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Commissioner for Oaths

A Commissioner for Oaths is a public official whose main powers are administering oaths to persons swearing affidavits and attesting to signatures on statutory declarations and other documents. The importance of which is to properly identify those making declarations which can help reduce fraud in legal documents.

This is a service that Bill Ryan can provide as he is a Commissioner for Oaths. If you want to
find out more about the services he offer you can use the contact form on the left contact him to.

Who is a Commissioner for Oaths?

The types of person who is appointed to this office are now all practising qualified lawyers. This has changes from time to time but the current list of automatic appointments are:

  • Barristers
  • Solicitors
  • Notary publics
  • Legal Executives (Fellows only)
  • Licenced Conveyancers

What services does a Commissioner for Oaths provide?

Affidavits

Probably the main function of a Commissioner of Oaths is to swear oaths from anyone making an affidavit. Affidavits are typically used in Civil Litigation and can include process servers ‘formalising’ their proof of delivery for a court action or parties in a divorce giving evidence of their situation for court proceedings. Affidavits can be sworn on different holy books or affirmed if the affiant (the person making the affidavit) doesn’t wish to swear on the vailable texts.

Certified Copies

It is a fairly common requirement and subsequently a common service provided by a Commissioner for Oaths is making certified copies of documents. these are called for when it is impracticable or unwise to use the original. It is normally made clear who can make a certified copy when you receive the instructions to provide them.

Statutory Declarations

Some legal processes need a statutory declaration. When you need to make a statutory declaration it will be made clear to you and normally you will be given instructions about how to make it and who to do it in front of to authorise it.  It can be witnessed by a court official or by a Commissioner of Oaths.