Bonus content! How to complete Affidavits of Service for use in British Columbia

This video describes how to fill out Affidavits of Personal Service for use in British Columbia divorce cases. It provides a line-by-line explanation of the information that needs to be provided, along with examples of what a finished Affidavit of Personal Service should look like. Affidavits of Personal Service provide the court with critical proof that a party was properly served with a Notice of Family Claim, and it's important that they are filled out in exactly the right way to make sure that an application for a divorce order isn't rejected. Here are some of the key terms used in this video:

AFFIDAVIT: the evidence of a witness given in writing, on the witness' oath or affirmation that they are telling the truth.

AFFIDAVIT OF PERSONAL SERVICE: a special form of affidavit used to give a process server's evidence that they personally served a Respondent with a copy of the Notice of Family Claim that was filed in court, starting a lawsuit against them. This is a key document in a lawsuit for a divorce order because the court must be certain that the Respondent knows about the lawsuit before it makes the divorce order.

AFFIRMATION: a witness' promise that they are telling the truth.

CLAIMANT: a person who starts a lawsuit by filing a Notice of Family Claim in court.

DIVORCE ORDER: a court order that legally ends a marriage.

EXHIBIT: a document referred to in an affidavit and attached to the affidavit. The typical exhibits attached to an Affidavit of Personal Service are a copy of the Notice of Family Claim that was served on the Respondent and a photograph of the Respondent, sometimes a copy of the Respondent's government-issued photo ID (like a driver's license). The person notarizing an affidavit must sign each exhibit that is attached to the affidavit.

FULL NAME: the full legal name of a person, including any middle names, usually as shown on their birth certificate or on other government-issued ID (like a driver's license).

JURAT: the part of an affidavit, at the end of the text of an affidavit, where the affidavit is signed by the witness making the affidavit and signed and dated by the person notarizing the affidavit. The person notarizing the affidavit also has to write down when and where the affidavit was notarized and provide their name and contact information, just in case there are any questions about the affidavit.

LAWSUIT: a court proceeding in which one person, the Claimant, sues someone else, a Respondent, for a court order, such as a divorce order.

NOTARIZE: the certification of an affidavit, by a lawyer, notary public, court official or government official that the witness making the affidavit gave their oath or affirmation that the things they said in their affidavit are true, and that they saw the witness sign the affidavit. Someone notarizing an affidavit will write their name and contact information on the affidavit, just in case there are any questions about the affidavit, and put their notarial seal on their signature.

NOTICE OF FAMILY CLAIM: a court form used to begin a lawsuit, including a lawsuit for a divorce order.

OATH: a witness' promise, on their belief in the existence of a god, that they are telling the truth.

PERSONAL SERVICE: notifying a person who is being sued, a Respondent, of the lawsuit against them by handing them a copy of the Claimant's Notice of Family Claim. The Claimant must be able to prove that a Respondent was personally served with their Notice of Family Claim, usually through the Affidavit of Personal Service completed by the process server who served the Respondent.

PROCESS SERVER: a person who formally delivers a copy of the Claimant's Notice of Family Claim in a lawsuit to a Respondent named in that lawsuit, including both people who do this for a living and people who serving someone as a favour for someone else, usually the Claimant.

RESPONDENT: a person being sued by a Claimant and who must be personally served with the Claimant's Notice of Family Claim.

SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: the trial court in the Canadian province of British Columbia with the authority to make divorce orders.

WITNESS: someone who gives evidence in court, usually oral evidence given through their testimony in person, but sometimes also written evidence given through an affidavit.