The Statutory Declaration
The Statutory Declarations, one for NSW and one from the Australian Commonwealth
A statutory Declaration is a writt
en
statement which a person declares to be true in the presence
of an authorised witness. Some organisations ask for a
Statutory Declaration to be provided as a form of telling the
truth regarding an event or situation. The Declarant, you,
usually swears, affirms or declares to be true in the
presence of an authoirised witness - usually a Justice of the
Peace (JP), a lawyer or a Notary Public.
The person who makes the declaration, you, is called the Declarant, and your identity must be established and signature must be witnessed at the time of signing
The law that governs the making of a NSW statutory declaration for the general purpose in NSW is the Oaths Act 1900 (NSW)
There are strict laws regarding the witnessing of a Statutory Declaration (Stat Dec) and it is offence and penalties apply, for:
- a person who makes a false declaration
- a person who witnesses a statutory declaration when not authorised by law to do so.
Penalties can include a fine, imprisonment or both!
The JP is required to follow 13 steps to witness the stat dec, and includes:
- successfully identifying the declarant with an approved method
- ensuring the declarant understands the relevance and understanding of the document
- issue a warning relating to telling the truth
- guiding the declarant to swear, affirm or declare the contents of the document
- witness the document being signed
If there are other documents supporting the stat dec, these are called "Annexures" and have a separate process to complete the procedure
Two types of Statutory Declaration exist in NSW and are the "Eighth Schedule and Ninth Schedule", both are relevant and current and either can be used. You can complete on-line, download and print a copy of a stat dec here there are also detailed instructions on how the fill the forms correctly.