Affidavits

An affidavit is a sworn or affirmed account of events that an individual may be asked to provide if they’re involved in a NSW District Court or a Supreme Court of NSW case, as well as some Federal Court cases.

A range of participants in a court case can be asked to write an affidavit: a plaintiff or applicant, a defendant or respondent, a witness, or an expert providing relevant knowledge in relation to a case.

An affidavit must be written in the first person, meaning from the author’s point of view. For example, “I was concerned, that he closed the door behind me, before this he’d always left it open.”

If the affidavit contains a conversation, the exact words spoken should be used like this: I said, “Mr Smith, you don't normally close the door?” But if exact words cannot be remembered, it can be a close account, such as, He said something to the effect, “Yes, but what I have to say is…” Affidavits should be typed – double spaced with 12 point font – or clearly handwritten.

More detailed information regarding affidavits including downloading the form can be obtained from the NSW government website page, And from there you can easily fill in the details beside each of the headings provided.  Click on this link to access information regarding the affidavit

Also remember, the document should not include personal opinions, hearsay evidence – something that someone else told you happened – hypothetical statements, generalisations, offensive or derogatory statements, or your opinion on how the law should apply to incidents described.

Affidavits can also include attachments or additional pages called Annexures and should be marked in the top as "Annexure A, B and continuing through the alphabet till all Annexures are recognised by their alphabetical order.
Annexures need to be referred to in the Affidavit under their Alphabetical sequence

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