If your matter is in Court, you will, at some point, be required to file an affidavit with the Court.
An affidavit is essentially a written statement, which can be described as ‘your story’. It is the evidence presented by you in support of your application or response. You will swear or affirm your affidavit to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge.
Where you are required to file an affidavit, we will draft and prepare this affidavit with you. Depending on what is required, drafting an affidavit can be a stressful and time-consuming process. Here are some tips to help you, help us, prepare your affidavit.
Other details in your affidavit will depend upon your matter, including whether it is a parenting or property matter, and whether you are the applicant or respondent in a matter.
In parenting matters, it is important that you are able to provide us with information about the history of the relationship, the parenting arrangements during the relationship, the parenting arrangements after the relationship as well as any details about risks (for example, family violence, mental health, drug or alcohol use).
In property matters, it is important that you are able to provide us with details about the history of the relationship/marriage, any assets owned prior to the relationship/marriage, any assets accumulated during the relationship/marriage, the financial contributions made by you during the relationship which may include use of an inheritance as a deposit on a property purchase, any non-financial contributions including child raising and details about your current financial circumstances.
If the other party has filed an affidavit in the matter already, it is important that you take some time to read through this affidavit and make a note of anything you disagree with by recording the paragraph number and your version of events.
We will advise you before we meet with you if there is any specific information, we require from you.
It is important to note that when filing an affidavit in relation to an interim application (whether you are the applicant or respondent) in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, these affidavits can only be 10 pages in length and can only contain 5 annexures. Trial affidavits are not limited to 10 pages but should not be any longer than necessary.
Jessica Fordham, Associate Solicitor, NLS Law