Before you begin

This guide will help you write an affidavit if you're a party in a family law case. It covers:

• parenting 
• child support 
• spousal support; and
• property (interim orders).

Every family law case is different. You may only need content from one of these sections, or you may use all four. The sample clauses (paragraphs) provided on these issues are just examples. You may find they fit your situation perfectly, or that you need to change them to work for you. But for the sections that apply to your case, they represent information that's important to tell the court.

This guide will also help you fill in the format, introductory, and concluding clauses that are mandatory for every affidavit. These clauses must be included in your affidavit. All of the clauses in the other sections are optional.

Before you begin using this guide, read our fact sheet How do you write an affidavit?. This fact sheet will provide you with some background information that's essential to writing an affidavit.

How do I use affidavits in Supreme Court?

An affidavit is a document that contains facts that you swear under oath or affirm to be true. In Supreme Court, affidavits are mostly used for Chambers applications and hearings, not trials. You file an affidavit at the same time as your Notice of Application (Form F31) or Application Response (Form F32). The affidavit then acts as evidence in your hearing, if you have one. A good affidavit provides just enough information for the judge to make a quick decision.

Use an affidavit to provide your evidence when you make or respond to an application to court to:

• make an interim order;
• change, suspend, or terminate a final order or
• set aside or replace all or part of an agreement.

You need to file and serve  the affidavit on the other party along with your application or application response. If you're the applicant, you may provide a second affidavit to respond to the other party's documents.