx