What is an Affidavit?

A written document signed under oath before a notary public or other authorized person affirming that the statements in the document are true, that regularly serves as testimony in a court.

Many court filings, such as petitions for divorce initiating suit, require that an affidavit of facts be submitted with the filing that asserts the necessary facts to validate the filing at its initial stage. They act as sworn testimony for purposes of establishing perjury or for undermining the credibility of a witness when they forget what they swore to in the affidavit and later provide conflicting testimony.

An affidavit is a statement of facts NOT opinion and your signature serves as a sworn oath asserting the truth of the facts presented.

One interesting and useful bit of knowledge is that uncontroverted facts are generally taken as true. You can get the truth of facts validated by the court simply by putting them in an affidavit, if the other side doesn't know to challenge any asserted facts that may be untrue or inaccurate. Knowing this one fact will you make sense of the way pleadings are written by attorneys

When submitting an affidavit in support of a legal pleading, make sure that you know all elements of the burden of proof that is necessary to validate the pleading. Make sure that you provide specific facts to prove each required element of that burden of proof. Generally, at the pleadings stage, asserted facts that are NOT obviously wrong, must be accepted as fact to meet the burden of proof at that stage of proceedings. It may NOT be enough to prove your case on the merits, but can be enough to move to the next stage of proceedings.

Their Definition

A written document signed under oath before a notary public or other authorized person affirming that the statements in the document are true, that regularly serves as testimony in a court.