Sworn Affidavit

A sworn affidavit is a voluntary first-person declaration of facts made in writing under oath before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths (Cornell LII Wex, ble.mn.gov sample SERP #1, nij.ojp.gov DOJ training SERP #4). A "sworn statement" is the broader category — any statement made under oath, with or without a notary; LegalMatch SERP #8 and Attorney-at-Law Magazine SERP #10 confirm an affidavit is one type of sworn statement, the type that has been notarized in writing. A "declaration" under 28 USC §1746 is an unsworn statement that carries the same federal perjury penalties as an affidavit without requiring a notary — useful for USCIS, IRS, SSA and federal-court filings. Choose affidavit when a state court, bank, county recorder, DMV or insurance carrier specifically demands a notary stamp; choose §1746 declaration when filing with a federal agency or federal court (FRCP Rule 11 / Rule 56(c)(4) accept both).

Yes — the AI loads the notary statute of your state (CA Gov Code §8201 + Civ Code §1189 ALL-PURPOSE acknowledgment, NY Exec Law §130 + RPL §309-a + CPLR §2106, TX Gov Code §406 + Tex. Gov. §406.014, FL §117.05 + §92.525, IL 5 ILCS 312/6-101, OH RC §147, NJ §52:7-10, GA OCGA §45-17-8), the matching ULONA-aligned jurat, and the state perjury citation (CA Penal §118, NY Penal §210.15, TX Penal §37.03, FL §837.02, IL 720 ILCS 5/32-2, OH RC §2921.11) directly above the signature line. State-court analogs auto-included for declaration use (CA CCP §2015.5, NY CPLR §2106, TX CPRC §132.001, IL 735 ILCS 5/1-109, FL §92.525). The same affidavit is accepted by federal courts under FRCP Rule 11 + Rule 56(c)(4), by USCIS under 8 CFR §103.2(b)(1), by the IRS on Form 14039, by SSA on Form SSA-795, and by county recorders for heirship and small-estate filings. Real-estate transfers always require notarization — the §1746 declaration toggle is for federal filings, not deeds.

Most US affidavits need a notary because the oath must be administered — but Remote Online Notarization (RON) is now accepted in 47 states under VA §47.1-2 (the 2011 founding statute), FL §117.201, TX Gov §406.101, OH RC §147.591, NY Exec §135-c, and 42 additional states adopted since 2020. The PDF iFillPDF generates embeds the RON-compliant metadata (notary commission ID, audit-trail timestamp, tamper-evident PDF seal, KBA identity-proofing trace) required by every RON statute, so NotaryCam $25, OneNotary $25, BlueNotary $25, DocVerify or Notarize.com $25 can stamp it remotely in under 10 minutes — no waiting room, no UPS Store trip. Only California, Mississippi and South Carolina still require in-person notarization for most affidavits; our wizard routes you to the nearest UPS Store / AAA / bank notary fallback. For federal filings (USCIS I-130/I-485/I-751/I-864, IRS Form 14039, SSA SSA-795, federal court FRCP Rule 11) you can skip notarization entirely by toggling the 28 USC §1746 unsworn declaration.

A sworn affidavit signed in front of a notary triggers federal perjury liability under 18 USC §1621 (up to 5 years in federal prison + $250,000 fine), false-statement liability under 18 USC §1001 (5 years), plus the state perjury statute (CA Penal §118 4-year felony, NY Penal §210.15 Class E felony 7 years, TX Penal §37.03 2nd-degree 2-20 years, FL §837.02 3rd-degree 5 years, IL 720 ILCS 5/32-2 Class 3 2-5 years, OH RC §2921.11 3rd-degree). A 28 USC §1746 unsworn declaration triggers the exact same §1621 federal penalties even without the notary. Courts have repeatedly upheld prosecutions under US v. Dunnigan (507 US 87) and US v. Apfelbaum (445 US 115). The materiality threshold is low — any false statement on a material fact (one capable of influencing the agency or court decision) qualifies. The cure: stick to numbered first-person paragraphs of facts you personally know, attach documentary exhibits, exclude hearsay (FRE 802), exclude speculation, and file a corrective affidavit immediately if you discover an error.

End-to-end for a single notarized sworn affidavit: $5-$25 traditional notary fee (UPS Store ~$5/signature, AAA free for members, banks often free for account holders in CA/NY/TX/FL/IL/OH), or $25 for Remote Online Notarization via NotaryCam, OneNotary, BlueNotary, DocVerify or Notarize.com, plus the template cost. Template pricing across the SERP top 10: LawDepot $33/mo Pro (SERP #2), Rocket Lawyer $39.99/mo Premium cancel-trap (SERP #6), LegalZoom $35-$89 per affidavit + $99 attorney-review upsell, eSign $9.99/mo Pro (SERP #9), LegalTemplates $39/mo Premier or $7.99 one-week pass, US Legal Forms $39.95 per state-specific form, PandaDoc $19/mo Essentials, eForms free blank PDF (no AI fill, no §1746 toggle, no notary commission matrix), Cornell LII free definition only (no template). iFillPDF: free with a watermark and 0 AI Deep Detect including a complete sworn affidavit — zero credit card, zero daily file cap. Start $8.99/mo unlocks 8 AI Deep Detect/mo, AI auto-detect fields, unlimited e-signatures and SOC 2 Type II audit-log export — cheaper than DocuSign Personal $10/mo (5 envelopes cap), Adobe Acrobat Standard $14.99/mo, Adobe Acrobat Pro $19.99/mo, pdfFiller $20/mo. And iFillPDF is the only US-targeted sworn-affidavit tool combining AI prefill + ULONA-aligned 50-state notary matrix + RON metadata for 47 states + 28 USC §1746 federal toggle + GDPR-grade Hetzner Falkenstein EU hosting outside Cloud Act 50 USC §3024 reach under TADPF, with 24h auto-purge and IRC §6103-grade confidentiality (zero LLM training on your sworn statements).