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Hello everyone and welcome to the JP Branch's webinar on witnessing family law service documents. Before we start looking at the types of service documents for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, it is important to be aware of the reason resources available to you that will assist in correctly witnessing these court documents. If you haven't already, please watch our witnessing family law documents webinar which covers the steps to witnessing documents for this court you can find this webinar on our watch previous JP webinars web page located online at www.qld.gov.au/jplearn.

Next is your handbook. This is your indispensable guide to witnessing all documents including today's topic which you can find in chapter 4.8.

Another resource of the court is the divorce service kit this do-it-yourself kit provides a step-by-step guide for a party who is serving a divorce application on their former spouse by post or by hand. This kit is a fantastic resource and I recommend that you become familiar with it and the relevant documents contained in it.

Witnessing service documents for a divorce would be one of the most common witnessing questions we receive here at JP Branch and hopefully by the end of this webinar you'll have a great understanding of how to complete these documents.

Before we look at the forms themselves, we first need to understand why a qualified witness is involved in the service of documents for this court. So what is service? Service is a process of delivering or posting court documents to a party after they have been filed in accordance with the rules of the Court. Service ensures that all parties have received the documents filed with the court and we are inserted in this process to witness someone's affidavit, confirming how they served their documents. Family law documents can be served two separate ways on the respondent that is service by post and service by hand.

The divorce service kit includes a step-by-step guide explaining how an applicant can serve their application for divorce and how they can complete the required service forms. There are different steps to follow for each type of service and we'll be covering both types in this webinar.

The first service method we will cover is service by post. There are two forms required to be witness and signed in the presence of a qualified witness when the application for divorce have been served by post, they are the Affidavit of service by post and the acknowledgement of service forms. For a bit procedural information, an applicant should only attempt service by post if they are confident that their spouse will return the acknowledgement of service to them. Without that the court cannot be sure their spouse has received the document. If the applicant attempts service by post and does not receive the signed acknowledgement of service, they may need to arrange service by hand. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia will be able to provide procedural information on what an applicant can do if they are having trouble serving their divorce application.

When presented with an affidavit or service by post, follow your normal family law affidavit witnessing procedure as outlined in chapter 4.8 of your handbook. One thing to note on these forms is the bold text that is included on the top and bottom of the document which details if there are any other documents the witness is required to sign or sight. The Affidavit of service by post clearly states on the top that the applicant must attach the signed acknowledgement of service to this form. Why is this important? It is important because at the bottom of the same affidavit, in its jurat, it states that the witness must also signed the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service. So, both forms need to be present at the time of witnessing to allow us to assist the applicant. After witnessing the applicant’s signature on the Affidavit of service by post we must then complete and sign the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service. The annexure note requires us to insert the name of the person referring to this document in an affidavit as well as whether the document was sworn or affirmed, the location and date of where and when it was signed and witnessed. Please also ensure you insert your full name in either your seal of office or prescribed Mark of office near your signature on this document and tick the relevant witness box. If you are a Commissioner for Declarations, please take the other box and write Commissioner for Declarations in the space provided.

The second service method is service by hand. The witnessing of these forms is split into two parts, one for the document server and one for the applicant. This is because the applicant cannot personally serve documents on the respondent and a third party is included in this process, referred to as the document server. In total, there are three forms required to be witnessed in signed in the presence of a qualified witness when the application for divorce has been served by hand. They are the Affidavit of service by hand, the acknowledgement of service, and the affidavit proving signature.

Firstly, the Affidavit of service by hand is a two-page document and includes the same important bold text at the top of the first page and at the bottom of the second page. The Affidavit of service by hand needs to be completed by the person who physically served the documents on the respondent. Like the Affidavit of service by post, the witness must also sign the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service form - so both forms need to be present at the time of witnessing. Once the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service form is completed, it is then returned to the applicant so they can complete their part of their process. The applicant is then required to complete the affidavit proving signature in front of any qualified witness - it does not have to be the same JP or Cdec who witnessed any of the previous forms. As directed on the form, when presented with an affidavit proving signature, the witness must sight the signature of the person served on the acknowledgement of service. So again, both forms need to be presented at the time of witnessing. So let's recap.

So when the documents are served by hand, there will be three forms in total - the affidavit service by hand, the acknowledgement of service and the affidavit proving signature. The document server is required to complete the Affidavit of service by hand and bring in the acknowledgement of service at the time of witnessing so the witness can complete the annexure note. Once the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service form is completed, it is then returned to the applicant so they can complete their part of the process. The applicant is then required to complete the affidavit proving signature in front of a qualified witness – remember, this does not have to be the same JP or Cdec who witnessed any of the other previous forms. When presented with the affidavit proving signature by the applicant, they also need to produce the signed acknowledgement of service to us so we can ensure the person who has been served has signed the form. So with this service method, both the document server and applicant use the same acknowledgement of service form each for its own specific purpose. Now let's have a look at an example of both methods.

The first example we will go through will be an affidavit a service by Post. In this example we have the applicant Sana Khan present with their Affidavit of service by post and acknowledgement of service. Remembering what we have covered earlier in this webinar, we know that Sana has presented with the correct documents because of the bold wording at the top and bottom of their affidavit where it refers to the requirement of a second form, the acknowledgement of service. In the acknowledgement of service example you can see that the person served the respondent has signed their part acknowledging the service of documents for the divorce proceeding. There is no need for the respondent to have their signature witnessed by a JP or Cdec on this form the only requirement is for the witnessing officer to sign the annexure note at the bottom if it is attached to an Affidavit of service. As mentioned in the bold wording on the top and bottom, once we are satisfied that the applicant has presented with the correct documents, we then follow our normal steps for witnessing family law documents as outlined in chapter 4.8 of your handbook. Which would look something like this.

As you can see, Sana has decided to affirm the documents before the witnessing officer who is then witnessed their signature, placed their seal of office, registration number, type of qualification and full name at the bottom of the document. Following the instructions on the bottom of the Affidavit of service, the witnessing officer has then completed the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service, ensuring the information and details match to what was on the Affidavit of service by post.

Let's now take a look at an example Affidavit of service by hand. As mentioned earlier in this webinar, the applicant cannot personally serve documents on the respondent and requires another adult to serve these documents which means there will always be two parts to this service type. The first being by the person who served the documents on the respondent and the second being from the applicant to the divorce proceeding. To begin with, the document server should present to you their two-page Affidavit of service by hand and the completed acknowledgement of service. Again, you will see underneath the jurat on the Affidavit of service by hand the following statement appears - the witness must also sign the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service. This means you need to witness the annexure note on the completed acknowledgement of service which has accompanied the Affidavit of service by hand.

Now let's have a look at a completed Affidavit of service by hand example that has been presented to us to witness by the document server Blake Thompson. Blake has sworn the document and we have witnessed their signature and placed our seal of office, registration number, type of qualification and full name on the document. At this point, we then also sign the annexure note on the acknowledgement of service form. When completing the annexure note, ensure that the name of the document server is included as well as if the document was sworn or affirmed, the location, date, our signature, full name, Seal of office, registration number and type of witness are all included.

Once these documents have been witnessed, the document server will then return them to the applicant. The applicant is now required to complete the affidavit proving signature if they recognize their spouse's signature on the acknowledgement of service. The applicant then presents their affidavit proving signature to be witnessed and before we can witness this document, we need to site the completed acknowledgment of service. So, with both documents in front of us, we are then able to proceed with witnessing the applicant's affidavit approving signature, making sure we are to include all the relevant information including our full name, signature, seal of office, registration number and type of qualification. Note that on the bottom of the affidavit proving signature, it only requires the witnessing officer to sight the signature of the person served on the acknowledgement of service. In this example, the same JP has witnessed both sets of documents for the document server and applicant however, separate witnessing officers can do each part.

So that concludes our webinar on witnessing family law service documents thank you once again for watching this webinar. If you have any questions about this topic or your role as a Queensland Justice of the Peace or Commissioner for Declarations please phone our office on 1300 301 147 during business hours or send us an email at JP@justice.qld.gov.au.

Good afternoon, everybody and welcome to today's webinar on witnessing family law documents, my name is Belinda and joining me today are the team from Brisbane, we've got Lisa, Ned, Joey, and Paula. Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you for your assistance so let's begin and I’ll just take myself off screen there everybody.

Right, what's really important is even though we are complementing our handbook with webinars and professional development, there are other resources. But first and foremost, I think it's important just to give you a reminder that today's topic can be found in chapter 4.8 of your handbook, witnessing family law documents. We're also going to share with you this fact sheet and it has been published from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and what's really great about it is it actually tells the person preparing the affidavit how to structure it and how to meet the court rules. So hopefully we’ll share that link with you. I do recommend you keep that fact sheet in your witnessing kit albeit electronically or physical however you like to do it. What we will be talking about today is the do-it-yourself or the service kit which is probably one of the most commonly asked questions we do receive here at the JP Branch. This kit contains a lot of forms you don't have to witness them all but we're going to step you through it to show you exactly uh which documents you need to complete. So, if you do have the time, we'll share that link I also recommend you becoming familiar with the divorce service kit.

So, let's just talk about the court itself or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, if you weren't aware last year uh so in 2021 my apology some legislation was introduced which actually merged the two separate courts. so previously it was the Family Law Courts and the federal circuit court. Now it's called the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and I'm going to refer to that as the court today. The court deals with family law matters so we've got matters that involve divorce, separation, child custody, consent orders and so on. There's another section that also looks after migration law, so if somebody is a refugee and would like their visa granted or they would like their visa extended and it's rejected then the court can review the decisions that have been made against that applicant and then there's just the general federal law. Okay and that deals with bankruptcy, Fair work human rights now and Admiralty law as well and here you go this is where the Court locations can be found. Now Western Australia is a little bit different but  if you would like to know more about the actual court because we did have specific questions about child custody matters dealing with  mixed and blended families, that's not about witnessing so if you go online to fcfcoa.gov.au you'll be able to find that information out yourself if that if that type of information is of interest to you.

Okay so when we're talking about family law, we're talking about the federal jurisdiction so we're not talking about Supreme Courts, Magistrates court or District courts okay so they the Queensland court system this is completely separate. So yes there are different rules for this court, as a JP we're not expected to know all these rules if we did we'd all be qualified lawyers so  today we're going to be talking about the most commonly witnessed family law documents and that will be an affidavit which is currently being displayed on your screen. We're also going to touch on the affidavit for E-filing for a divorce application and why it has replaced the physical application for those who may remember that 22-page document and the other common document may come across is the financial statement. Now if you weren't aware all these documents are actually affidavits. Okay, now does anyone know exactly what we're looking for to confirm what makes a document or an application form an affidavit? Feel free to pop in an answer in the chat I’ll let the team answer that maybe I shouldn't have said that there so many people here but basically it is because of the formatting okay you've got the swearing and affirming and then we've got the jurat okay and the jurat is where we witness or execute the document after the deponent or signatory has signed so you can see all these documents have a common feature and I'm just seeing my little hopefully you can see my little mouse here so this is the jurat and on the Affidavit of service by post this is the jurat down here and interestingly enough on the financial statement the jurat is on the front page so that means you will need to make sure that the entire application form or the financial statement has been completed. Okay and what's also quite common is when we're at the beginning of an affidavit you can see swearing/affirming, we need to make sure that we keep it consistent and at the jurat we select the correct way the deponent sworn or affirmed the document okay unfortunately sometimes that can be missed and that could be one reason why the registry may decline to accept that affidavit.

Oh, look there we go there's my little jurat if you didn't know how to spell the word, you're at that's it there okay. So, the preparing affidavit fact sheet it is three pages but what is really great about it, it basically interprets the relevant family law rule that deals with evidence and evidence can be affidavits with annexures and also exhibits and they're a little bit different. As we all know an affidavit is a written statement of facts and a document that supports a statement in that affidavit is referred to in this jurisdiction as an annexure okay.

And when we are dealing with the  attachments or sorry documents that are referred to in the affidavit my apologies that went a bit too fast we need to make sure it's referred to in the body of the affidavit okay but before I show you an example of that I just wanted to go through here so this would be your normal affidavit and this is the multiple page affidavit family law, and let's just say an example of a annexure it could be a child school report, it could be a telephone bill, could even be photographs okay, you can actually put the wording if you have a stamp for the annexure on the actual document itself that's okay but the best suggested practice which is in our handbook, is to use a blank piece of paper and you can stamp the wording of the annexure on that blank piece of paper or if you don't have that stamp if you're not lucky enough to be one of our valued volunteers in our JPs in the community program, then you can hand write it and then you just place that blank piece of paper with the annexure statement in front of it. Okay and that brings me to the rules of pagination page numbering we got so many questions about this and yes, it is completely different to the Queensland court system or the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules.

So in this visual example hopefully it'll make it a little bit more clearer for you, let's imagine that you are presented with a three-page affidavit is showing on your screen as mentioned you need to go over the affidavit it is not a requirement to read it but you need to make sure that any annexures or documents that are that have been presented with the affidavit are mentioned in the body of the affidavit if it's not then you can't witness it as an annexure okay so once you're happy that the annexures in this instance A, B and C have been referred to in the Affidavit of  Jane Doe then you would go ahead and number them consecutively. Okay so we don't number them individually we number them consecutively and uh a colleague of mine and one of our members of the community engagement team said think of it like a chapter okay so you're reading your hand you're reading your latest novel you're reading "Outlander" maybe and the page numbers are all the same aren't they one through to 100 so just think of it as annexures as chapters and keep the page numbering consistent

Hey Belinda, just on that one, if each of the annexures have their own cover sheet, we are to include those cover sheets as part of our page numbering and pagination of that document. So, for this example if each annexure has their own cover sheet in inserted in front of the three annexes this will add in three additional pages to the document and page one would be the cover sheet for annexure A and the numbering will run consecutively until the last page of the last annexure. So, if each one-page annexure has their own cover sheet this would be a total of six pages and the first cover sheet for annexure A would be page one of six and annexure A itself would be page two of six, and so on until the last page of annexure C being numbered as page six of six, thanks Belinda.

Excellent that's right and if they have been numbered please leave the numbering unless you have picked up that maybe they've numbered this one, one and one then you can let your client know look here's the preparing the fact sheet on  preparing an affidavit  you do need to number the pages consecutively can I ask you to renumber them because this is not our document to witness we need to make sure that the client is aware of that and we need to let them know what we're doing okay same if you pick up an error when you're scanning through the affidavit looking for those annexures you may see an error or an alteration and we all know what we need to do when there's an alteration or an error, we need to initial it when both parties need to initial that so again let your client know what you're doing and give them the opportunity to correct the document.

I just wanted to go over quickly the requirements of the Oaths act 1867 when you're witnessing statutory declarations and affidavits. We have a technical bulletin that has been released on these changes, but these new requirements now basically ask you to identify the signatory but it's not just looking at the driver's license for example you actually have to check that the document the identity document matches the name of the person in front of you on the document. Okay so we're not just checking oh yep that's John Doe you want to make sure that is the same person so you need to compare the identity document with the document or the affidavit or Declaration you're witnessing as you know if you've been following our general witnessing steps then this should be nothing new to you because that is our suggested practice for witnessing any document you must also include your full name and your full name is your birth name or your legal name that is on the JP database so if you have three middle names so Belinda Jane Joy Finlay then you must write your complete full name on the document okay, no initials it must be your full name so if you have a long name you might want to get a stamp. Now when it comes to inserting your qualification which is also a requirement you can use your seal of office and insert your registration number or if you don't have your seal of office you can use your prescribed mark of office and that basically is your role, JP Qual, Cdec, JP Mag Court registration number and signature. The place of employment this is only applicable if you're witnessing the document in the course of your employment and normally this would not apply to any of us okay so if you're a volunteer in the program there is no requirement to put your place of employment all you need to do is you can cross out that section or you can leave it blank because it's not applicable if it is applicable then yes you can put your place of employment just the name is fine like ABC law or if your client does insist that you insert an address as with any document you witness please place the JP address details in there and not your own personal contact details.

Okay so witnessing steps this is straight from chapter 4.8 of your handbook so ask the signatory for some form of identification okay and yes we can accept the digital driver's license okay uh can we accept photographs of a photographic ID document, no, screenshots no so if someone has taken a screenshot or a photo of their passport. Unfortunately they have to present the original passport if it's a digital ID document like your digital Medicare Card or your digital Queensland driver's license that's perfectly acceptable. Then it's best to place the person on oath or affirmation now if you'd like to know more about oath or affirmations you can find that in chapter I think it's 4.7 of your handbook okay but really the law doesn't recognize any difference about making an oath or affirmation because if a person makes a false statement in an affidavit they are committing an offence. Read over the affidavit probably best to check it just to make sure it's properly completed and numbered but I would recommend that you let your client know that you just have to check the document because some of these documents can be quite private  they can be very personal even upsetting and may even be dealing with some domestic and Family Violence matters so obviously it's a confidential matter that and you know that person might want to keep to themselves so again communicate with your client let them know what you're doing. As mentioned so if there are extra documents attached after the affidavit you have to make sure that they are referred to in the body of the affidavit okay now if they haven't been marked you can ask your client to mark them  normally you'll find that with self-litigants, they will go to maybe a community law practice who will create the affidavit for them and perhaps the annexures haven't been marked correctly but that's where you can create the annexure statement  and you can also ask your client to Mark the any relevant annexures.

Ensure any changes or alterations are initialled we covered that, and this is one of the questions a lot of you did ask yes unfortunately if it is a multiple page affidavit you must sign the bottom of every page and so must signatory. However, there are some of the application forms you'll see there are no fields to sign the bottom of the form so there's no need just sign in the jurat and that will become a little bit more clearer when we look at some visual examples shortly. Okay witness the signatory’s signature and as mentioned make sure it's consistent that the document was sworn or affirmed at the beginning and in the jurat. Sign the affidavit and insert your full name qualification registration number and of course date and place of witnessing as with any safety concerns if the person would like you to just name the state of Queensland then please do so and then all that is left to do is enter your details of the witnessing transaction in your log book and remember when we are entering our witnessing transactions we don't record any personal identity document numbers such as passport numbers or driver's license numbers. I myself just put an abbreviation like Qld DL for Queensland driver's license and then the expiry date and that means that I know that I’ve cited a current driver’s license.

Right let's have a look at this document okay it's called the affidavit for E-filing application divorce I love how lengthy all these names are on these forms. Basically now when it comes to the dissolution of marriage that is the correct terminology for divorce the court does direct the party or parties depending if it's a sole or joint application to go to the Commonwealth courts portal okay so that physical 22 page application for divorce which required our JP’s to check the eligibility for divorce so have they been separated for 12 months, have they put in the full name of the party the Commonwealth courts portal does the eligibility check so that takes away that extra responsibility from you to make sure that the applicant or applicants are eligible for divorce so if they are eligible they go through answer a number of questions they have to provide and upload their marriage certificate it will generate this two-page document okay and it's called an affidavit for E-filing application divorce. All you're required to do is to witness that document your client does not have to present to you the full application for divorce from the Commonwealth courts portal.

Unfortunately, we have had people requesting their clients come back with their application that's not necessary at all because we are just witnessing the affidavit okay. Only in certain circumstances will the applicants be given access to a physical kit and that would be the application for divorce kit and as I said it's twenty-two pages but to obtain that they will have to contact the National inquiry Centre or their local registry. Okay let's have a look Lisa, Joey, and Ned, have we got any burning questions? So we've got a question, I was taught nothing should go through the JP stamp but none of these forms allow for this where should we place our stamp? Oh okay, you will see in some of the visual examples we we're about to go through there is sufficient space in these Federal jurisdiction forms to place your seal of office so the technical or the legislative requirement under the JP Act is that when you sign a document you should immediately place your seal of office immediately below, beside or next to your signatures close as possible so if you can't use your seal of office that's where you have your prescribed Mark of office. That's excellent, another question are Cdecs able to witness these Federal Court docs or only JPs? Yes they can, commissioner for declarations can witness these documents for the family law courts or family law matters or federal law matters when it comes to the NOIM, the notice of intention to marry form that comes under another piece of federal legislation which Cdecs unfortunately not  qualified to witness a notice of intention to marry but that's under the Attorney General's office this is not to do with the federal circuit and family court of Australia.

Okay that's very interesting another question, what's to stop the annexure statement being separated from the intended document? Yeah and look that's a valid question and yeah there's nothing nothing stopping it at all uh it may be stapled if you're lucky enough to have a well-represented self-litigant they're going to actually probably have that typed up for you and maybe even stapled I'm not too sure but we can't really be held responsible or worry about a document that has left us once we've witnessed it if somebody wants to fraudulently tamper with it or replace those documents then you know they they're the ones that are committing an offence so yeah because these are affidavits then it is a criminal offense to make a false statement. Excellent thank you, another one, so when witnessing an affidavit and attaching an appendix we have an attachment sheet that the party and JP both sign but sometimes someone comes with an affidavit prepared by a lawyer and their cover sheet only has a spot for the JP to sign do both parties need to sign an attachment for Family Court matters really good question and I probably should have went over that but I didn't did I if I just go back a couple to the annexure statement sorry everyone just bear with me with the federal circuit and federal with this court the federal circuit and federal court you do not okay, only the witness needs to sign these statements and here it is here sorry I was just trying to do two things at once which obviously can't do. This is the actual wording from the fact sheet in preparing an affidavit and it's also from the family law rule which requires a written statement to be placed upon each annexure so they can't be bound like the uniform civil procedure rules but in this jurisdiction only the witness needs to sign the annexure statement. well, that is about it and thank you for your patience today we've got nine minutes for questions so that's pretty exciting we'll just put our little contact details up. Okay, so we've got a question how much assistance can we give someone presenting with an affidavit which is not on the correct form has not got a jurat and has not referred to the annexure in the body of the affidavit.

So really good question if we're talking about the jurisdiction for the federal circuit and family court of Australia, it has to be in in that format so if you read the preparing fact sheet preparing an affidavit fact sheet you can give that to your client or refer them to the National inquiry Centre. I do know they will accept handwritten affidavits in certain circumstances but again they need permission from the registry to do so. As with any document if your client does need assistance in completing it then you should disqualify yourself or remove yourself from witnessing because it could be a conflict of interest and refer them to another JP so there's nothing wrong with you pointing out to your client that if it's a family law matter are you aware that there's an actual affidavit you could even refer them to the federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia forms website. Please don't print them out for them though because we don't expect you to have the forms for your clients they should get them themselves so I hope that gives you a very detailed answer probably a little bit too detailed sorry Joey no thanks Belinda that's excellent another question, is there at any time a reason for not witnessing one of these affidavits? Yeah great question if and believe it or not this is this does happen if somebody comes to you with an affidavit and there's annexures referred to in that affidavit and they haven't got the annexures you cannot witness that affidavit okay two different JPs cannot witness an affidavit and the annexures so if you come across that you'll have to re-swear the whole affidavit and then witness the annexures another time you can decline or refuse to witness an affidavit  is if you somehow have information knowing that it is false you can decline to do so or if you don't think it's in the correct format like we had that question before you can draw that to the attention of your client give them the information about preparing an affidavit but  that would be the only reason I can think of Lisa Joey Ned anyone else Paula do you have  any other reason why you wouldn't witness an affidavit? Have you talked about capacity if someone is really unsure of what they what they're doing? I haven't touched on the voluntarily for the Oaths act so over to you uh yeah just to add on to what you're saying there that if you get a sense that someone's being coerced or at any this applies at any document anyway but that's I'm just adding on to the list of things that you had there that if you got the feeling that somebody was under pressure to sign the document  you might sort of want to have a conversation with them and ask them but and that should yeah ask them if they're doing it freely and voluntarily and  just let them know that they can withdraw from the witnessing process at any time as well. Excellent thanks.

Well, we've reached 3 o'clock and I don't want to keep anyone else waiting if we haven’t answered your questions please follow up with an email to jp@justice.qld.gov.au. Thank you for joining me and thank you Lisa, Ned, Joey, and Paula. Appreciate the assistance and everyone have a lovely afternoon.

Hello.

Thanks for joining me for another webinar delivered to you by the Justices of the Peace Branch.

My name is Belinda and today we're going to be talking about issuing a complaint and summons under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act 1982.

Don't worry if you've never been able to issue one of these documents before, this is what this webinar is here to help you with.

I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions, we have our contact details at the end. The best resource for any of the documents you witness is without a doubt your handbook.

In chapter 5 you will find information that will help you determine whether or not the complainant has sufficient evidence to prove a threat has been made against them and if you should issue a summons to appear in court. Or if the matter is serious enough, a warrant for the defendant's arrest.

Another handy resource is this 2-page fact sheet from the Queensland Courts. While it has been created for the complainant or the person  considering to apply for a peace and good behaviour order, you may find this of interest. And of course, the legislation itself is the main resource these documents have been created from.

The legislation, the Peace and Good Behaviour Act 1982 does have several objectives. The main objective of this Act is to protect the safety, welfare,  security, and peace and good order of the community. This objective (and the other objectives) are achieved by giving jurisdiction to the courts to make certain orders that require a person to keep the peace and be of good behaviour in the community.

The Act also allows for a person to make a complaint to a Justice of the Peace to have a peace and good behaviour ordered issued. And this is what the focus of today's webinar is - a peace and good behaviour order and what you need to consider before you witness a complaint under this Act and issue a summons, or in a rare occasion a warrant.

But before I talk about what you need to consider in a complaint to issue a peace and good behaviour summons or warrant, let me tell you what a peace and good behaviour order is.

As mentioned, there are many objectives under the peace and good behaviour act and there may be times when a person feels threatened by others in the community, especially when this person has assaulted another person, or damaged their property, or has threatened to do either of these things.

In responding to this type of behaviour will depend on the type of relationship the person has with the person by whom they feel threatened by.

And when I talk about assault, assault means a person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies force of any kind to another person without their consent.

Now a peace and good behaviour order is a physical order issued by the Magistrate's Court requiring that person to stop any activity that threatens to  cause harm to another, their property or threatens another person under that person's care or charge. It orders that person to be of good behaviour and keep the peace for a specified period of time or as a magistrate sees fit. But before the magistrate will issue a peace and good behaviour order, the court must be satisfied that the respondent (that is this person who is allegedly responsible for the threatening behaviour) has committed, or  threatened to commit, an act of wilful injury or wilful damage against the other person (known as a complainant) or that they have procured another person to do this.

And it's this information that must also be included in the elements of the complaint before you can issue a summons or a warrant. It is important to be  aware that if a person has a problem with someone with whom they are in a relationship with or have been in a relationship with as defined under the  domestic and family violence protection act, then a peace and good behaviour order would not apply in this situation.

So let's talk about now who an order may be made against.

The type of order a person should apply for depends on the type of the relationship that they have with the other person. It's not uncommon for a  person to apply for the wrong type of order, this is why it's very important a person should seek independent advice if they're not sure if a peace and good behaviour order is the type of order they require. If the person or the complainant is confident that the application should be brought to the courts under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act then the person who is threatening them should be one of the following:

• their neighbour
• a housemate
• workmate or any other associate

As noted on the slide this is not an exhaustive list the person should be encouraged to seek advice before lodging their final complaint with the courts. So, we've had a look at when a person may apply for a peace and good behaviour order, let's take a look at the circumstances when a person should not be applying for a peace and good behaviour order.

If the complaint relates to a person having a relevant relationship with the defendant that is defined by the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012, they then should instead apply for an application for a protection order.

Relevant relationships include:

• Spousal relationships, that is relationships between people who are, or were married, living together in a de facto relationship.
• An intimate personal relationship, that is a relationship between people who are or were engaged people, who dated, and although
  not living together their relationship was so enmeshed that the actions of one affected
  the other.
• Family relationships, that is relatives related by blood or marriage, or those regarded as a relative; and
• Informal care relationships. Relationships between a person and an unpaid carer who relies on another person because of a disability, illness or impairment, for their day-to-day activities.

If one or more of these relevant relationships apply, then the complainant should be directed to the nearest Magistrates Court and brought under the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012. You can find out more information about witnessing an application for a protection order in chapter

4.4 of your handbook - Witnessing applications under the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012.

Let's take a look at the complaint process.

On your screen is the form 1 complaint, made and authorised by the Peace and Good Behaviour legislation. When considering a complaint and before you can issue a summons or a warrant, the complaint must contain certain information.

And it is this information you must be satisfied with, that it meets the legislative requirements.These legislative requirements involve the complainant proving to the court satisfaction, and to you, that someone has threatened to assault, or physically injure them, or someone under their care.

Have someone else assault or physically injure them, or someone under their care. Or destroy or damage any of the complainant's
property or have somebody else destroy or damage the complainant's property. The complainant must also show that they are in fear of the defendant.

If the evidence contained in the complaint are not ones of threats to carry out any, or all of the above, but is a mere annoyance, then the court may not make an order under the act and you should not be issuing a complaint under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act, as one of the principal legislative rounds has not been established or proven.

Let's move on now to how you should consider a complaint before issuing a summons or a warrant. A person seeking to have a court issue a Peace and Good Behaviour order, first needs to approach a justice of the peace to have their complaint considered.

When this happens you should be issued with two forms:

1.the complaint itself, Form 1 (which we briefly had a look at on the previous screen)

2.and then the summons - Form 2, also under the peace and good behaviour legislation

It's also important to be aware that only one complainant must be listed per complaint. That is if a husband and wife have a same complaint about assault or threats from another person, then they must each complete their own complaint and summons form. So, you might be wondering what could be examples of threatening behaviour that you could consider under the peace and good behaviour act?

On your screen are some examples. The first one is courtesy of the Caxton Legal Centre. The Caxton Legal Centre publishes a number
of self-help kits and fact sheets to practically assist people if they face certain legal issues. The second example is purely fictional, and I’m going to give you a few moments now to read over what could constitute as a threat or threatening behaviour. Once you are satisfied that there are grounds in  the complaint of threats assaults or threatening behaviour, don't forget that the complainant must also prove their reasons and a statement as to why they are in fear of the defendant.

On your screen is just such an example. The complainant may also include an order for the court to consider like the one on the bottom half of the  screen being displayed. But it is up to the court to determine the length or the period of time the order will be issued and any other stipulations it sees fit.

Before we take a look at how to witness and issue or summons. Did you know you do have another option under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act 1982?

A justice may instead of issuing a summons or warrant consider the matter to be resolved by mediation. This can only occur with the complainant's consent. So when would it be a good time or an option to recommend mediation?

Perhaps after reading through the complaint, which is a mandatory duty, you are not satisfied that there are grounds of threats, assaults, or threatening behaviour. Or perhaps the complainant has not proven to you that they have a genuine fear of the defendant and that their complaint relates to one of mere annoyance.

For example, the complaint relates to the enjoyment or disruption to the peace and quiet on their property. This is when you can refer the complainant
to mediation and ask them to contact their nearest dispute resolution centre. While this is a free service, remember that complainant must consent to  he mediation. If though the complaint has no grounds under the peace and good behaviour legislation you cannot issue it, and I will show you next how to deal with a complaint form in this situation.

Let's take a look now how to witness and issue a summons.

If you're unsure or you have never issued a summons before especially, under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act you should refer to chapter 5 of your handbook specifically 5.2.

When presented with these completed forms check for the correct amount of copies. You should have one original complaint, one original summons, and then two copies of each. The reason being is that the original will be filed with the court and that the complainant will receive a copy and then the defendant will also be served a copy.

You can now ask the complainant for some form of identification and then immediately place them on oath or affirmation. This means if you need to ask any questions about the complaint to satisfy yourself that there are grounds to issue a summons, this can be recorded as part of the official  witnessing transaction, just remember to keep these records in your logbook.

Now it's time to read the complaint section and this is a duty you must complete. Check the complaint section carefully, remember you must be satisfied there is justification to issue a summons a warrant because a threat has been made, that the complainant is genuinely afraid of the defendant, and that the complaint has been made within the last year of the last threat.

If however the complaint does not have the grounds required under the legislation of the Peace and Good Behaviour Act or the Peace and Good Behaviour Regulation, then you should not be issuing the summons or the warrant.Instead, you should cross out the complaint  form and note your reasons on the form and then refer the complainant to the nearest magistrates court to ask for the registrar. Don't forget make a note in your logbook.

If though you are satisfied that the complaint is justified, that is the complainant has genuinely proven to you that they are afraid of the defendant and that a threat has been made, or they have been assaulted, then you can have the complaint sign the complaint form.

Do remind them they are under oath; you would then witness the complainant’s signature on the form by affixing your seal of office and entering your registration number and name.

Now these are mandatory requirements under the Justices of the Peace and Commissioner for Declarations Act 1991 and the Peace and
Good Behaviour Regulation 2010. And now we can issue the summons.

In the case of issuing a summons under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act, you do have an additional duty. You are required to contact the Magistrates Court to arrange a mention date, or a court date.

Be careful not to choose it yourself, as courts do schedule certain types of matters on certain days and dates.

The mention date is when the complainant and defendant will first appear in court before a magistrate to hear the matter. Once you have obtained the mention date, insert it into the summons then complete the remaining parts of the document and check it thoroughly. Ensure it gives the full name and address of the complainant, and the basis for the complaint, is dated the day you issue it, gives the full name and address of the defendant (the person being served), it also must show the date time and place of the court hearing.

This is important otherwise the defendant may not appear in court.

Then you must sign the summons, affix your seal of office and enter your registration number and name. Again, this is a mandatory requirement under
the justices of the peace and commissioner for declarations act and the peace and good behaviour regulation.

Jump in the screen – fix this. Now that you have witnessed the complaint and issued the summons, you have a final task for your client - giving instructions on how to file the documents. Inform your client that they must lodge the complaint and summons with the magistrates court and once filed, serve a copy of the complaint and summons to the defendant.

Then instruct them that once the defendant has been served, the oath of service (which is found on the bottom or on the reverse side of the summons) must be witnessed and lodged with the magistrates court. This is very important, as it demonstrates that the defendant has been served a complaint and summons to appear in court. If your client is unsure on how to arrange service, they can seek procedural advice from the magistrates registry then filing the documents.

Now it's over to you and your final task of the witnessing transaction - record keeping. Before I go through the details that you should be recording, I just wanted to let you know that you have no authority in this situation to request, make, or retain a copy of the complaint and summons, or a warrant you if have issued it under this act. What we do recommend is you recording:

• the date and time the complaint and summons was witnessed,
• the type of complaint and the grounds for issuing the summons,
• the details of the complainant,
• the type of identification sighted (remember please do not record any personal identifying details such as a driver's license or passport
  number),
• then you can insert the location of signing and
• most importantly if you relied on questions that you asked the complainant to satisfy you there were grounds to issue a summons
  or warrant, you should make a note of the questions and any answers given.

If you're unsure on how to do this or any other aspects of issuing a complaint and summons under the Peace and Good Behaviour Act, don't forget that we're here to help you.

Here's our contact details and please make a note of them you can contact us anytime about this, or any other witnessing inquiry that you may have.

Well, thank you I hope you enjoyed that presentation and it did give you some information about how to consider a complaint under the peace and good behaviour act and when you should be able to issue a summons or warrant. Don't forget there are specific grounds that are required by legislation if you're unsure it's best not to witness these documents give us a call that's what we're here for thanks again for joining me I’m Belinda and until next time goodbye.

Hello, I'm Belinda and thank you for joining me for today's webinar on certifying copies of documents for a person seeking registration with the Australian Practitioner Regulation Agency, or Ahpra for short.

If you're one of our volunteers in our JPs in the Community program and you have certified these documents before, you've probably noticed that the instructions that accompany these forms differ to those outlined in chapter 3.1 of your handbook - Certifying copies of documents. I’m hopeful today that this webinar will show you how to correctly endorse these copies of documents for someone seeking this registration. Let's kick this webinar off, I hope you're ready.

First up who is Ahpra and what do they do? Ahpra works in conjunction with the National Medical Boards to ensure that only health practitioners with the skills and qualifications to provide competent and ethical care are registered to practice. Ahpra also manages the registration and renewal processes for local and overseas qualified health practitioners and also manages student registration. The most common scenario for an Ahpra registration is for a person who has recently graduated from their chosen health care field, for example a dentist. Before they can practice dentistry, they are required to be registered with Ahpra. The registration process requires the applicant to complete the relevant form, depending on the health profession, and provide a range of mandatory information. In addition to this information the applicant must prove their identity and they do this by submitting certified copies of their original identity documents. Depending on the type of document being certified will determine which certification clause you use, as there are different statements for documents with a photo and documents without a photo.

And to assist with applying the correct certification statement, Ahpra have published 2 factsheets that outlines their actual requirements. These 2 resources can be used by both the applicant and the authorised officer, that's you the witness, to refer to when certifying documents for Ahpra. The first is a two-page fact sheet with instructions and the second is a visual one-page fact sheet, that shows you how to certify a photo ID. While these instructions do conflict with the information in your handbook chapter 3.1 - Certifying copies of documents, you can continue to use the certified copy statements as outlined in this chapter. The reason being is Ahpra has confirmed with us, at the JP Branch, that while our statement is different to theirs, it is substantially compliant with their wording and they will accept it. However, it is important that you follow your clients’ instructions and if they ask you to follow these instructions to the letter, then please do so.

In addition to the certification statement, you must include additional information. Failure to insert this additional information will result in the document being rejected, regardless if you've used the correct certification wording. So, after sighting the original document and confirming that it is a true copy of the original, insert the relevant certification clause. Then you must insert your signature, your full name (so no initials), your qualification - so that's JP(Qual) or Commissioner for Declarations, your seal of office and registration number, a contact phone number, and the date. Now with the contact phone number, it is recommended that you use the JP Branch telephone number or alternatively if you have the JP Branch address stamp, you can apply that.

Moving on to certifying a document without a photo. Once you have sighted the original document, you have a few options you can use to endorse the copy (depending on the certified copy stamps you have in your kit or at your signing site), if you do have the JP Branch address stamp then you'll need this too. If you have this certified copy stamp with this wording, then all you really need to do is apply the JP Branch address stamp. If your certified copy stamp does not have the seal of office included, you will need to apply that separately.

If you have this certified copy stamp, which has been updated to reflect the changes to certifying an enduring document, you can use this stamp as well. Apart from crossing out copy and download you, will need to apply the address stamp in addition to the seal of office (if it's not incorporated). And finally, if you don't have a certified copy stamp, you can handwrite the certification on the copy. If you do choose this method, I would recommend using the Ahpra wording straight from their factsheets and remember if you don't have the JP Branch address stamp just insert our contact number.

You may also be required to certify copies of a multiple page document for your applicant. For example, a tenancy agreement. Again, Ahpra have strict requirements and the certification process does differ to the information as outlined in your handbook. You need to initial and number every page of the multiple page document and then insert the certified wording on the front page of the document. You must then also provide your signature, your full name, your qualification, your seal of office and registration number, contact phone number, and the date.

When presented with multiple documents that have been copied onto 1 page, Ahpra requires each document to be endorsed separately. Again, this may differ from your normal certification process, but it is important that you follow this requirement otherwise the certification will be rejected by Ahpra. Remember certified copies can be enlarged, resized, and presented to you in black and white or colour, this will not affect the validity.

On your screen is an example of how to apply the separate certification statements. You can see that with the Immi card the witnessing officer has chosen to handwrite the Ahpra certification and then has used their certified copy stamp to apply to the remaining documents without a photo. The witness has then handwritten the JP Branch phone number next to each statement. This meets all of Aphra’s requirements. You may also wish to insert the JP Branch address stamp if you have it in kit in lieu of writing the contact number.

Over to certifying a document with a photo. Now this is a two-part process. Ahpra requires the witness to not only certify the identity document as a true copy of the original, but for you to also confirm that the person presenting the document is a true likeness to the photo on the identity document. So, let's talk about confirming true likeness.

The client must provide you with the original photographic identity document from which the copy is made. You must confirm that the client standing in front of you is the same person depicted in the photographic ID. Look carefully at the client and visually compare their face against the photo on the ID document. The term true likeness can be described as a person having the same, or similar features, as depicted in the image. Some of the characteristics that you may wish to compare against the person and the image can include:

• the person's build - thin average solid
• male, female
• hair colour, type, and length, is it straight, wavy, dreadlocks, bald
• eye colour and type - are they wide, narrow, deep set, bulging
• skin colour – sallow, dark, fair, olive, tanned; and
• other features such as scars and tattoos.

Check the copy of the document against the original to make sure there have been no alterations and, if you are satisfied that the photographic identity document bears a true likeness to your client, then you can endorse the copy with the required wording.

Now 1 of the commonly asked questions we receive is ‘What if the person looks nothing like their photo ID? What do I do?’

It is true that a person may change their look over time. Different hair colour, cosmetic surgery, or illness just to name a few reasons. But if the person presenting the document does not show any resemblance to the image presented, then you should decline to witness the photo ID document. Should this occur, refer the client back to Ahpra for advice.

Now when it comes to applying the certification for a document with a photo, you again have a few options. If you are a volunteer in our JPs in the Community program your site will have been allocated this specific stamp that is currently being displayed on your screen. You can use this to certify identity documents for Ahpra, after applying the stamp you then just need to insert that additional information and apply the JP Branch address stamp and your seal of office. If you are not a volunteer, you can still modify a certified copy stamp that you have in your kit or handwrite the certification statement on the copy. When you do modify the wording on a stamp, don't forget that you must insert your initials next to the modification like the example currently being displayed on your screen.

As with documents without a photo, you will still need to insert that additional information, apply the JP Branch address stamp and your seal of office. If you choose to handwrite the certification, I would again recommend using the exact wording from the Ahpra factsheet as shown on your screen. And remember if you don't have the JP Branch address stamp just insert our contact number.

The final point for today's webinar - rejected certifications. If you are a volunteer in our JPs in the Community program you may have already come across this scenario. There may be times when an applicant’s certified copies have been rejected by Ahpra. When this occurs, the applicant is normally supplied with an email, or letter, explaining the reason for the rejection. The most common reasons for a certified copy being rejected is that the Aphra’s guidelines have not been followed, including the insertion of the mandatory contact phone number or the witness's full name.

Now we can do something about it, if you believe that the certified copy has been endorsed correctly and that the mandatory information has also been inserted. You can ask your client for permission to view the rejection notification and then note the details of the rejection reason, the date of the rejection (or the correspondence) and also more importantly the details of the regulatory officer from Ahpra who made the rejection decision. And then it's just a matter of sending that information to the JP Branch so we can forward that onto Ahpra for their investigation.

Well, that's the end of today's presentation. I hope I was able to clarify the certification process for documents and identity documents being presented for an Ahpra registration. Don't forget though, if you do need help with these types of certifications, or any other aspect of your witnessing role, drop us a line anytime we're here to help. That's our role. Thanks for joining me and until next time goodbye.

Hello and welcome back my name's Belinda, I'm part of the Community Engagement Team here at the Justices of the Peace Branch. Today I’m going to be talking about what you need to consider when issuing a Queensland police search warrant. I'm also going to explain what a search warrant is and why a Queensland police would seek to have a search warrant issued. And finally, we're going to have a look at a sample search for an application and the search warrant itself are you ready let's begin.

Music

Well, I think you'll agree that that short clip from the Queensland police does demonstrate how a search warrant is executed at a place, and that is what today's webinar is about. Specifically, for the witnessing role of a justice of the peace qualified or a justice of the peace magistrates court. If you are a commissioner for declarations while you will still find this webinar interesting, but you are not able to issue a search warrant at this time.

When you are considering to issue a Queensland police search warrant there are some important documents that you need to be aware of and they are the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 and most importantly section 5.4 of your handbook - Issuing search warrants. The Police Power Responsibilities Act 2000, which I'll refer to as PPRA, is the governing legislation that provides police with certain powers necessary to allow for modern policing and law enforcement. And chapter 7 of the PPRA does relate to the powers specifically given and that can be exercised during an execution of a search warrant. It also provides a process on how police may apply for a search warrant. Whereas section 5.4 of your handbook is your comprehensive guide to all things search warrant and includes a witnessing checklist and blank samples so you can familiarize yourself with the witnessing process and the forms, if you have never witnessed a search warrant before.

If you do have your handbook in reach, please feel free to refer to this section throughout the webinar.

So, you might be wondering what is a search warrant and why would police seek to have a search warrant issued? Well, a search warrant is a document that consists of two parts: the search warrant application and the search warrant itself. A search warrant authorises a police officer to enter and search a relevant place to look for evidence to prove that an offence has been committed.

You might be surprised to learn that police must have formed reasonable grounds to suspect evidence is at a place or is likely to be out of place before they can apply to have a search warrant issued. And it's this information 'reasonable grounds for suspecting evidence is or will be at the place' you must be satisfied with before you can issue the search warrant.

And depending where the evidence is located will determine when the search warrant ends in 21 days, 7 days, or 72 hours. But what does it mean to search a place? Generally, police cannot enter and search a place. This is because the rights of individuals need to be protected, that is another element you need to consider -protecting the rights of the occupier when considering to issue a search warrant. Now the PPRA defines a place as a premise, vacant land, a vehicle (so that's a caravan) a boat, a place in Queensland waters and a place held under two or more titles or by two or more owners. The last definition there relates to surveillance devices and is not relevant to your role as a JP.

In this instance an example of police searching a place would be, let's say, police have formed a reasonable suspicion that evidence for an offence is located at 183 Fake Street Townsville, police can search anything and sometimes anyone that is inside that property boundary. So, if there is a garden shed in the back corner and a car parked in the driveway, police can search the house, the shed and the car on that warrant. Another example is if police have a search warrant for a vessel moored in the Port of Brisbane and that vessel contains cargo and shipping containers. Then again, police can search the entire vessel including all the cargo and shipping containers under that single warrant.

We know what a search warrant is and why police would seek to have a search warrant issued but what do you really need to consider before you can issue a search warrant?

In addition to being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds in the search warrant application, when you are issuing a search warrant you must also ensure that the offence is suspected to have occurred in Queensland, that is if the evidence or the offence is in another State, you're unable to issue the warrant. You must also ensure that the offence exists in Queensland law (that will be listed on the search warrant application if you're not familiar with the piece of legislation for which the offence relates to ask the officer to show you). Finally, you must make sure all elements of the offence and necessary details are included in the application - this is known as the reasonable grounds.

Think back to the opening video of when the police executed that search warrant. Now, for that warrant to be issued, police would have received information about those drug offences, for example an anonymous tip from crime stoppers or police link or perhaps even information received through a confidential source. The police then would have conducted their own investigation to establish if there are reasonable grounds to suspect drugs are at that place and then once they've established those reasonable grounds, they would have applied to a justice to have that search warrant issued.

When a search warrant is issued police, officers do have a number of powers that they can exercise during the execution of a search warrant, including any additional powers granted in the application. These powers are authorised by legislation. Remember when I said police generally cannot enter a place? Once a search warrant has been issued the powers are listed in the PPRA and the Police Power and Responsibilities Regulation 2012 apply. Here is a relevant section from the PPRA - section 157 'Powers under a search warrant.'

Now, these powers listed from 1(a) all the way down to 1(L) will automatically appear on the search warrant. These powers cannot be amended or ruled out by you, the witness. If you look at this sample search warrant on your screen and section 157 together you can see that the powers align. You might wish to pause the presentation now to compare these.

When it comes to additional powers, there are some we can authorise and others we cannot. For example, if police would like the power to search anyone found at the relevant place for anything sought under that warrant, then the police have to provide information in the search warrant application as it's not automatically granted under section 157. An example of a reason why to grant that power, could be perhaps the police are investigating a drug offence, that is they're seeking evidence to support a charge of possessing a dangerous drug in this case amphetamines, due to the nature and size of the drug amphetamine it can easily be concealed on the person. Now that would be a reasonable explanation as to why police are seeking that additional power.

The other additional power you can grant is the authority to execute the search warrant at night. The definition of the night is from the hours 9pm to 6am the following day. This additional power is authorised by the Police Power and Responsibilities Regulation 2012, specifically the Responsibilities Code. If the applicant officer is seeking to have the authority to execute the warrant at night again, they will need to provide sufficient and reasonable information in the application to support why it is necessary to execute the warrant at night.

I have spoken about the additional powers you can grant but what about the powers in a search warrant that you cannot authorise? If police are seeking to have a power to do anything to a place that may cause structural damage, only a supreme court judge can authorise that additional power. If the search warrant application includes an order for a person in possession of documents to give police those documents or if the search warrant includes an order to a person to give a police officer access to a storage device, again you do not have the authority to authorise these orders. A clear way to understand what an order is that it's a police direction. For example, if police are executing a warrant and in that warrant is an order to access information on a mobile phone, which is one of the things sought, then the police officer can verbally order that person to unlock the device (we don't have that power). The second example is if the search warrant includes an order for a person at the relevant place to give stated documents to police, only a magistrate or judge can authorise that order. There is, however, an alternative in this circumstance. If police are seeking stated documents from a cash dealer to be given to them at a stated time and place, then the police officer may in place of applying for a search warrant, apply to a justice to issue a production notice.  We have a webinar and technical bulletin on production notices, should you wish to learn more about these documents.

Let's move on to when a search warrant ends or expires. Once a search warrant has been issued under the PPRA the warrant must end after a certain period. Depending on the location of the evidence and the type of evidence the search warrant relates to will determine if the search warrant ends in either 72 hours, 7 days, or 21 days. If police believe the evidence is at that place, then they have 7 days or 21 days after the warrant was issued (up until midnight) to execute the warrant. And what determines if it is a 7 day warrant or a 21 day warrant? Well, it depends on the type of evidence the police are looking for. If the evidence relates to stock then police have 21 days to execute the warrant, and stock means livestock such as cows, deer, pigs, and so on.

To give you an example for when a seven-day warrant ends, let's say today is the ninth of March, if I was to issue a seven-day warrant, the end day I would be inserting on the warrant would be midnight on the 16th of March. If though I was issuing a 21-day warrant, then it will end at midnight on the 30th of March. Now when it comes to a 72-hour warrant, if the police believe evidence is likely to be at that place within the next 72 hours, then the search warrant will end exactly 72 hours after it was issued. For example, today is still the 9th of March and I have issued a 72-hour warrant at 15:26 hours. The warrant will end at 15:26 on the 12th of March.

To help you further understand when a search warrant ends chapter 5.4 of your handbook – Warrants, summons, and orders - has the information that you need. In this chapter you will find an easy-to-read table that can assist you in determining the end date and time for a warrant. This chapter also has answers to some of the most commonly asked questions we receive about the issuing of a search warrant. If you haven't done so already you can download this chapter or the entire handbook and other publications from our webpage.

We're moving to the final part of the webinar and I'd like to show you what a sample search warrant application and a search warrant looks like. These documents have been created specifically for this webinar and, the details, persons and places are purely fictional, and any resemblance to a person or a place is purely coincidental.

When an applicant police officer presents for your consideration to issue a search warrant you need both of these documents. The search warrant application and the search warrant itself. The application and warrant can be multiple pages. So, you can see in this example there are three pages to both the application and the search warrant. In this application for a search warrant the officer presenting it to you will be this person here, Lou Tenant and their particulars must be included. You do have to read the search warrant application in its entirety, because it is the information contained in the application that will help you to be satisfied that the offence has taken place in Queensland, the offence exists in Queensland law and evidence of that offence is located, or will be located, at that place. If you can now pause the webinar and read the search warrant application in its entirety. Once you've read the search warrant application hit play and I will walk through what you need to take into consideration, and what information should be included in the application.

After reading the application hopefully you would have found that the police officer did provide sufficient information, and you were satisfied that an offence has taken place in Queensland, and that the evidence for that offence is at 1 Caper Street. Let's go through the witnessing steps.

First off, best practice is when a police officer attends to have a search warrant issued, you immediately place them on oath or affirmation and ask for their identification. The reason you do this is, if you decide to ask for more information or seek clarification surrounding the offence, the things sort, or the details, you can make a note of that conversation on the application. Also, any answers that the police officer provides forms part of the application process itself. In this example the place to be searched is 1 Caper Street Townsville, and the police do know the name of the person who occupies the place. I previously mentioned that the occupier may have nothing to do with the alleged offence and it is the same in this example. Hopefully, you would have read that in the application - remember we need to protect the rights of the occupier.

Now a search warrant application can list more than one offence, that is multiple offences, and under the details you can see 3 alleged offenses have been listed. When listing the alleged offences, the applicant police officer should give a brief description of the offence, including the name of the offence, the governing legislation or the act, and the section from which the offence is located in the legislation. In this instance the 3 offences are in Queensland law as they relate to the Criminal Code. Now if you weren't familiar with that Act to which the offence relates to, you can ask the police officer to show you the section of the Act. After the offences have been listed, you move on to things sort - that is the evidence the police are seeking to help them prove that an offence has been committed. In this case they are looking for a victim's handbag, a wallet, a mobile phone, and an Australian Passport. The police are also looking for money, debit and credit cards, and a receipt from the Kwik-e-Mart for a certain amount. You might be wondering why police are looking for these things along with some clothing? Well hopefully, you noticed in the grounds of the search warrant application all these things sort are mentioned. And by seizing these items can help police prove that an offence has taken place and the clothing worn by the alleged offender further establishes they were there at the time of the offence, then police may lay charges. Once you are satisfied that the details, things sought, and the grounds are linked, and you believe that an alleged offence has been committed, you then move on to the final page which will list any details of any previous warrants. You can see in this example, a warrant was previously issued on the 8th of August 2019 and that the things seized during that search was a mobile phone, computer, and a DVD player.

As I have previously spoken about police can seek an additional power under a search warrant. In this instance police have sought to have an additional power to search anyone found at that place. Now remember an explanation is required before you can grant that power. In this case the reason to search anyone found at the place is because clothing the alleged offender was wearing can be worn by another person and due to the size and nature of bank cards they can easily be concealed on the person. This would be sufficient information to grant that additional power. You would then have the applicant officer sign and date here, reminding them that they are still under oath or affirmation, then you will complete the time, day, month, and year fields before inserting your signature and seal of office.

If the police officer has affirmed the application then you will need to amend sworn to affirmed, don't forget both of you will need to initial these changes. You will also notice on the bottom of each page is a place for your signature and these fields must be completed by inserting your signature, seal of office and date. Once a search warrant application has been witnessed you need to witness and issue the search warrant.

Make sure the information in the search warrant reflects the same information contained in the search for an application (I normally do this at the very beginning, it just saves time because if you read the application first, which can be lengthy, and then move over to the search warrant only to find the information is incorrect or incomplete, then the officer would need to make the necessary changes in return).

Remember at the beginning of the webinar I spoke about the PPRA and the powers that can lawfully be exercised during the execution of a search warrant? Well, that's a section of the Act right here. And as I mentioned you cannot remove any of those powers, change them or amend them, because they are authorised by the PPRA. However, because the police officer, Lou Tennant, did request to have that additional power to search anyone found at the place, you can see that additional power will appear on the search warrant.

Over to page 2. The information again should reflect the application, so the details of each offence will be here. As well as the details of the things sort. Moving on to the last page this is where you need to insert the date the warrant ends, and if it's a 72-hour warrant the time. Then you insert the place where the warrant is issued before inserting the date, time, your signature, and seal of office. Don't forget at the bottom of each page you will also need to sign and place your seal of office as well as insert the date.

Well, I do hope this example was able to provide you with an insight into the search warrant application process and don't be afraid to ask questions of the police officer if you need further information, clarification, or you're not familiar with the offence

When it comes to record keeping, as well as storing in a secure place the copy of the sworn search warrant application, you should also maintain a logbook of the actions you have taken (including any questions you asked and the answers that you were given by the applicant officer). You can if you wish, write this information on the back of the search warrant application itself. You should also do the same for any arrest warrant applications and applications, or production notices, as this is an important part of your record keeping duties. This application demonstrates the information that you have relied upon to issue a warrant or a production notice. However, you do not have any authority to request or retain a copy of the search warrant itself.

But can you refuse to issue a search warrant? The answer is yes. If you believe the applicant officer has not substantiated the offence or supplied you with sufficient information in the grounds of the application to confirm, to your satisfaction, that an offence has taken place, and evidence of that offence is at that place, or is likely to be at that place, then you can refuse to issue the warrant. If you decide to refuse to issue the search warrant you should cross out the application and note your reasons for the refusal on the form and in your logbook. You should then take the extra step by informing the officer in charge of the police station where the applicant officer is stationed that you have refused to issue the search warrant. However, if the applicant officer needs to amend an error or add additional information and then returns to you or another JP to have the search warrant application witnessed, this would not be a reason to refuse to issue the warrant. Another example is if the police officer has not placed the full description of the offence in the details section, you can ask them to insert this information instead of refusing to issue the warrant. Because once you refuse to issue a search warrant then only a magistrate or a judge may consider the application and issue the warrant.

On a final note, you would have heard me mention that when you are signing a search warrant application and the search warrant, you must use your seal of office. This is mandatory. Under section 31 of the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991 - if you are issuing a summons or warrant of any description you are required to insert your seal of office, with your registration number, immediately beneath beside or close to your signature, never on your signature.

Well thanks for watching today. I hope you gained some insight into the Queensland police search warrant application process, but more importantly your role and what you need to consider as a witness when issuing a search warrant. Don't forget if you need assistance or guidance with issuing a Queensland police search warrant, chapter 5.4 of your handbook is the place to go. Otherwise, we're always here to help. Drop us a line at any time. I look forward presenting you with another webinar next time, but until then goodbye.

Hello and welcome to the Justices of the Peace Branch webinar on witnessing wills.

I’m Belinda Cronau and before I talk about witnessing a will, you may wish to pause the webinar now to gather these resources (which I'll be referring to throughout the webinar). As always, your handbook—specifically chapter 4.10, Witnessing wills. The 2 activities that appear in the webinar summary. These activities will give you real-life witnessing experience for a will and a codicil.

I would like to start off with a story inspired by true events. Take a few moments to read this. I think it clearly shows the importance of having a will and why we, as eligible witnesses, should make ourselves available to witness this essential legal document.

A will is an important legal document and your opportunity to specify your wishes to your loved ones after your death. A will lists who you would like your estate to go to and the person or organisation you have chosen to carry out your wishes, this appointment is known as an executor. In Queensland a will must be in writing, signed and dated in the presence of 2 witnesses over 18 years of age. Your witness cannot benefit from your will or know someone who may benefit from your will. If you die without a will, you are said to have died intestate and in Queensland the Public Trustee then becomes responsible for your estate, unless someone else is granted what is called letters of administration.

The Succession Act 1981 (Queensland) sets out rules for who receives your estate, even if you die intestate, based on your personal circumstances at the time of your death. While it's not an official requirement for a Justice of the Peace or a Commissioner for Declarations to witness a will, it is one of the most important documents a person will sign during their lifetime. So if you are approached to witness a will and it's not possible for you to do so, please refer the person to find a JP online at www.qld.gov.au/findjp

There are a number of legal phrases used in this area of law, wills and estates. The ones displayed on your screen are the most commonly used and it may make the witnessing of a will a little easier. I will give you a moment to read these. You can also view more definitions on the Caxton Legal webpage.

We now know what a will is and the importance of a person having one. But are there laws governing how to make a will or how a will should be witnessed? Well, yes there are. Succession laws were imported into the Australian colonies from English law. Over time the succession laws applying in each Australian jurisdiction have changed, but the law in Queensland relating to wills and intestacy is the Succession Act 1981. Section 10 of the Succession Act 1981 governs the formalities of making a will, while section 16 deals with revoking altering or reviving a will. While the application of the Succession Act is not part of your role as a JP or Cdec, being aware of the governing legislation (as with any documents authorised by law) can help you understand your witnessing role.

Section 10 deals with a number of formalities when making a will, including:

• The will must be in writing and writing is defined to mean any mode of representing or reproducing words in a visible form. Ideally a will should be typed, but a handwritten will is valid so long as it is clearly printed.
• It must be signed by the testator or someone else in the presence and at the direction of the testator. It should be signed by the person making it and a signature includes a mark in the case of a blind or an illiterate person.
• It also includes, in exceptional circumstances, the signature of some other person at the direction of and in the presence of the person making the will.
• While not strictly necessary, it is advisable that the signature appears at the end of the will and, if the will is longer than one page, the testator and the witnesses should also sign their name or write their initials at the foot of all other pages in the will.
• The signature must be made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of 2 or more witnesses present at the same time. That is, the witnesses must sign after the testator has, and both witnesses must be present together at the time of signing by the testator.

To avoid confusion, it is advisable for the witness’s signatures to appear immediately below that of the testator. Witnessing the will is known as attestation. If a will fails to meet all the requirements in section 10, the court may still consider the will to be valid, if it is satisfied that the document expresses the testamentary intentions of the deceased.

Wills are one of the few legal documents that have no specific format, unless a will kit is used, or the will is drawn up by a solicitor. Examples of these will kits are being displayed on your screen. Generally, if a will is professionally drafted by a solicitor then the execution will take place at the solicitor's office. It is more likely that you will encounter these types of wills from a kit or ones that have been handwritten or typed by the testator themselves.

Before we look at our first activity the JP Branch has provided you with the witnessing steps you can use when executing or attesting a will. Let's go over these steps, which can be found in chapter 4.10 of your handbook.

First and foremost, ensure that there is a second eligible witness and that the testator is also present then ask the testator for some form of identification this could be a government-issued photographic identification, such as a driver's licence.

Ask them if the document is their will and if they understand the contents of their will.

Finally ask a testator if they require you to witness their will before explaining that they must sign first in full view of both yourself and the other witness.

Let's look at the first activity, witnessing a will.

Imagine this scenario your work colleague Michelle has asked you to witness her will. You agree after explaining that a second witness is needed to be present. Now imagine Michelle has arranged for another colleague, Jaz Mikkeli, to be the second witness and you all agreed to meet at 11am tomorrow, after the morning meeting. Referring to the witnessing steps in chapter 4.10 of your handbook, go ahead and complete the witnessing of Michelle’s will. You might wish to pause the webinar now to give you time to complete this exercise.

On your screen is the answer to the witnessing of the 3-page will. Just remember your date will not match the date being displayed on your screen as this webinar has been pre-recorded. While this will has been typed, you can see that it already has page numbering included. If this was not the case, you would ask the testator to number each page before each of you signed the bottom of each page and witnessed the clause on the final page.

Prior to the execution, our witness also completed the following.

They asked Michelle for some identification. Michelle produced her work-issued photo ID from her lanyard, which was accepted. The witness then asked Michelle:

“Is this document your will?”

“Do you understand the contents of your will?”

“Would you like Jaz and me to sign your will as witnesses and after you have signed it and in our presence?”

Satisfied with Michelle’s answer, the witness then asked Michelle to check over her will for any alterations or spaces. As there were none, Michelle signed the will on the last page before signing pages 1 and 2 at the bottom. The witness and Jaz then signed the will on all pages before inserting their full name address and occupation in the witnessing clause.

So, as you can see witnessing of a will is quite simple, you just need to make sure everyone is present and that you and the second person are both eligible witnesses.

Let's talk about making changes to a will as this is probably one of the most commonly asked questions, we, here at the JP branch, receive from witnesses.

Once a will has been made it cannot be validly altered unless these alterations are properly executed by the testator and in the presence of 2 witnesses. The testator is able to correct the contents of their will prior to it being attested. If you have been requested to witness such amendments or corrections before attestation, then the testator you and the second witness should initial the alterations as close as possible to the alteration itself (preferably in the margin). If this is not done, the court will assume that the alteration was made after the signing of the will which in turn could affect the validity of the will unless the court orders otherwise.

This now brings me to codicils.

To reference Hutley's Australian Wills Precedence of 2016:

“It is seldom worthwhile to make a codicil, usually it is better to make a whole new will. In, general a codicil would be drawn only if the intended change is minor, and the original will is recent. A second codicil would be drawn only if the situation were extremely urgent.”

A codicil can be a separate document, single page or have multiple pages. It can also be endorsed onto the original will. The codicil must in some way relate to the original will and a revocation clause is never used. It is also strongly recommended that anyone wishing to make a codicil seeks independent legal advice, including the Public Trustee. As with a will, witnessing a codicil is not an official duty of a JP or Cdec. If you have been requested to witness a codicil, it must conform to the same formalities as to making a will under section 10 of the succession act. That is, it must be written signed by the testator and in the presence of at least 2 witnesses. The witnesses must also sign the codicil at the same time after the testator and the use of the same pen is highly recommended.

The codicil being displayed on your screen is from a charitable organisation. A person may download and complete a similar codicil without seeking legal advice. As long as you follow the same witnessing steps for witnessing a will, you may witness the codicil. An additional step would be for you to check with your client that they have sought legal advice on the implications of making a codicil or such changes to their existing will.

Let's take a look at the next activity, witnessing a codicil.

Imagine that you are a volunteer in the JPs in the Community program and your client, Yonas, has presented you with a single page codicil. Your client has confirmed his identity but has not provided the original will. There is also a second volunteer on duty, Judy, who is eligible to witness the codicil. What do you do?

Again, you might wish to pause the webinar so you can complete this activity. A helpful hint for you though: when witnessing a codicil it must conform to the same formalities as to making a will under section 10 of the Succession Act, that is, it must be written, signed by the testator and in the presence of at least 2 witnesses.

That would have got your thinking cap on!

Here's the answer to the activity. While Yonas didn't have his original will with him, to which the codicil relates, it is not a formal requirement to produce it. So, you would be able to go ahead and witness this codicil. In this example, the witness was satisfied with Yonas's identification and also asked Judy to be the second witness. The witness then asked Yonas the following questions:

“Is this document your codicil to your will?”

“Do you understand the contents of your codicil?”

“Have you sought advice on any implications it may have to your will?”

“Would you like Judy and me to sign your codicil as witnesses and after you have signed it in our presence?”

Satisfied with Yonas's answers, the witness then asks Yonas to check over the codicil for any alterations or spaces. As there were none, Yonas signed the codicil in the presence of the 2 witnesses, who in turn signed inserted their full name address and occupation on the codicil.

Before I finish today's webinar, I wanted to take a few moments to answer some commonly asked questions about witnessing a will.

Why am I not able to read the will?

A will is a private document, so it is not advisable nor ethical to read it unless a testator has a disability that affects their capacity to draft the will. Further legislation supports this. Section 10 of the Succession Act 1981 states, however, none of the witnesses need to know that the document are attested and signed is a will.

Why should staples, pins, paper clips, etc. not be removed?

Any marks left by a staple paper clip bulldog clip mark, pins or even indents in a will could suggest that a page was attached to the will and has been removed or a page was removed and a different page put in its place.

If I'm retired and witnessing a will, what occupation do I insert?

You should insert your current occupation at the time of witnessing, as with your address. If you currently do not have a paid occupation, acceptable terms to insert include:

• retiree
• retired
• student
• volunteer
• pensioner
• unemployed.

What is probate?

Probate is the Supreme Court of Queensland's official recognition that a will is legally valid. A grant of probate is a supreme court document that recognises someone's authority to deal with the estate of a person who has passed away. Probate is often needed before the executor of a deceased estate can take control of the estate's assets, known as administering the estate.

Why must the same pen be used to execute a will?

If the testator and the 2 witnesses all use the same pen to sign the will, then there is little doubt about whether or not all 3 were present at the same time and saw the testator sign their will.

Finally, if you are looking for more information about wills, these links will provide you with some useful information. But, as always, when witnessing a document you should first consult your handbook. And please remember, if your client does ask you questions about making a will or a codicil, while you cannot provide advice on this, you should refer them to their solicitor or the Public Trustee for assistance.

Thanks for joining me today. If you do have any questions about this webinar or any other witnessing enquiry, don't forget to reach out to the Community Engagement Team. They are always here to help you.

I’m Belinda Cronau. Until next time, bye-bye.

Hello I'm Belinda Cronau and welcome to the Justices of the Peace Branch webinar on witnessing enduring documents.

On the 30th of November 2020 important reforms to Queensland's guardianship system came into effect. While you're witnessing role essentially remains the same, new forms and guides were introduced for making an enduring power of attorney and an advanced health directive.

In addition to the new approved forms was the introduction of the Queensland capacity assessment guidelines and a new approved form 8 additional page.

You can make this a more interactive experience, if you wish, by having the following approved forms in reach:

• Form 2 Enduring power of attorney short form
• Form 4 Advance health directive
• Form 8 Additional page
• Form 9 Enduring power of attorney explanatory guide
• Form 10 Advance health directive explanatory guide and finally the Queensland Capacity Assessment Guidelines 2020.

And don't forget that chapter 4.9 witnessing general powers of attorney, enduring powers of attorney and advanced health directives has been updated and you should also refer to this chapter when witnessing an enduring document.

These links to these forms appear in the web page summary below the webinar topic. If you would like to refer to these documents throughout the webinar please take a moment to pause the webinar to download or view them.

By the end of this webinar you should be able to understand why the reforms were introduced

• Identify the current approved forms that should be used to make an enduring document
• Know what you can and cannot do when you are witnessing an enduring document.
• Learn how to set the scene and develop a rapport with your client this will help you assess their capacity to make the enduring document, and
• Finally, you should be able to apply the fundamental principle always assume the adult has capacity before applying the correct legal test of capacity for making an enduring document.

If, however by the end of this webinar you still have unanswered questions please send us an email and one of our dedicated officers from the Community Engagement Team will be in touch.

The previous approved forms for an enduring power of attorney, an EPA, an advanced health directive, an AHD, were in place for more than 16 years, then on the 30th of November 2020 new versions were introduced.

Only the new versions of the forms are to be used when making an enduring power of attorney, that is you are not able to witness the previous EPA forms even if they've been partially completed.

And just to recap an EPA allows a person to appoint someone to make personal and or financial decisions on their behalf even when they lose capacity.

Whereas an advance health directive allows a person to give directions about their future healthcare, an AHD only comes into effect when the principal has lost capacity to make decisions about their healthcare treatment.

On your screen is the previous version of the AHD, but now if a person wishes to make an AHD then they can choose to use the new version of this form.

And I'll be expanding on the reasoning why a little later in the presentation.

These new forms reflect the legislative changes made under the amendment Act are:

• Simpler and more user-friendly and finally,
• For the first time include a separate explanatory guide an adult can use when completing their enduring document.

You can however continue to certify the old forms which is covered in our separate webinar certifying copies of enduring documents. If you have an explanatory guide in reach, I would ask you to refer to it during the next section. Feel free to also make notes on the guide if you have printed it.

The new separate explanatory guide informs users how to complete their EPA or AHD. Both guides include some scenarios, practical tips and a step-by-step guide for each section of the EPA or AHD.

The guide is primarily used by the adult making the enduring document however as a witness you will find it a useful tool and it is recommended that you keep a copy of each in your witnessing kit.

While I won't go through the guide page by page, here are some key sections for you to refer to:

• Section 4 in the EPA, or section 7 in the AHD guide - Declarations and signatures.
• Page 17 - What to do with your completed EPA or AHD (this information is great to refer your client to).
• Page 18 - How to add additional pages including the new Form 8.
• Page 20 - Information for the witness.
• Page 25 - some commonly asked questions or FAQs on making an EPA or an AHD and finally page
• 27 - which has contact information for your client if they need further assistance.

Moving on to the new Queensland Capacity Assessment Guidelines 2020, which I will now refer to as the capacity guidelines from now on, also came into effect on the 30th of November 2020.

The capacity guidelines provide general information about capacity, capacity assessment and the legal tests of capacity in Queensland. This guide will be indispensable to you as a witness.

The first 5 sections of the capacity guidelines explain what capacity is and how to assess a person's capacity to make day-to-day decisions about their personal health or financial matters.

Some examples of these types of decisions include, where they live, their day-to-day activities, where they work, consenting or refusing medical treatment, depositing money into a bank account and paying everyday living expenses.

If you wish to know more about capacity for making decisions refer to sections 2 to 5 of the capacity guidelines.

The section which is relevant to witnessing an enduring document is section 6 – Assessing capacity to make an enduring document and starts on page 40. This section of the capacity guidelines contains checklists and practical tips for assessing capacity to make an enduring document, as well as referral information for your client if they need assistance in making or completing their enduring document.

If I could ask you now to refer to Form 8 Additional page.

There may be times when your client needs additional space to add more information, for example they may wish to add more attorneys or add additional terms and instructions than the space on the form allows. To do this the client can use the new approved Form 8 Additional page. An additional page can only be added at the time of witnessing and not afterwards.

You are also required to sign the Form 8 and don't forget to include any additional pages of the enduring document when inserting the total number of pages in the witness certificate section.

It is not essential to use the Form 8 for additional pages but it makes the process easier for the client. As you can see format clearly indicates at the top that it is for an EPA or an AHD and has designated areas for both the witness and the principal to sign.

If you have witnessed a Form 8 it is placed at the end of the enduring document, that is the last page.

Now that you have been introduced to the new approved forms let's look at some of the key differences. As mentioned, the information on how to complete an EPA or an AHD is now combined into a separate explanatory guide.

If a person is making an EPA there are still 2 approved forms a person can use, depending on how they wish to appoint their attorneys.

The Form 2 Enduring power of attorney – short form should be used if the person wishes to appoint one or more attorneys for personal matters only or one or more attorneys for financial matters only or the same attorney or attorneys for both personal and financial matters.

If you have the form to in reach i would ask you to first turn to page 9.

Page 9 is the declarations and signatures. This is where you witness the principal or the eligible signer for the principal, sign the EPA in front of you. You will notice now that the eligible signer, if used, must complete their details upon signing for the principal.

Now if you could turn to page 10 - Witness certificate. This is where you certify that the principal or the eligible signer signed the document in your presence. In addition to inserting your signature, full name, and date you now need to insert the total number of pages the EPA has, including any additional pages.

This is where you also confirm your eligibility as a witness, so please do not forget to select the relevant boxes on this page.

Whereas if the adult wishes to appoint different attorneys for personal matters and financial matters, then the enduring power of attorney long form or Form 3 should be used. As you can see there are only 2 additional pages to the long form compared to that of the short form, this is because of the separate appointment of attorneys.

If you have the form of 3 in reach you can see that you are still only required to sign 2 pages, page 11 - Declarations and signatures and page 12 - Witness certificate.

There is one very important change to the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 and that is the limit to the number of joint attorneys that can be appointed under an EPA.

Joint attorneys must agree on all decisions under the EPA. Amendments to section 43 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 means a principal can only appoint a maximum of 4 people to make decisions in this way.

Otherwise there is no limit on the number of attorneys that can be appointed in another manner.

Finally, all approved forms, including the AHD, require the attorney or attorneys to sign their acceptance after the EPA or AHD has been completed and witnessed.

Moving over to the approved Form 4 Advance health directive.

The old form was a lengthy 24 pages and now with the separate explanatory guide the new form is only 14 pages. Unlike an EPA there is no formal requirement to appoint an attorney in an advanced health directive nor must it be in the approved Form 4, let me explain further.

Appointing an attorney to make decisions is not mandatory. If an attorney is appointed it is for personal, including health matters, only. If no attorney has been appointed, then this section or the attorney section should be ruled out.

Back to the AHD being in the approved form. Under the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 section 44 lists the formal requirements that are to be met when making an enduring document, specifically an enduring power of attorney must be in the approved form, an advance health directive must be written and may be in the approved form.

There is also a further separate formal requirement for an AHD. An advanced health directive must also include a certificate signed and dated by the doctor mentioned in subsection 7 stating that the principal at the time of making the advance health directive appeared to the doctor to have the capacity necessary to make it.

This means a person can present an AHD to you in a different format than that of the Form 4, for example an advanced health directive for mental health.

Finally, as previously mentioned there is no limit to the number of attorneys that can be appointed in an AHD.

This brings me to the advanced health directive for mental health.

This document, which is currently being displayed on your screen, is a combined guide and form and is used by a person wishing to make an AHD that documents their decisions surrounding their mental health treatment.

The AHD itself is only 5 pages long and may be presented to you for witnessing without the guide, this is perfectly acceptable.

A person can use this form to make an AHD as it is compliant with the Powers of Attorney Act 1998. You can witness this AHD for mental health even-though it's not in the approved Form 4, just follow the same witnessing practice as you would for that form.

With changes though to legislation this form is currently under review and as a result Queensland Health has prepared a fact sheet to assist anyone wishing to use this guide and form to make an AHD.

Let's move on and talk about your witnessing role.

Chapter 4.9 of your handbook has been updated and has detailed information to guide you through the steps of witnessing an enduring document. If you're not familiar with witnessing an EPA or an AHD then you should refer to this chapter during the witnessing transaction.

Essentially your witnessing role hasn't changed. With the amendments to legislation you are still an impartial witness and are required to ensure that the adult, also known as the principal, making the enduring document has the capacity to do so.

This means the principal must understand the nature and effect of the enduring document and make the enduring document freely and voluntarily. I'm going to explain that a little bit further.

It's not enough for the adult to have a general understanding of the enduring document, the law requires them to understand the nature and effect of the enduring document, the power that it gives, when it operates and how and when they can revoke (or cancel it).

It must be clear that the adult is not being pressured into making the enduring document. Sometimes, a family member friend or carer may behave in a manner that is domineering or overbearing and is seeking to pressure the principal into making a decision a certain way.

You can satisfy yourself that the principal understands the nature and effect of the enduring document and that they are making it freely and voluntarily by setting the scene before conducting the correct legal test of capacity.

But before you do this there are a couple of things to check first.

Before you witness an EPA first check that it is in the approved form, which is currently Form 2 version 4 for the short form or Form 3 version 4 long form. Remember old forms are no longer able to be witnessed.

Ask the principal if they have an existing EPA in Queensland or in another state or territory.

If they do explain that by making an EPA it could affect the validity of the existing EPA, recommend the principal seek independent legal advice about the effect of making a new EPA.

If the principal wishes to proceed with making a new EPA then you should make a note of this in your logbook. Now you can set the scene and make way for the next part of the witnessing transaction, conducting the capacity assessment.

The same principles apply when witnessing an AHD. First check that the AHD is in the approved form, currently Form 4 version 5. Remember though an AHD may be in this approved form.

Ask the principal if they have an existing AHD in Queensland or in another state or territory, if they do explain that by making a new AHD it could affect the validity of the existing AHD. Recommend the principal seek independent legal advice about the effect of making a new document.

If the principal wishes to proceed with making the new AHD, then you should make a note of this in your logbook.

Now you can set the scene and make way for the next part of the witnessing transaction, conducting the capacity assessment.

If you have completed the online module and read the updated chapter 4.9 of your handbook, you probably would have noticed the terms setting the scene and developing a rapport.

If you have been doing this already that's great, because by developing a rapport with your client puts them at ease and will make conducting the legal capacity test a little more comfortable.

If you're not sure how to set the scene or develop a rapport with your client let me show you how to do this.

Ideally you should meet with the adult alone. This gives you an opportunity to develop a rapport with them and make sure that they're not being unduly influenced by another person to make the enduring document.

Welcome the principal and introduce yourself.

Make them feel comfortable by asking familiar day-to-day questions like 'How is your morning going?' or 'Are you reading any good books lately?'

When you are speaking with the principal show genuine interest and use active listening, this means responding to your client in non-verbal ways like nodding your head or raising your eyebrows. Try not to plan your response while they are talking to you and resist the temptation of reaching out for the client's document. Let them pass it to you.

Explain to the principal that you will need to read through their enduring document with them and that you'll be asking some questions about the decisions that they have made in it.

Finally encourage the principal to participate and give them an opportunity to ask questions at any time during the process. It's best to use your own words to explain this to the principal, you can refer to page 46 of the capacity guidelines and chapter 4.9 of your handbook which further explains how to do this.

The purpose of asking the principal questions about their enduring document is to engage them in a discussion about their enduring document, so you can assess whether or not they  understand the nature and effect of their EPA or AHD and whether they are making it freely and voluntarily.

By using these simple techniques, you are setting the scene and you are making way for the next part of the witnessing transaction - the capacity assessment.

Before I talk about the legal test of capacity, I'd like to talk about the presumption of capacity. Under the general principles in the Powers of Attorney Act 1998, an adult is presumed to have capacity for a matter.

This means you cannot make an assumption about an adult's capacity based on their personal characteristics such as a disability, mental illness or age.

This is a fundamental principle that should be paramount when you are witnessing an enduring document for your client.

If you have the capacity guidelines in reach, I would ask you to go to page 48. Here you'll find some great examples of open-ended questions you can ask the principal when you are conducting the capacity assessment. Ideally you should keep a copy of these guidelines with you when you are conducting it.

The capacity guidelines also provides checklists hints and tips for assessing the capacity of a person to make an enduring document.

While there is no requirement to use the checklists or keep them, you can do so if you wish.

You should make notes about how you conducted the assessment and document the conclusion that you have reached and the reasons for that decision in your logbook.

If at the end of the capacity assessment you conclude that the principal does not have capacity, then do not witness the enduring document. Instead explain to the principal the conclusion you have reached and that they can seek a capacity assessment from an independent expert, such as a medical professional, the advice of a lawyer about their options moving forward or a declaration from QCAT about their capacity to make the enduring document.

This is where you can refer your client to appendix A of the capacity guidelines, which lists a range of organizations that can offer them assistance or support.

Before I finish, I'm going to take a moment to answer some of the top questions we have received since the changes came into effect on the 30th of November 2020.

What if I’m asked to make changes to an already witnessed EPA or AHD?

An enduring document should not be amended after it has been signed and witnessed. It is not recommended to write on an EPA or an AHD once it has been signed and witnessed. If changes are required, the client should make a new enduring document and revoke the old one. For minor changes like updating an address the client may not need to make a new document.

What if an enduring document is not in the approved form from the website or has a different number of pages?

Sometimes when solicitors or the Public Trustee prepare an enduring document, it can differ in page length or it is formatted in a way that increases the total numbers of pages. Provided that the enduring document is substantially compliant with the approved form you can still witness it. If you are concerned that the form does not meet the legislative requirements you could suggest that the person consider seeking independent legal advice about the validity of the document.

What if I wish to record the witnessing transaction on my electronic device in place of a written record?

It is preferred that you keep a written record in fact section 44(3)b of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 recommends the witness makes a written record of the evidence as a result of which the witness considered that the principal understood the necessary matters.

To assist you in keeping a written record you can, if you wish, use the summary checklists found in section 6 of the capacity assessment guidelines:

• Page 44 - Summary assessing capacity to make an enduring power of attorney; and
• Page 45 - Summary assessing capacity to make an advance health directive.

Any audio recording may only be made with the consent of the principal or your client.

What if the principal or attorneys have already signed the EPA or AHD?

To answer this can I ask you to turn to the witness certificate, which is on page 10 of the EPA short form or page 12 of the AHD. You can see as a witness you are certifying that the principal signed this enduring document in my presence or in my presence the principal instructed another person to sign this enduring document for the principal and that person signed it in my presence and in the presence of the principal.

If the principal has already signed the enduring document, but not the attorney, the  unwitnessed signature can be ruled through and initialled by both the witness and the principal, this is consistent with the steps in the general witnessing chapter of your handbook 4.1.

If, however the attorney has already signed the document you should not witness it. Let the principal know that the attorney must only sign the original document after both the principal and the witness have signed it. You can refer your client to the attorney's acceptance page where this information is clearly indicated in the side margin at the top of the approved form.

What if I'm asked to witness an enduring document online?

While legislation has been introduced to allow modified arrangements for witnessing certain documents electronically, for example over an audio-visual link such as Skype or Zoom, you are unable to witness documents in this manner at this time. If you have been requested to witness an enduring document, or any other document electronically, refer your client to the JP Branch.

I hope this webinar has given you an overview of the new approved forms and to sum up, don't forget you can only witness the approved forms for an enduring power of attorney. The previous approved forms are no longer able to be witnessed.

Remember though, you can still certify copies of these previous versions.

Apply the correct legal test of capacity for making an enduring document while always applying the fundamental principle that the adult has capacity until proven otherwise.

Set the scene by developing a rapport with your client, remember to ask open-ended questions, explain the process to them and encourage your client to participate by asking their own questions.

And finally keep a copy of the Queensland capacity assessment guidelines in your witnessing kit and refer to section 6 when you are conducting the legal test of capacity for making an enduring document.

Before I go why not check out our professional development page? And if you haven’t already view or download the updated chapter 4.9 of your handbook - Witnessing general powers of attorney enduring powers of attorney and advanced health directives.

I'm Belinda Cronau and like the rest of the Community Engagement Team we are here to help you in your witnessing role. Drop us a line anytime if you have a witnessing question.

Thanks for listening and until next time bye-bye.

Welcome, I'm Belinda Cronau and thank you for joining me for the Justices of the Peace Branch webinar on certifying copies of enduring documents.

In this webinar I'll be discussing how to certify copies of an enduring power of attorney and an advanced health directive, both of which are enduring documents.

You can make this a more interactive experience by having the following resources in reach:

• Chapter 3.1 of your handbook - Certifying copies of documents
• Form 9 Enduring power of attorney explanatory guide or the
• Form 10 Advance health directive explanatory guide.

Chapter 3.1 of your handbook has been updated to reflect the changes to certifying copies of enduring documents. If you haven't done so already, please replace this with the previous chapter in your handbook.

The links to the explanatory guides appear in the webinar summary below the webinar topic, you can take a moment now to pause the webinar to download or view them.

By the end of this webinar you should be able to:

• Certify a copy of an enduring document in line with section 45 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 - proof of enduring documents.
• Modify any current certified copy stamps that you may have at a signing site or in your witnessing kit to correctly apply the amended certification.
• Correctly certify both the current approved forms and the previous versions of an enduring document.
• And finally, what to do if you've been asked to certify a copy of an enduring document but you believe it has been incorrectly witnessed.

But before we begin let's look at some of the most common questions we have received since the certification process was amended.

Am I required to number the pages of the photocopy?

Both the current and previous approved forms are already numbered and do not require you to renumber them. You should however initial or sign the bottom of each page, this is the recommended practice as outlined in your handbook.

Can I certify copies of the previous versions of an enduring document?

Yes, and what is even better news is that you can use the new amended certification method that I'll be talking about.

What if the copy of either the current or previous form is missing any pages?

A client must present you with the original for you to certify the copy as a true and complete copy of the original. If the copy is missing a page or if it is the previous approved form and does not contain the instructions or the final page, which is blank, then you will not be able to certify it as a true and complete copy.

Instead certify the copy as:

'This is to certify that this is a true copy of the original, which I have sighted.'

You could also use a certified copy stamp and cross out the word complete. If you do this remember to initial the modification you made to the stamp wording.

If the copy has blank pages do I need to number and certify them?

No. If a copy of an approved form is single sided you only need to certify the pages that contains the print from the original approved form. Page numbering of any blank pages is not required and would actually alter the numbering of the original.

I hope by going over these questions I have answered any existing queries you may have had. If, however, by the end of this webinar you still have questions please send us an email and one of our friendly offices from the Community Engagement Team will be in touch.

Let's move on.

Prior to 30th of November 2020 the Act required the use of 2 separate endorsements to certify a copy of an enduring document. The Act specified that each page other than the last page must be certified that this is a true and complete copy of the corresponding page of the original.

Then the last page of the copy must be certified that this is a true and complete copy of the original document. As a result of these specific requirements the JP Branch made available self-inking stamps, which are currently being displayed on your screen, to assist witnessing officers with this lengthy certification process.

Then, in 2018 the Guardianship and Administration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 amended several sections of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998, including section 45.

Now to certify a copy of an enduring document made on the current or previous approved forms you only need to certify the copy to the effect that it is a true and complete copy of the original.

The requirement to certify each page of an enduring document has been removed.

Apart from this change what else do you need to know about proving the existence of an enduring document?

If you haven't already you can download or view chapter 3.1 Certifying copies of documents from your handbook. This chapter has been updated and the following is an extract of a suggested process you can follow to certify a copy of an enduring document:

1. The client must provide you with the original document from which the copy was made.
2. Compare each page of the photocopy with the original EPA or AHD to verify that the photocopy is a true and complete copy of the original document (including any additional pages). Pay particular attention to names dates commencement provisions terms and reference numbers in the document.
3. Check that the number of pages (including any additional pages) corresponds with the number of pages indicated on the witness certificate in the document.
4. Sign or initial each page of the photocopy (including any additional pages), other than the page on which a certification is made.
5. Make the following certification on the first to last page and apply your seal, full name and registration number including the number of pages certified.
   'This is to certify that this is a true and complete copy of the original EPA/AHD.'

Note: provided the certification is to the effect that the document is a true and complete copy of the original there is no precise wording that must be used.

Certification under section 45 could, for example, be achieved with any of the following:

• True and complete copy of the original
• True and complete copy of the original document
• True and complete copy of the original enduring power of attorney
• True and complete copy of the original EPA

Further if you amend the wording on a certified copy stamp you must initial this amendment.

Let's look at how to apply this new certification method using any current certified copy stamps that you may already have in your signing kit.

If you are a volunteer in our JPs in the Community program, your signing site is equipped with a number of certified copy stamps including self-inking stamps that were once used to certify a copy of an enduring document prior to 30th of November 2020.

Or if you are a JP or Cdec who witnesses documents in your workplace or after hours, you may also have a number of certified copy stamps.

I'm going to show you how you can use your existing certified copy stamps to correctly certify a copy of an enduring document under section 45 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998.

On your screen is 1 of the 2 certified copy stamps that incorporates a seal of office. Prior to 30th of November 2020, this stamp was placed on the last page of the enduring document when you completed the certification process.

If you have this stamp you can continue to use it on both the current approved form and the previous forms when certifying a copy of an enduring document.

Once you have confirmed that the photocopy is a true and complete copy of the original enduring document initial or sign each page and then place this stamp on either the first or last page of the copy.

You then need to clearly indicate that the copy is a true and complete copy of an EPA or AHD. You do this by crossing out the acronym at the end of the certified wording. You also need to insert the number of pages of the enduring document and as you have amended the wording, you need to place your initials near that amendment. Then it is only a matter of inserting the date your signature full name and registration number.

Being displayed now is the self-inking certified copy stamp that can be used to certify:

• a true copy of an original or
• a true copy of a download or
• a true copy of a copy.

Again, if you have this stamp you can modify it to certify a copy of an enduring document.

Once you have confirmed that the photocopy is a true and complete copy of the original document, initial or sign each page before placing this stamp on either the first page or the last page of the copy.

You then need to clearly indicate that the copy is an original by ruling out the words copy and download, before inserting the words 'and complete' above true copy.

Don't forget to insert the number of pages of the enduring document and your initials, as you have amended the wording.

Then it is only a matter of inserting the date, your signature, full name, and registration number.

Perhaps you have this wooden certified copy stamp.  Well it too can be modified to certify a copy of an enduring document.

Following the previous practices, confirm that the photocopy is a true and complete copy of the original enduring document, initial or sign each page, then place this stamp on either the first page or the last page of the copy.

You then only need to insert the words 'and complete' above true copy as currently shown on your screen.

You will still need to insert the number of pages of the enduring document and your initials as you have amended the wording of the stamp. Then insert the date, your signature, full name, and registration number.

These are just three ways in which you can certify a copy of an enduring document with any existing stamps you may have.

Remember though, provided that the certification is to the effect that the document is a true and complete copy of the original, there is no precise wording that must be used.

Another option you can use is the multiple page certification as outlined in chapter 3.1 of your handbook.

Now let's take a look at some real-life examples of how to use and modify these stamps when certifying a copy of an enduring document.

In this example are copies of an advanced health directive. The current AHD form appears to the left and the previous AHD is on the right.

Remember both versions can be certified using the new certification method.

On the current form the JP(Qual) has used the EPA/AHD certified stamp to endorse the first page. They have also correctly inserted the number of pages, 14 in this case, and included their initials as the wording has been amended.

The JP has also then inserted the date, their name and signature with their registration number in the seal. You can see the JP has clearly indicated that it is a copy of an original AHD.

Over to the previous form the Commissioner for Declarations has opted to use their certified copy stamp and again has correctly modified the wording to include the number of pages and that it is an original document.

Perhaps you prefer to sign the last page like in these examples.

Here the witness has again used their current certified copy stamps and with the previous form you can see that they have modified the wording to comply with section 45 of the Act 'true and complete'.

Moving over to an enduring power of attorney.

Again, the current approved form appears to the left and the previous version is on the right.

You can see that the witness has used their existing EPA/AHD certified copy stamp and modified the wording to include the page numbers. Also, you will see they have inserted the date, name, and signature along with their registration number in their seal of office.

What if you don't have this stamp?

Let me show you what to do and how to still correctly certify an enduring document.

On this last page of the previous form the Commissioner for Declarations has handwritten the multiple page wording. This is perfectly acceptable as it has the words 'true and complete copy of the original' along with the number of pages, which is keeping within best practice.

I you don't have your seal of office you can insert your prescribed mark of office in its place.

Now that you're familiar with section 45 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 - proof of enduring document and the new certification process, let's talk about your role prior to certifying the copy.

When you have been requested to certify a copy of an enduring power of attorney or an advance health directive you need to keep your witnessing role on track.

What I mean by that is, is that your role is to certify the copy or copies of that enduring document, not to check that the original is authentic or that it has been witnessed correctly.

A copy can be presented to you that appears different to the original for example the original may be single-sided and the copy double-sided or vice versa, or perhaps the original is in colour and the copy is in black and white.

These types of copies are perfectly acceptable.

Also, the principal is not required to be present at the time of certification. There is no legislative requirement for the principal to be the one requesting the certified copy.

The production of identification is not mandatory when certifying a document.

It is advisable but not always mandatory to ask for proof of identity, your role is to certify that the enduring copy is a true and complete copy of the original.

Let's look at an all too common scenario:

You are comparing the copy of the enduring document to the original you notice what you believe to be an error in the witnessing of the document, and it could render the document invalid.

What should you do?

While you can point this out to your client. your role is not to provide advice about the validity of the enduring document. Your role is to certify the copy and if it is a true and complete copy of the original and there's no reason why you should decline to certify a copy based on your belief it is invalid.

This is where you could incorporate another important part of your witnessing role, referral information. Providing referral information is not regarded as advice and page 27 of the explanatory guides lists the number of agencies your client can contact if they need assistance or have questions about making their enduring document.

Hopefully after participating in this webinar you can now confidently:

Certify copies of an enduring document, even on the previous versions.

Modify any certified copy stamps you have to correctly apply the certification. If you don't have any stamps don't forget you can visit our JP Shop online to purchase witnessing merchandise.

Don't forget what your role is when witnessing. If your client is requesting a certified copy of an enduring document, your role is to certify the document not to determine if it has been witnessed correctly.

And finally, it is highly recommended that you keep a copy of the explanatory guides in your witnessing kit.

On a final note don't forget that you can view or download the updated chapter 3.1 Certifying copies from your handbook and that the team from the community engagement are here to help you.

I'm Belinda Cronau, once again thanks for joining me and until next time goodbye.

Hello and welcome to today's webinar on witnessing production notices.

My name is Belinda and I'm the Senior Community Engagement officer here at the JP Branch.

Today you're going to learn a little bit more about these Queensland Police documents and your role as a Justice of the Peace (Qualified) when you are presented with a production notice application before issuing the production notice itself. Are you ready? Let's begin.

Witnessing a production notice is a duty of a Justice of the Peace (Qualified), so if you aren't a Justice of the Peace (Qualified), I'm sure you're still going to find this webinar very informative and you may even wish to consider upgrading your appointment.

So just to recap the duties today on this webinar are for a Justice of the Peace (Qualified) or, of course, if you hold Justice of the Peace (Magistrates Court) appointment.

Let's move on. What is a production notice?

A production notice is a physical document authorising a Queensland Police Officer to obtain stated documents from a cash dealer. Okay, so on screen is a visual representation. The production notice, once issued by a Justice of the Peace (Qualified), it is given back to the police officer who then gives it to the cash dealer, then the cash dealer must produce those stated documents by a specific time.

And I will go over that later in the webinar, but that specific time is not legislated so the police officer nominates the time and place where the documents are to be produced.

So, when you are presented with a production notice application you can only issue the actual notice if you are satisfied the police officer has provided reasonable grounds for suspecting the cash dealer holds documents that may be evidence of an offence.

Okay, and another important thing is the cash dealer cannot be party to the suspected offence.

Now, why would police seek a production notice? Police have a reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed, and perhaps let's just say stolen evidence, and that's been sold on to, let's say, a car dealer and the police need to seize documents from that transaction to prove that an offence has taken place.

Okay, so if the police officer reasonably suspects a cash dealer holds documentation that, is evidence of the commission of an offence by someone else; or confiscation related evidence in relation to a confiscation related activity involving someone else; or a serious drug offender confiscation order related evidence.

Now those two last terms are quite a mouthful and I will explain to you shortly what that exactly means. But if a police officer suspects that, yes, an offence has taken place they can instead of applying for a search warrant apply to a justice or magistrate for the issue of a production notice.

Which as I said requires a cash dealer to produce those documents stated in the document itself.

But what exactly is a cash dealer? I can hear you're all asking that question. Okay under the Commonwealth Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988, the definition of cash deal is very broad, but it includes and it isn't limited to a financial institution, that's a bank, a credit union, a body corporate, an insurer, a payroll delivery service, a casino or even your local bookie. Okay, if you do wish to read the complete definition of a cash dealer you can find it in that legislation displaying on your screen there.

Okay, so it's in Schedule three, the interpretation of the Commonwealth Financial Transactions Report Act 1988.

So now you know what the production notice is and why police would issue a production notice, and you know who a cash dealer is, let's see what powers the police have under a production notice.

So when a cash dealer is given a production notice the police are authorised under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act, to inspect the document, take extracts, make copies or they can even seize the document.

Okay, and that's under Section 184 of the PPRA if you wanted to have a look at that.

But that's the police power the production notice gives that officer.

Now I'm just going to jump back to those two terms that we spoke about briefly, confiscation related evidence and the serious drug offender confiscation order.

The reason I'm just going to go over these terms is that they may appear on the production notice, because it is a template document from an internal form system of the Queensland Police Service and it is good to be aware of these terms and we've also had queries at previous workshops from attendees, 'What is confiscation related evidence?' or 'What's SDOCO mean?'

I'm going to explain those terms now, but I would like to point out that it's not your role as a JP to determine if the documents requested pertain to either a confiscation related evidence or a serious drug offender confiscation order, that's the role of the police.

So, confiscation related evidence basically means something that has been derived directly or indirectly from criminal activity. Okay, so it's used in committing an offence, even if it was lawfully acquired.

Okay, another example could be confiscation related evidence derived from serious drug offending. Okay, or even individuals who are unable to explain how they lawfully acquired their wealth.

The Act that authorises this, is the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002 and basically it just deters and prevents crime by attacking its profitability and removing funding for further criminal activity. Okay, so an example of this is someone who's lawfully purchased or acquired a vehicle and then unfortunately through investigations the police have discovered that even though that vehicle was lawfully obtained by the new owner, it actually was unlawfully disposed of during maybe a serious criminal activity, which is usually an indictable offence.

So the police would need to seize those documents from wherever that car was purchased from that cash dealer to prove how the car was disposed of or how the car was lawfully acquired.

Now it is very similar with the serious drug offender confiscation order, again, it allows the State to issue an order to dispose of property. But the person has to be charged with a qualifying drug-related offence. Okay, and those serious drug-related offences include trafficking and supplying in dangerous drugs, receiving or possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying drugs, and then also producing dangerous drugs. So these offences are known as serious drug offences and when a person is charged with one of these offences, the court issues a restraining order and then the property in question is held by the State, now if that person is convicted of that serious drug offence then a serious drug offender confiscation order is issued and the property is then forfeited and sold by the State.

Now you all know that we've got a new handbook and however, the introduction or the change of the powers for a Justice of the Peace (Qualified) to issue a production notice came out after the handbook was published.

So, unfortunately, there is not a section at this point in time in your handbook on police production notices. But we have this fantastic resource it's your technical bulletin, and it details the information and it also has a witnessing checklist on what you need to consider when issuing a production notice.

So I'm not going to read this publication word-for-word but rather in your own time if you just go onto our web page there and locate that publication, and you can actually, once you print it out, insert it into the corresponding section in your handbook. Because that's why our handbook has been made with the hole punches so you can actually add, or you can make the handbook work for you better.

Right, now we're going to actually move on and have a look at the actual production notice application and production notice.

So those who are familiar with search and arrest warrant applications, you'll see that it is quite, there's two parts. You've got your application and then the notice itself. Okay, so your application tells the story basically, and the production notice is then issued back to the officer and given to the cash dealer, okay?

So it is an approved form and on the application the applicant officer must swear or affirm those the contents contained in the production notice.

You may wish to immediately put the officer on oath or affirmation as soon as they attend, because then that way anything that the officer discloses verbally or in writing during your witnessing transaction can still be held part of the application process and more importantly your decision-making process.

So when you're asked to issue a production notice, you should ask the police applicant officer for some form of identification. That's especially if they're plain clothes, immediately place them on oath or affirmation. Now you do need to read this application carefully because you have to ensure that they have proven a reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed and those documents will provide evidence of that offence.

Then you need to check that it's got the applicants name, their registered number and station, a brief description of the offence it relates to, preferably with the section of the authorising Act, the nature of the documents sought including the name of the cash dealer, and then the story or the information or evidence relied upon to support that officer's suspicion that the documents are indeed with the cash dealer form part of evidence for a commission of an offence and then as I mentioned at the very beginning a statement on there, which indicates that the cash dealer is not party to the offence.

And one other thing that the legislation does require if police have issued a production notice in the past year to that same cash dealer, that they have to disclose the full history of any previous notices.

Okay, now don't be afraid. You can ask questions at any time, that's your role. You need to confirm that you understand the evidence put before you or the reasonable suspicion.

If you are not familiar with the section of the Act that the offence has been committed, ask the police offer to show you there's nothing wrong with that, and if you aren't satisfied that the production notice is justified then don't go ahead and witness it. But if you are satisfied that the production notice is justified, you then have the applicant officer sign the application reminding them that they're still under oath and then you witness the applicants signature by signing and affixing your seal of office and registration number on both the application and the notice.

As with the search and arrest warrant application, that remains with you that forms part of your record keeping so please keep that in a safe place. So you can write on that application production notice if you had made additional notes or conversation during the witnessing transaction.

On your screen now is a sample application for a production notice and unfortunately, no, we can't provide copies of this. This is purely for today's webinar and training, and personal use only, just to give you some familiarity with the document if you're not familiar with the application itself. So you can see here that this application was made in Innisfail and here's the applicant officer here, Jonathan David Brown and Jonathan's put his rank registration and the station he's from.

The name of the cash dealer as mentioned should be there and then the Criminal Code Act so at this point in time ABC Bank is stating that oh, sorry, Jonathan is saying that ABC bank holds documents that does provide evidence for a suspicion of an offence, which in this case is stealing. So under the Criminal Code Act 1899 and Section 398 is the offence.

Now as I mentioned if you're not familiar with that Act all that offence, ask the police officer to show you and if they have not put the section in they can also do that at the interview. That's another problem. So then you've got the story here.

Okay, and it goes over a few pages. In this instance, in this sample a couple have returned from an overseas holiday and they had currency in other denominations and I think it was, Canadian and USD so American dollars and because of the public holidays they kept it in a safe place in their house, but in fact, the money was stolen from somebody who was residing in the house and the police had a reasonable suspicion that, that person did actually steal the money and they are asking ABC bank for the transactions for that person's account.

Because you can see here that they've purchased a number of expensive items and because the person is unemployed and on Centrelink and has a previous criminal history the police have formed a reasonable suspicion that it's more than likely that this person was responsible for the alleged offence.

You can see here that then the justice has witnessed the officer's signature, inserted the date and then their signature and date again and their seal of office.

This is the actual notice, okay, so the justice was satisfied that the police officer was able to provide reasonable suspicion for a commission of an offence and went ahead and issued the production notice.

Now you'll see here, that this one actually does ask for the justices name, okay, so you do actually have to insert your name here as the witness.

Okay, and then obviously select your office of appointment. Then again, the offence will be here and what documents the police officer is looking for, so in this instance bank statements of one Shady Soul ABC account and then all those details there and then the dates. You can see here that this is the evidence of the commission of an offence for.

Okay, and the forfeiture proceeding has been crossed out. There's that statement that I said it must actually stay as well, the cash deal is not party to the offence. And this is the section that you may be presented where it's left blank.

Okay, and the police officer may be asking you to insert the time, date and location. At the very beginning of the webinar I mentioned that it is not legislated anywhere, the time frame. So it is up to the discretion, and it's up to the police officer to insert that time and date and the place where those documents are to be produced.

So again, we've got our justice's signature there and their seal of office. And once you're satisfied that there is evidence of a commission of an offence and you are going to issue the notice as with any police search warrants and arrest warrants, the use of your seal of office is mandatory.

Okay, so under Section 31 of the Justices of the Peace and Commissioner for Declarations Act 1991, if you are issuing a summons or a warrant of any description you are to insert your seal of office, complete with your registration, immediately beneath, beside or close to your signature.

And you can see here there's two examples. Please don't place your seal of office over your signature, place it immediately beneath like in this example or immediately adjacent. And as I mentioned there's the section there that does list that requirement for the use of your seal of office.

Finally, we're just going to touch on record-keeping. As I mentioned the application is yours to keep, that's if you issue the production notice application. If you don't issue that notice then you need to return it to the applicant officer and make a note in your logbook.

So on screen now is our logbook that you can order from our JP online shop or you can even download it for free. What I like about our logbook is that on the inside it has a summary of the general witnessing steps, things to bear in mind and then obviously your oaths and affirmations so you've always got that handy.

Now here's an example of keeping records of witnessing transactions. However you decide to record your witnessing. It's best practice not to record any personal identifying particulars. Okay, that includes driver licence numbers and passport numbers.

Alright, you can see here our resident JP Olive, she's just put the date, the type of document witness, so in this case statutory declaration name of the person presenting the document and the Queensland driver's licence and the expiry date. You can see here that Olive's been a little busy on this day the 10th of the first she issued a production notice. And you can see here she’s just put see application dated 10th of the first 2019.

So that's fine because all that information is contained in the application. When you are keeping records, please remember to keep it in a safe and secure place, limiting access to anyone else. And the reason why it's good to keep records is that we may contact you from time to time just to confirm any documents that you may have witnessed.

So further reading, if you would like to find out a little bit more about production notices or police powers or criminal offences. You can go online here, the relevant Queensland legislation is on the screen. There's also links below the webinar on YouTube you can there and the relevant Commonwealth legislation that defines the definition of cash dealer is that Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988.

Finally before we go, I'd just like to say thank you again for watching today. I hope you found this short and sharp webinar, I was able to answer any questions that you may have about Queensland police production notices.

If you're ever in doubt about production notices or any documents that you're asked to witness, please get in contact with us, we're here to help and the numbers on the screen or even our email address. We're always welcome to hear from you.

Okay then, have a lovely day and we'll see you next time. Bye!