Statutory declaration
A statutory declaration is a legal document defined under the law of certain Commonwealth nations. It is similar to a statement made under oath, however, it is not sworn.
Statutory declarations are commonly used to allow a person to affirm something to be true for the purposes of satisfying some legal requirement or regulation when no other evidence is available. They are thus similar to affidavits (which are made on oath).
Depending on jurisdiction, statutory declarations can be used for:
- Declarations of identity, nationality, marital status, etc. when documentary evidence is unavailable.
- Declaring the intention to change one's name.
- Affirming the provenance and nature of goods for export or import.
- Statements of originality for patent applications.
[edit] Australia
Australian law defines a statutory declaration as a written statement declared to be true in the presence of an authorised witness. The Statutory Declarations Act 1959 governs the use of statutory declarations in matters involving the law of the Australian Commonwealth, Australian Capital Territory, and other territories but not including the Northern Territory.
Any person within the jurisdiction of this law may make a statutory declaration in relation to any matter. The declaration may be used in connection with matters of law, including judicial proceedings, but what weight is given to the declaration is a matter for the judge to decide.
Statutory declarations must be made in a prescribed form and witnessed by a person as specified in the Statutory Declarations Regulations (1993). Prescribed witnesses include legal and medical practitioners, Justices of the Peace, notary publics, police officers, military officers, registered members of certain professional organisations (i.e. National Tax Accountant's Association and Institution of Engineers Australia), and certain other Commonwealth employees.
Intentionally making a false statement as a statutory declaration is a crime equivalent to perjury, and punishable by fines and/or a prison sentence of up to 4 years.
The states of Australia each have their own laws regarding statutory declarations.
[edit] United Kingdom
Statutory declarations can be used as a method of legally changing one's name. They are also commonly used by UK financial institutions to enable an asset of relatively small value (usually less than £15,000) to be transferred to the executors of a will or other persons legally entitled to deal with or benefit from the estate of a person who has died.
Some institutions[clarification needed] will allow a statutory declaration to be given by a person claiming an asset so as to avoid the need for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration (both otherwise called a Grant of Representation) to be obtained to evidence a claimant's status. Each institution has its own policy in relation to the threshold beyond which a statutory declaration will not be accepted as evidence of a claimant's title and institutions will usually specify that if a Grant of Representation is obtained for any of the other assets of the person who has died then they will not allow the asset to be transferred by means of a statutory declaration, even if the asset held by that institution would have been transferable using a statutory declaration in any other circumstances.
