What is an Affidavit or Declaration ("Tatsir")?

An affidavit is a statement of facts which is affirmed or declared before any lawyer (Notary or not) who has authority to “warn” the person signing in his presence. The person making the signed statement is the: Affiant declaring (Matsir or Matsira) that the contents are true.

The signature on an affidavit must be executed only in-person and only on Israeli soil, therefore, if a signature on an affidavit is need and the person is not in Israel, he must sign in the Israeli consulate or embassy abroad and the original document signed by the consul must be presented in Israel. Please be aware that not every type of affidavit can be signed abroad and the local consulate according to the Ministry of Exterior’s Guidance can deny this service for some types of affidavits.

These documents are valuable in court but Judges will rarely accept an affidavit instead of the testimony of the witness. An affidavit in Israel is not to be used in place of live testimony, the opposite: Iin most civil cases, the witnesses, the plaintiffs or the defendant can be questioned in court only about the content of the affidavit presented in court during the legal process.

An affidavit generally consists of statements of fact regarding the issue at hand, with a section at the bottom for the affiant to confirm he is telling the truth on the statements made and affix his/her signature, which is then certified in a "jurat". A jurat is the bottom part of an affidavit where the lawyer certifies that the document was "signed" before him. Jurat is a certification on an affidavit declaring when, where and before whom it was done.

The lawyer signs at the very end of the document only after warning the affiant s/he will be liable to a prison term if s/he lied in the affidavit. It is always important that the lawyer positively identify a signer for a jurat, as s/he is certifying that the signer attested to the truthfulness of the document contents under penalty of perjury. However, jurat does not prove a document is true, legal, valid or enforceable. The lawyer will permit your declaration regarding any issue without questioning you if this is true or not.

The affidavit can be signed in front of any lawyer, anywhere in Israel – there is no issue of jurisdiction whatsoever. If the document is signed in court in front of a “lawyer on duty” a fee will be charged (a new not free service being offered in Israel to the public). When signed with a lawyer in a private practice the decision to charge or not charge is only at his/her discretion.

We at VOLEH do not charge for a "Tatsir", but it can only be done in our offices in Ramat Gan.

Sincerely,
 

Tzvi Szajnbrum, Attorney at Law