Interesting Rules – Rule 8.15 Affidavits

Throughout 2025, we will be sharing blog posts that highlight interesting or lesser-known rules within the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021. The Rules are a vital piece of legislation for family law practitioners, providing essential guidance on how to prepare and manage family law cases effectively.

In our first blog, we have looked at Rule 8.15 which sets out the requirements for affidavits filed in the Family Law division of the Federal Circuit & Family Court.

Rule 8.15 – Requirements for affidavits

In family law matters parties give their evidence in the form of an affidavit, rather than verbally from the witness box. Witnesses will also give their evidence in an affidavit.

Depending on the stage of the matter and the issues in dispute, an affidavit may be short and only cover one or two issues, or the affidavit may be extensive and give a detailed history of the party’s relationship. These long-detailed affidavits are more common when the parties are preparing for final hearing.

Parties can also rely on documents when preparing an affidavit, for example they may have reviewed a contract from the sale of a property when preparing the affidavit. That contract can be annexed or exhibited to the affidavit.

An affidavit must comply with Rule 8.15. This rule sets out how affidavit is to be formatted, what information must be provided about the person making the affidavit, and what information must be given about the person who witnessed the affidavit.

Of note, Rule 8.15(3) says: -  

 A document that is to be used in conjunction with an affidavit:

(a)              must be identified in the affidavit; and

(b)             must be filed as an annexure or an exhibit to the affidavit; and

(c)              must be paginated; and

(d)             must bear a statement signed by the person before whom the affidavit is made identifying it as the particular annexure or exhibit referred to in the affidavit; and

(e)              must not be accepted as evidence in the proceeding unless and until it is tendered in evidence at the hearing of the application and accepted into evidence by the court.

Rule 8.15(4) also provides:

 A document annexed or exhibited to an affidavit must be served with the affidavit.

Most practitioners will be familiar with the process of annexing or exhibiting annexures to an affidavit. The interesting part of this rule is 3(e), which says that the document is not accepted into evidence until it is tendered into evidence at the hearing of the application.

The effect of this rule is clear. Annexures or exhibits to affidavits are not automatically considered admitted into evidence simply by virtue of being annexed or exhibited to an affidavit. If you wish to rely on an annexure of exhibit to an affidavit at an interim or final hearing then you are required to tender the document, much as you would a document that is contained in a tender bundle or that has been disclosed during the proceedings.

Practically, this does not occur often and it is mostly assumed that exhibits or annexures go into evidence when the affidavit is relied upon (or read into evidence). Practitioners should be aware of the rule and navigate it as required to ensure the Court is considering all the evidence prepared for their client’s case!

Please note: the information in this article is general in nature. For specific advice about your circumstances or if you have any questions regarding the Rules or family law, contact our experienced team.