Part 3, Section 4
Depositions

Depositions are a normal part of any active lawsuit or litigation.  It is where one of the parties of the lawsuit, witnesses, and/or experts (the deponent) are asked a series of questions to which they answer, under oath, and these questions and answers are taken down by a court reporter, who then transcribes them onto paper and it is signed by the person whose deposition was taken.  Most court reporters are themselves notaries public, so the whole notarial act can be handled by them alone. 

Because of the nature of depositions, unless you are a court reporter or stenographer, you should not agree to take a deposition.  In fact, you will probably never be asked to take one.  However, you may swear in the deponent with an oath or affirmation before the deposition is taken.

A simple oath or affirmation for a deposition would be:

“Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

The deponent should then answer with an audible “Yes” or “I do.”

You may also execute the jurat that goes with the typewritten or transcribed version of the deposition, which also requires an oath.  This time, the deponent is swearing that everything in the typewritten or transcribed version of the deposition is true.

When administering an oath or affirmation, you must make a journal entry of the act, even if no other notarial act was performed.
 

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