Marriage Affidavit Sample: Contents, Signers, and Notarization

A marriage affidavit sample is a template for a sworn written statement that proves a marriage when a marriage certificate is unavailable, lost, or was never issued. At its core, the document identifies the person swearing to the facts (the affiant), identifies both spouses, states when and where the marriage took place, explains how the affiant knows this, and is signed under penalty of perjury before a notary. A ready-to-adapt template appears further down this page, but the format only works if the content meets the requirements of the agency or court that will read it, so start with what has to be in it.

What a Marriage Affidavit Must Contain

Whether the affidavit is going to USCIS, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, a probate court, or a benefits office at work, the core elements are the same. Missing any of them is a common reason these documents get rejected.

Affiant identification: full legal name, current address, date and place of birth. Immigration filings also want the affiant’s relationship to the couple, if any.
Spouse identification: full legal names and addresses of both spouses.
Marriage details: the date and location of the marriage. For a common-law claim, the date the couple began holding themselves out as married and the addresses where they lived together.
Basis of knowledge: a specific explanation of how the affiant knows what they are swearing to. Attended the ceremony. Lived next door for a decade. This is the piece reviewers read most closely. “I know they are married” carries almost no weight.
Perjury statement: a declaration that the statement is made under penalty of perjury.
Signature and date: the affiant’s signature, executed in the presence of a notary public or other authorized official.

USCIS makes the point directly in its Form I-130 instructions: each affidavit must contain “complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge of your marriage.”¹ An affidavit that says “I attended their wedding in 2019 in Manila” is useful. One that says “I believe them to be married” is not.

Sample Marriage Affidavit

The numbered-paragraph structure below is standard and makes the document easy to review. Replace the bracketed items with your own information, and adjust the level of detail to fit the agency or court receiving it.

AFFIDAVIT OF [Affiant’s Full Legal Name]
Re: Marriage of [Full Name of Spouse 1] and [Full Name of Spouse 2]

I, [Affiant’s Full Legal Name], hereby declare and state as follows:

1. I was born on [Date of Birth] in [City, State/Country]. I currently reside at [Full Street Address, City, State, ZIP Code].

2. I am the [relationship to couple, e.g., “longtime friend,” “sister of the bride,” “former neighbor”] of [Full Name of Spouse 1] and [Full Name of Spouse 2].

3. I have known [Spouse 1] since [year] and [Spouse 2] since [year].

4. I have personal knowledge that [Spouse 1] and [Spouse 2] were married on [Date of Marriage] in [City, State/Country]. [Explain your basis of knowledge: “I attended the wedding ceremony, which was held at [venue name],” or “I have visited their shared home on numerous occasions and they have consistently represented themselves as a married couple.”]

5. Since their marriage, I have observed [Spouse 1] and [Spouse 2] [describe specific observations: living together at their home, attending family gatherings as a couple, raising their children together, etc.].

6. This affidavit is submitted because [explain why it is needed: “the original marriage certificate was destroyed during [event],” or “civil records from [country] are not available”].

7. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [Date].

___________________________
[Affiant’s Printed Name]
[Affiant’s Signature]

Subscribed and sworn to before me this [Day] day of [Month], [Year].

___________________________
Notary Public
My Commission Expires: [Date]
[Notary Seal]

Depth matters. For an I-751 petition to remove conditions on a conditional green card, the adjudicator is evaluating whether the marriage is genuine, so paragraph 5 should go further into the couple’s shared life: household routines, holidays together, how they handle finances, how they parent, how long you have observed all of this.

Who Should Sign It

Getting the format right doesn’t help if the wrong person signs. The requirements shift depending on what the affidavit is for.

For an I-130 spousal petition, USCIS accepts affidavits from third parties with personal knowledge of the marriage, and each affiant must provide full name, address, date and place of birth, and a detailed explanation of how they know about the marriage.¹ For Form I-751, USCIS wants affidavits from at least two people who have known both spouses since the conditional residence was granted and who have personal knowledge of the ongoing relationship.²

The broader USCIS evidence rules go further: when both primary documents and secondary evidence are unavailable, the agency requires at least two affidavits from people who are not parties to the benefit request and who have direct personal knowledge of the event.³ The spouses themselves cannot be the only affiants when the affidavit is substituting for a missing marriage certificate.

For federal retirement benefits through OPM, the agency wants affidavits from at least two people who know the facts of the relationship, preferably one family member of the spouse and one non-family member, and each must explain how they are positioned to know what they’re attesting to.⁴ For Social Security, when a marriage record or religious record of the ceremony is unavailable, SSA will accept signed statements from the officiant or from witnesses with knowledge of the marriage.⁵

Notarization and Unsworn Declarations

An affidavit is not legally valid until the affiant takes an oath or affirmation before a notary public or other authorized official and signs the document in that official’s physical presence. The notary verifies identity through government-issued photo ID, administers the oath, and completes a jurat: signature, seal, and date confirming the oath was properly administered. This is different from an acknowledgment, which only confirms identity. Affidavits require the jurat because the oath is the point.

The penalty statement is not decorative. Federal law allows up to five years in prison and a fine for anyone who knowingly makes a false material statement under oath.⁶ OPM’s retirement form warns of fines up to $10,000, imprisonment up to five years, or both, for intentionally false statements.⁴ A fraudulent immigration affidavit can also trigger removal proceedings for the sponsored spouse.

There is an alternative for federal matters. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1746, an unsworn declaration carries the same legal weight as a notarized affidavit as long as the signer uses specific language. For documents signed inside the United States: “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date].”⁷ For documents signed outside the country, the declaration must also reference “the laws of the United States of America.” This is useful when the affiant is overseas and can’t reach a notary or U.S. consular officer. Some agencies and courts still prefer notarized documents, so notarization remains the safer default.

What to Attach With the Affidavit

An affidavit on its own is rarely enough. USCIS expects affidavits to be “supported by other types of evidence” rather than standing alone.² The documents that carry the most weight fall into a few categories:

Financial records: joint tax returns, joint bank or credit card statements, life insurance policies naming the spouse as beneficiary.
Housing records: a shared lease or mortgage, utility bills in both names, a landlord’s letter confirming both spouses lived at the address.
Personal evidence: photographs of the couple together labeled with dates and occasions, birth certificates of children, correspondence addressed to both spouses, travel records.
Employment records: documents showing a name change after marriage, emergency contact designations listing the spouse, employer benefit enrollment forms.

The more categories you cover, the stronger the package. Photos alone prove little; photos combined with a joint mortgage, shared health insurance, and two third-party affidavits paint a picture that is hard to challenge.

One point worth flagging for immigration filings: if the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual indicates civil records are generally available in the country where the marriage occurred but you claim yours cannot be obtained, USCIS will not accept an affidavit as secondary evidence until you submit a letter from the foreign registrar explaining why the document does not exist.⁸ You cannot skip past this and go straight to the affidavit.

Foreign-Language Documents

If any supporting document is in a language other than English, a certified translation has to go with it. The translator does not have to be a professional service; anyone fluent in both languages can translate, but the translation must include a certification statement with the translator’s name, signature, address, and the date, stating that the translator is fluent in both languages and that the translation is accurate.⁹ Standard wording is: “I, [name], certify that I am fluent in the English and [language] languages, and that the above document is an accurate translation of the document entitled [title].”

1
USCIS. Instructions for Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
2
USCIS. Instructions for Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
3
USCIS Policy Manual. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part E Chapter 6 – Evidence
4
United States Office of Personnel Management. Proof of Marriage for the Purpose of Obtaining Retirement Benefits
5
Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 1716 – Evidence of Ceremonial Marriage
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Part I Chapter 79 – Perjury
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 28 Section 1746 – Unsworn Declarations Under Penalty of Perjury
8
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.2 – Petitions for Relatives, Widows and Widowers, and Abused Spouses and Children
9
U.S. Department of State. Information about Translating Foreign Documents