5 Tips on How to do your Family Law Affidavit in BC

Family Law Affidavits in BC are extremely important and intricate, and have the potential of making or breaking your case; and by extension your future – your time with your children, your support obligations and how much assets you can obtain after marital breakdown.

Affidavits should ideally be drafted or reviewed by a lawyer to ensure you do not state anything that could hurt your case or make a judge become critical of you.

Watch this important video and read this blog carefully to make sure your family law affidavits are done properly:

What is a Family Law Affidavit in BC?

A family law affidavit is a written statement by you that contains true, important facts that you would like the judge to know. This document is sworn or affirmed under oath, confirming that the information in your affidavit is true and accurate. You may swear your affidavit with a lawyer, a notary public or before a registry clerk.

Why are Family Law Affidavits Important?

Affidavits are one of the main ways of relaying evidence to the judge. Typically, the judge cannot consider anything you have to say unless you provide evidence of it an approved form. So drafting an affidavit properly and in a way that would convince a judge to favour you is an art in itself. A family law affidavit can make or break your case. Therefore, you should take extreme care when drafting an affidavit.

We always recommend that you either hire a family law lawyer to draft or at least review your affidavit to make sure everything is correct and the information you are providing will raise your chances of success in court.

5 Important Tips on Your Family Law Affidavits in BC

Follow these tips to ensure your affidavit is properly before the judge and is not rejected due to errors:

Tip #1: The Correct Identification Information

For both the Provincial and Supreme Court Affidavits, make sure you have the correct:

• Style of cause,
• Court file number,
• Registry name;
• The number of the affidavit;
• Your name and;
• The date the affidavit was made.

Tip #2: Background Facts

An affidavit generally tells a story to the judge. Therefore, you should almost always provide a summary of the background facts so that the judge knows what the case is about and what the issues are. Generally, provide the following:  

1. Basic information about yourself and your spouse such as your birthdates, date of marriage and date of separation;
2. Education history and occupation;
3. Your financial situations at the time of separation and at the current time;
4. Yours and your spouse’s current incomes;
5. If there are any children of the marriage, the children’s name and birthdate.

Tip #3: Issues and Organization

After providing the background information, organize your affidavit by using headings. The headings focus on the issues you want to discuss. So for example, if you are trying to obtain parenting time with your children and child support, the headings can be as follows: 

1. Background
2. Parenting time during marriage;
3. Parenting time during and after separation; 
4. My Income and source of employment;
5. My Spouse’s income and source of employment;
6. History of Proceedings (if there has already been a court action started)
7. Current schedule of parenting time;
8. Current arrangement for child support.

Tip #4: Correct Use of Exhibits

You may attach letters or important documents to your affidavit that you would like a judge to consider or know about. These documents are called “exhibits” and should be correctly attached to the body of your affidavit. When attaching these documents, make sure that you remember the following:

1. You define what you are attaching in the body of your affidavit and list them in alphabetical order “A” “B” “C”, etc.
2. Each exhibit that is attached should be stamped with an exhibit stamp (which can be obtained at the court registry) and labelled with the matching letter from the body of your affidavit.
3. Each exhibit page should be page numbered in the top right-hand corner for easy reference for you, the judge and the opposing side.

Tip #5: Conciseness and Factuality

Affidavits are to be concise and factual. They cannot contain any arguments or opinions of the other person. They are not the venue to vent frustrations, call the other spouse names or give ideas about what is wrong with the other party. Affidavits should be a very detailed reflection of the reality of your past, present and what your plans for the future are.  

It is important to seek guidance from a divorce lawyer as they can advise you of what information you should or should not put in your affidavit. Affidavits are crucial to the success of your case. They must be precise and focus on important legal points.

Call our award-winning divorce lawyers at 604-974-9529 or get in touch for help. 

The content of this article was updated in October 2020 for more freshness, comprehensiveness and accuracy.