A statutory declaration is when a person makes a legal declaration after taking an oath in the presence of a lawyer. These are used when an individual needs to affirm the truth associated with a document or statement for legal purposes. A common scenario is a statutory declaration of identity for name change. A lawyer remains witness to the procedure where an individual renounces their old name and says that he or she adopts the new one. Among other uses is statutory declaration of confirming identity, marital status, nationality, affirmation of quality of goods for import and export, declaration of originality of item for patent, declaration of solvency by company directors during voluntary liquidation, etc.

Since Canada statutory declaration is an important legal act, it cannot be carried out by just about anybody. Verification is essential for its proper fulfillment. There has to be a proper Commissioner of Oaths or a notary public or a solicitor for performing a statutory declaration. Since everything about this act needs to be completely true, if a situation arises where a solicitor is already acting for you in another legal matter and you need to furnish a statutory declaration there, you will have to get hold of another solicitor for the latter purpose. The reason behind this is that a solicitor who is already acting for you is likely to be partial and might not be able to provide the most legally authentic administration during the declaration. If it is proven that you knew the statements you were making during the declaration, even after taking the oaths, were false, the punishment may extend to imprisonment too. A good solicitor will explain these terms to you along with other aspects when you sign the declaration. If you want to get a statutory declaration done from a solicitor, it is best to get an appointment done though this is not needed in all cases.

Though statutory declarations seem very mundane and unnecessary, yet when you make a declaration of this sort, you need to understand that you are calcimining certain information to be true in front of an authorized witness. This should never be taken casually. Though not used in courts, statutory declarations are required for many legal and business issues. They can be used to make insurance claims, to verify age and to get various types of benefits and when applying for leaves.