Declaration of Marital Status

What this document contains

3 clauses every declaration of marital status carries, plus 7 you can add.

1. 01

   Deponent

   The opening recital naming who is making the statement — name, age, parentage and address. The only clause carrying the deponent's personal particulars, and the one that sets whether the document reads as declared, affirmed or sworn.

2. 02

   No fraudulent intent

   Disclaims any intent to evade a debt, tax, obligation or proceeding. Takes no input. Banks and passport authorities routinely refuse a document that omits it, which is why it is mandatory rather than optional.

3. 03

   Verification

   Affirms the numbered assertions above are true and nothing material is concealed, and carries the deponent's signature block. This is the paragraph that makes a false statement actionable — sworn or not.

Optional clauses

• Never married

  States that the deponent has never married. Takes no input. One of four mutually exclusive status clauses — exactly one belongs in any affidavit.

  Worth adding when: the user has never been married

• Currently married

  States a subsisting marriage with the spouse's name, and the date and place it was solemnised. The commonest real use — visa applications for a dependent spouse.

  Worth adding when: the user is married and needs to state it — for a visa, a pension or an employer

• Divorced

  States that a marriage was dissolved by decree, naming the court, the case and the date. Without those three particulars the affidavit is refused at the counter.

  Worth adding when: the user's marriage has been dissolved by a court

• Widowed

  States that the spouse has died, naming them and the date. Used for pension, insurance and succession claims.

  Worth adding when: the user's spouse has died

• Free to marry

  Declares no subsisting marriage and no legal impediment. Belongs with never-married, divorced or widowed — never with a subsisting marriage, where it would be the bigamy assertion itself.

  Worth adding when: the affidavit supports a marriage registration or a marriage abroad, and the authority wants a no-impediment declaration

• No matrimonial proceedings pending

  Declares that no matrimonial case is pending against the deponent. Asked for by some embassies and by insurers settling a claim.

  Worth adding when: an embassy or insurer has asked whether any matrimonial case is pending

• Purpose

  Names the authority the affidavit is made for, and confines it to that.

  Worth adding when: the user named the embassy, registrar, insurer or employer asking for it

What the law requires

Attestation

An affidavit takes effect only when sworn or affirmed before a person authorised to administer an oath — a notary, oath commissioner, or magistrate. Drafting and signing it alone achieves nothing.

Notaries Act 1952, s. 8; Oaths Act 1969, s. 4

Oath or affirmation

The deponent chooses. Affirmation carries no religious observance and is the usual choice; an oath is equally valid. Neither is stronger evidence than the other, and no officer may require one over the other.

Oaths Act 1969, ss. 5–6

False statements

A statement the deponent knows to be false is punishable. The verification is not a formality — it is what makes the declaration actionable.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, ss. 227–229 (formerly IPC ss. 191–193)

First-hand knowledge only

An affidavit states facts within the deponent's own knowledge. It must not be used to assert facts about a third party's rights or affairs — those are for that person to swear to, or for a document to prove.

Code of Civil Procedure 1908, Order XIX rule 3

Stamp paper is not optional here

Unlike an agreement, which binds the parties whether stamped or not and is merely inadmissible until duty is paid, an affidavit on plain paper is simply refused by the authority it is addressed to. Buy the stamp paper before the notary visit, not after.

Indian Stamp Act 1899, Sch. I Art. 4

A false declaration of capacity is bigamy

Swearing there is no subsisting marriage in order to marry again is not merely a false affidavit — the second marriage is void and the offence is bigamy. Never include the free-to-marry declaration alongside a subsisting marriage.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, s. 82; Hindu Marriage Act 1955, ss. 5(i), 11

Not a substitute for the decree

An affidavit stating a divorce is evidence of what the deponent says; the certified decree is proof of the divorce. Any authority that matters will ask for the decree as well.

Prescribed embassy formats

Consulates frequently publish their own marital-status or single-status form and reject anything else. Check the embassy's own format before swearing this.