Affidavit of Character

There is a possibility that at some point of your life, someone will ask you to formally swear that he or she is an upright and moral person and there is a possibility too that you will ask someone for one. That is what an affidavit character is all about—it is a promise made under oath. An affidavit of character is commonly used in cases of a child custody case or a child adoption. You may also see affidavit of correction examples.

If ever you are asked to write an affidavit of character, this means that you will be legally bound and legally responsible to whatever that is written on the affidavit. You’ve been asked to provide a declaration or statement about another person’s character under oath as part of a contract or legal process. It also means that you are asked to provide a truthful declaration and/or statement under oath regarding another individual’s character because this is actually a part of a legal process. And if ever you are going to be asked to write this type of letter, you have to make sure that you already know the specified special requirements such as having it notarized. You may also like affidavit of birth examples.

Make sure that you are signing an affidavit of character because of the reason that everything that you have written is something that you believe in and something that is true. An affidavit of character is not some kind of informal reference that you can just take for granted. You can actually be charged with perjury in the event that you will be caught stretching and exaggerating the truth or adding false claims. You may also check out affidavit of death examples.

When someone would straight up and ask you to exaggerate and lie, it is best if you turn him or her down. If that person asks you to do such, it goes to show that they certainly do not deserve a character affidavit since they do not have solid and trustworthy character at all. You may also see affidavit of marriage examples.

Affidavit of Character Template

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Child Affidavit of Good Moral Character Template

Affidavit of Character Reference

Affidavit of Good Moral Character

Character Affidavit Example for Child Custody

How to Write a Character Affidavit for Child Custody

There might be other purposes of an affidavit of character, but in this article, we are going to highlight the purpose for child custody. You may also like legal document examples.

It is possible that at some point in your life, you will be asked either by a friend or a relative for an affidavit or character when he or she is involved in a contested child custody case. When asked so, you will be asked to provide a sword testimony under oath. You will also be under the penalty of perjury in the event that you will be caught lying or exaggerating the person’s moral and ethical character. There is another option where you will be testifying in court. However, there are some cases that instead of doing so, you will be asked to just write and sign it down. You may also check out affidavit of heirship form examples.

There are two options or methods: you could either draft the affidavit of character yourself or have an attorney to have it drafted for you. In this article, we will be discussing the former which is writing the affidavit of character yourself. You may also see affidavit of domicile examples.

Drafting Your Own Affidavit of Character

In this method, you will be the one who will draft your own affidavit of character instead of having someone, such as a lawyer, to write one for you. You may also like statement analysis examples.

1. Know and understand the purpose of your affidavit of character

Before you could even begin creating one, you have to make sure that you already know and that you have already understood the purpose of the affidavit of character. That includes knowing and understanding the issues that are in dispute as well as the main reason why you were asked to provide a supporting evidence.

Knowing the purpose beforehand will enable you to just the write solely relevant details and information on the affidavit. Anything that you include that is not important at all will not be admissible at all. You may also see affidavit of ownership examples.

2. Refer and check for other affidavit forms

If it is indeed your first time to write an affidavit, it is best if you would refer and check for other affidavit forms for you to be guided. It is in doing so that you will be able to find out that in your state, they provide ready-made affidavit forms that you can use just for formatting purpose while the rest is something you need to alter in order to adapt and suit it appropriately to your needs.

We also have affidavit of character examples here in this article that you might find useful. You may also like affidavit of marriage examples.

3. Create a clear caption.

The caption, or the heading information, of your affidavit of character can be found on the very first page of the affidavit. It is where the information such as the the name of the court, the names of the parties, and the case number is found. You may also check out blank affidavit form examples.

This is an important part of your affidavit of character since it contains very relevant information. Make sure that both its content and format is kept consistent all throughout the other documents that are filed under such case. If you keep the content of the caption accurate, it will also be easy and safe for you to copy and paste the caption of one of the other documents. You may also see affidavit of birth examples.

3. Label the title of your affidavit

Just right about two lines below the caption of the affidavit is where you should be labeling the title of your affidavit. It can be simply written as “Affidavit of Character” or “Character of Affidavit,” or “Affidavit of [Your Name].” You may also like affidavit of correction examples.

In case you have a difficulty, try referring and checking with other previously filed document in the case for you to use as a reference particularly on how you should format the title because there are document-formatting that vary from court to court. But in general, titles are usually in bold face type and are found at the center of the document and there are also some courts wherein they prefer to have the title in all caps and even some are even underlined.

4. Introduce yourself.

In starting the body of your affidavit of character, ensure that you start off by introducing yourself. There are other ways on how you can do so but you can definitely make use of the traditional and format court language. Right after doing so, consider numbering your statements that comes typically covering only one subject. You may also check out affidavit of service form examples.

5. Identify your relationship to the party in the case.

Right after introducing yourself, you can then proceed to identifying your relationship to the party involved in the case. You can start stating your belief that the party for whom your are creating an affidavit of character for has an undeniable ethical character and a good morale. You may also see affidavit of financial support examples.

Character Affidavit Example for PWD

Columbia College Affidavit of Good Moral Character

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6.  Start describing your background.

This is where you will be further introducing yourself and explain who you are and describe your background that proves your credibility for being a witness or for being worthy enough to write an affidavit of character. You may also check out affidavit of consent examples.

7. Pen down your observations.

When you have already provided a solid background, you can then proceed to writing down your observations that should be specific. Number these specific observations that may be the examples of things and instances that you have personally witnessed being demonstrated by the person you are writing a character affidavit for. These observations should be able to back you up and support your belief that the person has indeed a good morale and an ethical character. You may also like affidavit of residence form examples.

8. Sign the affidavit

When you have already finished what you have and want to say, lay out the area (usually two lines below) of where you are going to write down your signature block. Aside from your full signature, also include the statement that goes, “I swear the information contained above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.”

Make sure that you will be leaving an ample amount of space right below that statement where you are to write down your signature and the date that you have signed it and right under that, also write your full name, full address, contact number, and e-mail address. Additionally, keep in mind that you have to sign the affidavit in the presence of a notary public.You might be interested in affidavit of domicile examples.

9. Add the notary block.

Any kind of affidavit out there requires to be signed right in the presence of a notary public. And because of this, there is a need for you to add the notary block right after your signature block. The notary public must sign the affidavit as a witness along with an affixed seal. You may also see gift affidavit examples.

10. Make and keep a copy of your signed affidavit.

The person whom you are writing the affidavit of character for will most likely need the original copy of the affidavit in order to file it with and present it to the court. This is why, for you to be sure, make a copy and keep a copy of the affidavit of character that you have created and signed before you are going to hand it over to the person who requested it. You may also check out ID theft affidavit examples.

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Two-page Affidavit of Good Moral Character

Tips in Writing the Observations

In creating an affidavit of character, there is a part where you will have to write down your observations. If it is your first time writing one, you might have a difficulty in writing this section. With that, here are some tips you can follow as you pen down your observations.

• Show; do not tell. Even if this is considered as a very general writing advice, this can never put you at a wrong stand. Do not just keep on babbling to the court specific facts and instances—you have to show and prove it to them what makes up the good character of the person. Do not bother to simply state that the person has a good morale in your own opinion. The court does not give any care about your opinions; they need solid facts.
• Do away with vague statements. It cannot be avoided that there will come a point wherein and you will be at a loss of words to say to the point that you will begin rambling with vague statements. If you really want to make your character affidavit effective, avoid adding such statements.
• Be objective. Now, it does not mean that if a person is active in church, he or she automatically has a good character—not all people who go to church have a good character. Instead of mentioning his or her active church membership as an evidence of the person’s good moral, just straight up mention the good things the person has done through the church such as feeding the poor through operating a feeding program and needs that can effectively indicate the person’s excellent character.
• Remain balanced. Even if it is not the person you are creating the affidavit of character for, try your very best to keep things balanced and also mention the positive traits of the other party. Being too focused on the person you are writing the affidavit for can possibly raise suspicions. Also, there is no need for you to speak ill of the other party and be honest when you know the other party has some positive attributes.
• Do not try too hard. Try your best to make the person you are writing the affidavit of character deserving for the custody but not too hard to the point that it makes the person to look like as if he or she is a saint. Everybody knows that nobody is perfect. As mentioned, you have to keep things in balance and you can do so by not only mentioning the positive traits of the person but as well as his or her traits that needs improvement but can certainly be improved. By avoiding perfection, you will be able to make the affidavit more persuasive.

Keep in mind that you are writing an affidavit under oath—this means that you have sworn that whatever you have written on the affidavit is truthful enough. We hope that with the help of this article that you will be able to write an effective and truthful affidavit of character. You may also be interested with these simple affidavit examples.