You were told you needed an Affidavit of Loss to obtain a replacement for your driver’s license, which you lost on your way home the other day. You wonder, can you draft an Affidavit of Loss? With this guide, yes, you can.
DISCLAIMER: This article has been written for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. The use of the information contained herein does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the user/reader.
To save you the hassle of writing an Affidavit of Loss from scratch, you may download the following sample Affidavit of Loss and edit the contents based on the guidelines discussed in the next section.
An Affidavit of Loss contains the following essential parts:
Do not forget to bring a valid ID to the notary, as the latter must confirm your identity.
Yes. The affidavit of loss should be notarized. An affidavit is a legal document executed under oath which means you are attesting to the whole truth of the contents of your affidavit. That is the purpose of the jurat, which starts which the words “SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO..”
If your statement is false, you can be prosecuted for perjury.
Yes. The notary public will notarize your document if your situation falls into any of the following:
a. The notary public personally knows you;
b. The notary public does not know you, but one credible witness who is personally known to the notary public can confirm your identity;
c. If you can bring two credible witnesses who have IDs, and they can confirm your identity to the notary.
The going rate for notarizing the affidavit of loss usually starts at Php 100. The cost varies depending on the place and the notary public itself.
Yes. If you are indigent, you may be able to get your affidavit of loss notarized for free at the Public Attorney’s Office, as the latter offers notarial services to indigent persons.
To be considered indigent, your family income should not exceed Php 14,000 per month if you reside in Metro Manila, Php 13,000 for other cities, and Php 12,000 for all other places.
You may check the Legal Office or the City Councilor Office of your city or municipality, as they sometimes offer free notarial services to their constituents.
Affidavit of Loss has no specific expiry date, but it is only valid for the specific incident where you lost the document, so you can only use it once. It means once you obtain a replacement for the lost document and lose it again, you’ll have to execute another Affidavit of Loss and not use the previous one.