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Once you've sworn your affidavit, it's done. With one exception, the only way you can fix a mistake in that affidavit or add additional information to it is to make a new affidavit. In many family law actions, it is not uncommon to have three, four or even fifteen affidavits prepared in the course of a dispute. These affidavits are mostly made to update the court on events occurring since the previous affidavit was sworn.
Note that new affidavits don't replace any of the previous affidavits, they just add to the written evidence in the court file. Every affidavit stands on its own.
==Adding New Informationnew information==
If you have to add new information or documents that should have been in the previous affidavit, you'll have to do up a new affidavit. In the beginning of the affidavit, just state that you're making the affidavit to give the court new information, and then set out the additional information you need to give the court.
...and so on.
==Fixing Less Important Informationless important information==
If you've made a typo in an affidavit that's already been sworn, you don't have to prepare a whole new affidavit. This is what you do:
#take the sworn affidavit to a lawyer or notary public, preferably the lawyer or notary who executed the affidavit;
#when you're in front of the lawyer or notary, correct the mistakes on the affidavit in pen (cross out the incorrect information and write the correct information about it);
#write your initials in the margin of the page beside the line you have corrected, the lawyer or notary <span class="noglossary">will </span> put his or her initials there too, until you have corrected all errors; and,#the notary or lawyer <span class="noglossary">will </span> then have to re-swear your affidavit, which just means that you'll have to give your oath that the corrected affidavit is true and sign the affidavit again, below your old signature, and the lawyer or notary <span class="noglossary">will </span> sign the affidavit again.
This <span class="noglossary">will </span> not be appropriate for all mistakes. You can fix a number, change an "I did" to an "I did not," fix a misspelling, or even delete a whole paragraph. It is not appropriate to fix major mistakes about important facts and claims. To fix those, you really should prepare a new affidavit to explain yourself.
==Fixing Important Informationimportant information==
If you've made a major error in an affidavit that's already been sworn, you must prepare a whole new affidavit to explain why you've changed your evidence and what your mistake was.
You must be careful about correcting major mistakes, especially those which are important to a claim you or your former spouse are making. Too many corrections make you look sloppy and careless, and could possibly undermine your credibility. The best way to avoid problems like this is to ensure that each affidavit you make is accurate as possible before you swear it.
{{REVIEWED | reviewer = [[JP Boyd]], March 24, 2013}}
{{JP Boyd on Family Law Navbox|type=how}}
{{Creative Commons|title = JP Boyd on Family Law|author = [[JP Boyd|John-Paul Boyd]] and Courthouse Libraries BC }} [[Category:How Do I? (Family Law)|F]][[Category:Affidavits]]