UPDATE TO EXECUTING AFFIDAVITS AND DECLARATIONS DURING COVID19 PANDEMIC

 

As published in the March 24, 2020 article of Executing Affidavits and Declarations During COVID19 Pandemic, the Manitoba Court of Appeal has announced that it is making a temporary accommodation to allow for the filing of affidavits and declarations that do not meet all formal requisites established by legislation. Specifically, the Court has announced that affidavits and declarations can be filed without compliance with the requisites provided that they are filed together with an undertaking by the lawyer that a compliant original of the affidavit or declaration will be filed prior to the hearing date.

 

To date, neither the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench nor the Manitoba Provincial Court have published similar notices. However, the Law Society of Manitoba has announced on its webpage (and confirmed to Pitblado LLP) that the temporary loosening of the requirements for the execution of affidavits and other legal documents applies to all three levels of court in Manitoba.

 

We have also learned that the Law Society of Manitoba has been in recent discussions with Teranet Manitoba and the Deputy Registrar of the Property Registry with respect to the issue of easing execution requirements for Transfers, Mortgages and other filings. The Evidence Act and The Real Property Act require that certain documents filed with the Property Registry be witnessed in person by a lawyer entitled to practice in the province or territory where the document is executed. The “social distancing” rules that we all must follow during these challenging times makes compliance with these legislated requirements very difficult. We anticipate that the Law Society of Manitoba will be announcing an update on this issue in the near future.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact your relationship partner or lawyer if you have any questions or if we can be of assistance in guiding you through these new challenges.

 

This article was prepared by:

 

MATTHEW T. DUFFY
PARTNER
204.956.3564
[email protected]

 

KAREN POETKER
PARTNER
204.956.3571
[email protected]

 

ERIC BLOUW
LAWYER
204.956.3512
[email protected]

 

KARA MOORE
LAWYER
204.956.3554
[email protected]

 

This article represents general information and is not legal advice. Please contact us if you would like legal advice that is tailored to your particular circumstances. We would be happy to help.