Making a Statutory Declaration in Singapore

Statutory declarations are the document that are usually required in the situation when you need to prove some facts or statements to the governmental agencies or statutory bodies.

Still, there are some people who get confused with the statutory declaration and an affidavit, especially undertaken for all the more similar purposes but have certain differences. Don’t worry, keep on reading the article and get all your confusion cleared related to statutory declaration.

What is statutory declarations? 

According to Singapore’s Oaths and Declarations Act, statutory declarations can be made pursuant to Part III.

In simple words, the statement is mainly for declaring some facts to be true. In this statement, you can voluntarily provide information about any matter or for the purpose of satisfying certain legal or regulatory regulations.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Explaining the reasons behind changing one’s name.
• In some jurisdictions outside Singapore, a trademark can be filed.
• Presenting evidence of use of a trademark in Singapore.
• When applying for an HDB loan, state that you are unemployed.
• Your real estate agent must execute a Salesperson Statutory Declaration for all information about your HDB purchase.
• Notifying Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) about your lost passport.
• Primary One registration of the child can be done through the permanent addresses of a child of grandparents or parents sibling.
• Establishing a Singapore subsidiary company of an international corporation.
• Exercising the right to declare evidence for revocation of a patent.
• Declaration (in certain circumstances) that a beneficiary under a will is legally recognized.
• Declaring that a gift of land by the donor was made when he was solvent at the time of making the gift and that he has not become insolvent due to the transaction.

If you are unsure if the statutory declaration can be considered for the particular circumstances, you can reach out to relevant ministries, organizations or statutory boards that have asked for the statutory declaration. Apart from this, you can also reach out to get legal advice from a professional lawyer.

How to Make a Statutory Declaration

In Singapore, making a statutory declaration generally consists of the following steps:

1. Get a statutory declaration form

The statutory declaration should be made in the form stated in the first schedule of the oath and declaration act. A statutory declaration form may be acquired for free from the State courts, relevant ministries, Supreme Court, statutory board or other organization where it is to be used.

Apart from the ministries and organization’s, you can also acquire the statutory declaration form from the lawyer elected as a Commissioner for Oaths.

2. Fill in the statutory declaration form

First, you need to determine what you must declare from the appropriate organization and ensure that you fill out the form to its specifications.

Before swearing or affirming, you must ensure that the form is completed correctly and filled out.

3. Find a Commissioner for Oaths

Generally, State Courts, Supreme Courts, Singapore ministries, and statutory boards will have Commissioners for Oaths available to confirm your declaration. Additionally, you also have the option to make a statutory declaration by reaching out to Commissioner for Oaths in a law firm to do in on your behalf.

4. Swear/affirm the statutory declaration and sign the document

The Commissioner for Oaths might ask you to present an NRIC card for verification purposes. After that, you will require me to affirm your declaration in front of them.

After that, you and the commissioner for oaths will be moving forward with signing the declaration, and hence the declaration will be regarded as duly sworn or affirmed.

Making a Statutory Declaration Outside of Singapore

For some commonwealth countries and the UK, it is imperative to get your statutory declassified made prior to sending it for notarization to a notary public, Justice of peace or the relevant authorised person depending on the law of the respective countries.

When you make your statutory declaration outside of the UK or Commonwealth, it must be done before a consul, vice-consul, or other person authorized to do so by the laws of that country.

Making a False Declaration

You should remember that intentionally making a false statutory declaration is regarded as a criminal offense as per Singapore law. If you do so, you may face a sentence of up to 7 years in prison and/or a fine.

Look after a Lawyer to Make a Statutory Declaration on your behalf.

If you need to submit a statutory declaration to any Singapore courts, ministries or statutory boards, you can usually find a Commissioner for Oaths in one of these places.

It may simply be more convenient for you to consult your own lawyer to get this done in certain instances. Depending on the circumstances, you may also prefer to consult your own lawyer for this purpose.

Conclusion 

Finally, all your doubts might have been cleared after going through the above article. Now, simply keep all these things in mind and get yourself aware when it comes to declaring the facts. Apart from this, if you need any document translation, Singapore translators can get all your translations done within the deadline. You can reach out to us for certified translation service in Singapore.