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Create a Declaration of Loss
What this document does
A sworn statement that a document was lost, how, and that it has not been pledged or transferred — the first step in applying for a duplicate passport, certificate, share certificate or deed.
Declaration
The date you sign and verify it — printed in the verification paragraph. Today's date is filled in; change it if you are signing on another day.
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Declaration of Loss
0/6 answered
What else is in it — 7 clauses, 2 optional
- 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.
- 02
The document
Identifies what was lost and establishes that the deponent was entitled to hold it. An issuer will not reissue to someone who has not first said the original was theirs.
- 03
How it was lost
When, where and how. An issuer reads this to decide whether the loss is credible and whether a police report should exist.
- 04
Diligent search
That the deponent looked and could not find it, and — the limb a registrar or bank actually relies on — that it was never pledged, sold or deposited as security.
- 05
Undertaking if it is found
Promises to surrender the original if it turns up and never to use it. What stops a duplicate becoming a second usable copy.
- 06
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.
- 07
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.
After it is drafted
Reporting the loss to the police, if you are going to
Most issuers of identity documents ask to see a police report, filed at the station or on your state police portal, and it is the acknowledgement they want rather than a full FIR. If you are going to file one, it is worth doing before you sign this — the declaration quotes the report number, and adding it afterwards means signing again.
Getting it sworn before a notary
If the office asks for a sworn affidavit rather than a signed declaration, this is what that involves: non-judicial stamp paper of the value your state sets for affidavits, the signed copy printed on it, and a visit to a notary or oath commissioner with your identity document. They administer the oath and complete the attestation block — that is what turns a declaration into an affidavit, and the only part of any of this that needs stamp paper. Worth asking the office before you go, since many now accept the declaration as it stands.
Publishing a notice of the loss
For share certificates and property documents, the body issuing the duplicate generally wants the loss advertised in a newspaper first, so that anyone holding the original has a chance to come forward. Keep the page — it is usually part of what they ask to see.
Applying to the issuer for a duplicate
The duplicate comes from whoever issued the original, on their own form and their own terms. This declaration is one of the documents that application usually rests on, along with the police report where there is one, and some issuers ask for a separate indemnity bond on top.