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Free New York Affidavit of Service

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New York Affidavit of Service — a sworn statement by the non-party server, eighteen or older, describing how and when legal papers were served under CPLR § 308 or RPAPL § 735. It must be completed truthfully and notarized.

NY Affidavit of Service CPLR § 308 RPAPL § 735 Free PDF

An affidavit of service is the sworn proof that legal papers were actually delivered. In New York it is signed by the person who did the serving — someone at least eighteen years old who is not a party to the case (CPLR § 2103(a)) — and it recites exactly how, when, where, and to whom the papers were handed over. Because it is an affidavit, it must be sworn before a notary public, and it must be true: a false affidavit of service is perjury and can void the judgment built on it. The template below organizes every fact the affidavit has to state under CPLR § 308 (most civil actions) or RPAPL § 735 (evictions and other summary proceedings). It is a template, not legal advice.

Complete the fields below to generate a New York affidavit of service. Fill in only what actually happened, then print it and sign it in front of a notary public — the affidavit is not valid until it is sworn and the notary completes the jurat.

An affidavit of service — also called proof of service or a return of service — is a sworn statement by the person who delivered legal papers, describing exactly how and when the delivery happened. It is what tells the court that the other side actually received the papers and had a fair chance to respond, which is a constitutional prerequisite to any judgment against them. In New York it is governed by the Civil Practice Law and Rules for most civil actions and by the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law for evictions and other summary proceedings. The generator above assembles a New York-aligned affidavit; the guide below explains what the law requires and why every line has to be true.

Serving papers and proving you served them are two different steps, and the affidavit is the second one. The court almost never watches the service happen, so it relies on the server’s sworn word. If the affidavit is missing, incomplete, or contradicted, the court can find that service was never properly made — and without valid service, the court has no personal jurisdiction over the person served. That is why a defective affidavit can get a case dismissed, and why a judgment entered on bad service can later be vacated, sometimes years afterward.

The affidavit matters just as much in the other direction. Because it is sworn, it carries real legal weight, and courts presume a properly completed affidavit is accurate unless the person served rebuts it with specific facts. That presumption is powerful, which is exactly why the law demands honesty. Fabricating an affidavit — claiming a delivery that never happened, a practice courts call “sewer service” — is perjury. It can be prosecuted criminally, it exposes the server and anyone who directed them to civil liability, and it voids the judgment it produced. The affidavit is only useful because it is trustworthy, so the single most important rule is to state nothing you did not personally do.

Under CPLR § 2103(a), papers may be served by any person who is not a party to the action and who is eighteen years of age or older. Two rules follow from that. First, a plaintiff, petitioner, or landlord cannot serve their own papers — you have to hand the job to someone else who is a non-party adult. Second, that someone can be a friend, a relative, a coworker, or a professional process server; New York does not require a license for a single case. New York City does license people who serve papers as a business and requires them to keep a bound log of each service, but an individual serving papers in one matter they are not a party to does not need a license.

Whoever serves must be the one who signs the affidavit, because the affidavit describes what that person personally saw and did. You cannot sign an affidavit about a delivery someone else made. If a professional server is used, the server — not the attorney and not the landlord — is the deponent who swears to the facts. For an eviction, that same non-party adult serves the notice of petition and petition and then swears the affidavit that gets filed with the court.

New York recognizes three basic ways to serve, and the affidavit must recite which one was used and the facts that make it valid. The exact rules differ slightly between ordinary civil actions (CPLR § 308) and summary proceedings such as evictions (RPAPL § 735), but the shape is the same.

Personal delivery

The gold standard is handing the papers directly to the person to be served. Under CPLR § 308(1) this is delivery of the summons to the defendant in person, anywhere within the state. In a summary proceeding, RPAPL § 735 likewise allows personal delivery to the respondent, and service is complete immediately on that delivery. Personal service needs no mailing and no due-diligence showing, so the affidavit simply states who was handed the papers, when, and where, with a description of the person.

Substituted delivery plus mailing

When the person cannot be handed the papers directly, the server may deliver them to a person of suitable age and discretion at the party’s dwelling or place of business and then mail a copy. Under CPLR § 308(2) the mailing must go to the person’s last known residence (or actual place of business), the envelope must be marked “personal and confidential” without any attorney or litigation markings, and the delivery and mailing must occur within twenty days of each other. Under RPAPL § 735 the substituted delivery is to a person of suitable age and discretion who resides or is employed at the property, followed by mailing to the respondent by both registered or certified mail and regular first class mail. The affidavit must state who received the papers, their description, and the mailing details.

Conspicuous service (“nail and mail”) plus mailing

If neither personal nor substituted service can be made, the server may resort to conspicuous service. Under CPLR § 308(4) this is available only when personal and substituted service “cannot be made with due diligence,” and it consists of affixing the papers to the door of the residence or business and mailing a copy, again marked “personal and confidential” and again within a twenty-day window. Under RPAPL § 735 conspicuous service is affixing the papers to a conspicuous part of the property (or slipping them under the door) plus the same dual mailing by certified/registered and first class mail. Because “nail and mail” is a last resort, the affidavit must recite the earlier attempts at personal service — the dates and times — that establish due diligence.

A valid New York affidavit of service is not a fill-in-the-blank formality; each element proves something the court needs. At a minimum it must contain:

• The server’s identity and capacity — the server’s name and address, and a sworn statement that the server is over eighteen and not a party (CPLR § 2103(a)).
• The caption — the court, the county, the index or docket number, and the names of the parties, so the affidavit is tied to the right case.
• The papers served — each document by name (for example, the notice of petition and petition, a notice to quit, or a motion).
• The date, time, and place of service, stated exactly.
• The manner of service — personal, substituted, or conspicuous — with the facts that make that method valid, including the mailing details and, for substituted or conspicuous service, the prior attempts.
• A physical description of the person served — New York affidavits customarily state the person’s sex, skin color, hair color, and approximate age, height, and weight, which is how the court and the party can confirm the right person was served.
• A military-status observation where a default may follow, so the moving party can prepare the non-military affidavit federal law requires.
• The jurat — the sworn signature of the server and the notary’s certificate that it was sworn before them.

Every one of those facts must be within the server’s personal knowledge. If the server does not know the name of the person served, the affidavit says so and relies on the physical description; it never invents a name.

The word affidavit means a written statement confirmed by oath. That is not a technicality — it is the whole point. The server must sign the affidavit in the physical (or authorized electronic) presence of a notary public, who administers an oath or affirmation and then completes the jurat, the block that reads “Sworn to before me on [date].” A signature added at the kitchen table and notarized later, without the oath, is not a valid affidavit, and a court can disregard it. Do not sign the affidavit until you are in front of the notary.

Because the statement is sworn, a knowingly false affidavit of service is perjury under the New York Penal Law. The consequences are severe and layered: the individual case can be dismissed or its judgment vacated for lack of proper service; the server can face criminal prosecution; and both the server and anyone who directed a false filing can be sued. New York has pursued large “sewer service” cases precisely because a false affidavit corrupts the one thing the court was relying on. Truthful completion is not just good practice — it is the difference between a valid proof and a crime.

• A party serves the papers. The plaintiff, petitioner, or landlord cannot serve their own case (CPLR § 2103(a)); the affidavit fails on its face.
• Skipping the mailing. Substituted and conspicuous service are not complete without the required mailing, and RPAPL § 735 requires both certified/registered and first class mail.
• No due-diligence showing. “Nail and mail” under CPLR § 308(4) requires prior good-faith attempts at personal and substituted service; a single attempt is usually not diligence.
• Missing or vague description. Omitting the sex, approximate age, and other identifiers of the person served weakens the affidavit and invites a challenge.
• Wrong or late mailing address, or missing the twenty-day window. CPLR § 308(2),(4) tie delivery and mailing together within twenty days; a stale or wrong address defeats service.
• Signing before it is sworn. An un-sworn “affidavit” is not an affidavit; the jurat must be completed by the notary at signing.
• Filing late. Missing the CPLR § 308 twenty-day proof-of-service filing or the RPAPL § 735 three-day filing can delay or defeat the case.

• Write it down while it is fresh. Record the date, time, place, manner, and the person’s description right after serving, not from memory days later.
• Match the method to the statute. Confirm whether the matter runs under CPLR § 308 or RPAPL § 735 before choosing substituted or conspicuous service.
• Do real due diligence before “nail and mail.” Make and log several personal-service attempts at different days and times; one visit rarely counts.
• Complete the mailing correctly. Use the right address, mark it “personal and confidential,” and for evictions use both certified/registered and first class mail.
• Keep proof of the mailing — certified-mail receipts and a copy of the envelope — with the affidavit.
• Never sign until you are before the notary, and confirm the notary completes the jurat with the correct date and county.
• File on time and keep a stamped copy; calendar the CPLR twenty-day or RPAPL three-day deadline.

Once the affidavit is sworn before the notary, it becomes the official proof of service for the case. File it with the clerk of the court named in the caption within the statutory window — twenty days under CPLR § 308, or with the notice and petition within three days under RPAPL § 735 — and keep a stamped copy for your file. The timing of filing also fixes when service is legally “complete”: for substituted or conspicuous service under CPLR § 308, service is complete ten days after the affidavit is filed, which is when the responding party’s clock to answer begins. In a summary proceeding, non-personal service is complete on filing. Getting the affidavit filed promptly therefore does more than satisfy a rule — it starts the deadlines the rest of the case depends on.

Attach the supporting proof to your copy: the certified-mail receipt, the return card if you get one, and a photograph or copy of the “personal and confidential” envelope for substituted or conspicuous service. If the person served later moves to vacate a default by claiming they were never served, that packet — the sworn affidavit plus the physical proof of mailing — is what the moving party relies on to show service was proper. And if you discover a genuine mistake in the affidavit, correct it truthfully by a supplemental or amended affidavit rather than leaving a false statement on the record; never “fix” a problem by swearing to something that did not happen.

For an eviction, the affidavit of service is one piece of a larger packet. The landlord first serves the predicate notice — and that service, too, gets its own affidavit — then files the notice of petition and petition and serves them under RPAPL § 735, with this affidavit proving that service. If the tenant does not answer or appear, the landlord may seek a default, which is exactly where the military-status observation matters, because a court will not enter a default against a servicemember without the federal non-military affidavit. Because the deadlines interlock, a tenant contesting an eviction often starts by scrutinizing the affidavit of service for a defect, and a landlord protects the case by getting every element right. If you are preparing the petition itself, our New York City holdover petition template walks through the companion filing.

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