Do not sign an affidavit with its factual contents or important terms left blank. Ask for the complete draft, read every page and annexure, and sign only a statement you can truthfully verify. If you already handed over a signed blank sheet, preserve the circumstances and get advice promptly about recording the limits of your authority and checking whether it has been filed.
Why is this more than a formality?
An affidavit is meant to place a person's verified account before the court. Order XIX rule 3 CPC generally confines affidavits to facts the person can prove from personal knowledge, with a qualified allowance for belief statements in interlocutory applications when grounds are stated. You cannot reliably verify words that have not yet been written.
A promise that the form will only be used if negotiations succeed does not tell you what the final statement will say. It could later contain a claim about money received, jewellery returned, your address, a pending case or consent to divorce. Each can affect a different part of the proceedings. Ask why a completed affidavit is needed before any agreement has been reached.
What should I check in the finished document?
Read the proposed facts, dates, amounts, case numbers and the verification paragraph. Match every annexure to the description in the affidavit. If a paragraph records receipt of money, check whether the money has actually arrived and whether it is the full amount for that stage. Do not sign an acknowledgement now on the understanding that payment will follow later.
If you cannot read the language comfortably, arrange an accurate explanation or translation before signing. Ask for changes to be incorporated into a clean final version. Numbered pages, identified annexures and keeping a copy of what you sign help establish the version authorised. They are practical safeguards, not a substitute for reading it.
A signature on a mutual-divorce affidavit does not remove the court's duties under sections 13B and 23(1)(bb) of the Hindu Marriage Act. Equally, those safeguards are no reason to sign an inaccurate affidavit and hope the judge will repair it later. The mutual-divorce document guide explains the broader document set.
What if I have already signed and handed it over?
Write down when, where and to whom you gave it, which parts were blank, what use was discussed, and who was present. Preserve messages, earlier drafts and any photograph or scan already available. Give counsel the uncomfortable facts as well as the helpful ones. Do not deny a genuine signature merely because you dispute the later text.
Ask for the document's return and a copy of any completed version through an appropriate written channel. Counsel can help record that you did not approve particular contents or use. Such a communication is evidence of your position. It does not physically retrieve the sheet, revoke a court order or guarantee that the dispute is resolved.
Suggested request for a completed draft: Please send the full affidavit and every annexure for my review. I will consider signing the final version after checking the facts. I am not authorising text or settlement terms to be inserted after my signature.
What if it has already been filed?
Obtain the filed version and the relevant orders. Mark the specific passages you dispute and explain which were added or changed without authority. The next step may be an application placing your account before the court, a request to preserve the original, or a challenge to an order already made. The stage of the case determines the remedy.
Do not file a second affidavit with a contradictory account without explaining the first. If the first contained an honest mistake, identify it as a mistake and provide the accurate facts. If you allege misuse, say precisely what you did and did not authorise. Questions about criminal wrongdoing require separate advice on the actual evidence and procedure.
Can negotiations continue without signing it?
Yes, proposals can be discussed as proposals. Ask for a written draft separating proposed terms from acknowledgements that an act has already occurred. A proposed payment date, an actual payment receipt and a sworn statement of receipt are different documents serving different purposes.
Use the settlement agreement guide to identify the issues that still need agreement. Before signing the final papers, check that each factual statement is true on the date you verify it, that all blanks affecting meaning are completed, and that you retain the exact version submitted.