Declarations & Oaths

You may have a document issued in the United Kingdom or from any other country that requires you to make a formal declaration or “swear an oath”, that the given facts in the document are true. On occasion, you may just need to sign this document and, by your signature, you accept and confirm that the contents of the document are true. However, quite often in the United Kingdom, or in international and cross border matters, it is an important requirement that you sign in the presence of a third party.

This is usually required when the document is an Affidavit or a Statutory Declaration, and the third party is in this case more than a “witness”, but rather assumes a formal role of either administering the swearing of an oath or taking a statutory declaration.

Administering oaths or statutory declarations is a reserved legal activity and, as such, notaries are permitted and authorised to administer them.

A Statutory Declaration is a declaration in writing of any person making the same in the form set out under the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. The following wording is is to be used in a Statutory Declaration, rather than an affidavit:

“I (name) do solemnly and sincerely declare, that / as follows … and I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835”

An Affidavit needs to be verified by oath or by solemn affirmation. In certain circumstances and on certain other types of documents, a statutory declaration must be used instead to verify the contents.