All You Need to Know About Affidavit

A sworn statement is a written or verbal statement whose veracity is assured by an oath before a judicial or administrative authority. This causes the content of the statement to be taken as true until proven otherwise.

For example: “Tomorrow I have to present my tax affidavit corresponding to the second quarter of the year”, “The governor has not yet presented his affidavit of assets “, “When purchasing a vehicle, the buyer must justify the origin of the funds through an affidavit”.

The presumption of veracity of the affidavit helps to speed up the procedures, since it avoids having to present other documents or go to a third party to testify about any fact. At present, it is common for judicial declarations to be submitted virtually, through software.

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It is important to keep in mind that if a person makes an affidavit with false information or malicious omissions, an administrative or even criminal punishment applies. Suppose a man must file a sworn statement with the Treasury to indicate what income he had in a given period. Depending on the amount he declares, he will have to pay more or less taxes. In order to pay a lower amount than the one that corresponds to him, the subject only includes in his affidavit half of the income that he actually received. Some time later, an analysis of various data allows the authorities to detect that the taxpayer lied in his affidavit. In this situation, a judicial process is initiated.

The need to prepare and present an affidavit in writing to carry out certain procedures says a lot about the way in which we organize ourselves as human beings; for example, of the little validity that we give to oral language, always in pursuit of writing. Although there are many instances within legal proceedings in which the spoken word seems to prevail, transcripts are always made for later filing.

It is important to highlight that to sign a sworn declaration model it is not necessary to go to a particular office, since it is enough that we are in the presence of a notary public to give legal character to the procedure. Regarding the drafting of the document, there are countless examples on the Internet, in addition to the fact that lawyers often help their clients to prepare them; It is essential that all facts are stated clearly and concisely, and that all pages are properly signed and dated.

Although not all sworn declarations are made with the same objectives, they are characterized by focusing on the manifestation of the veracity of what is signed by the person who makes it, always under oath. Taking into account the formality and the responsibility that follows from the affidavit, we can distinguish two main types:

* simple or general : it is a demonstration that is carried out personally and of their own free will, with the aim of alleging the veracity of certain facts. It can be used for a large number of circumstances of a different nature, both personal and commercial. It is the least formal type of affidavit;

* notarial and judicial : this can be written or verbal. In this case, given that the facts whose veracity is affirmed under oath are usually of greater weight than in the simple affidavit, the consequences of a lie can be more serious, both in the administrative and criminal spheres. It must be signed before a notary or a lawyer, for example, who is responsible for collecting the oath and signing it to close the process.