You have been asked by a friend, a relative, a colleague or a former employer to write a witness statement for proceedings in France. You have agreed. Now you have a French government form in front of you, in a language you may not speak, and you are not sure what to put in each box, what is required, or what could backfire.
This guide walks you through the form line by line, in English. It also explains the two or three rules that genuinely matter — the ones that, if ignored, will lead a French judge to discard your statement before even reading it.
If anything is unclear before you sign, contact the lawyer who asked you to write the statement.
What an attestation de témoin is
An attestation de témoin is a written witness statement governed by articles 200 to 203 of the Code of Civil Procedure. With oral testimony, it is the only form of witness evidence accepted in French civil proceedings — used in divorce, custody, employment, neighbour, inheritance and commercial disputes alike.
The form was designed by the Ministry of Justice and is known as CERFA n° 11527-03. Using it is not strictly mandatory, but every French lawyer asks witnesses to use it: it ensures no required mention is missing.
Where to download the form
📄 Download the CERFA n° 11527-03 (PDF)
Handwritten or typed?
Article 202 of the Code of Civil Procedure refers to a statement written by the witness’s own hand, but French courts also accept typed attestations (Cass. soc., 7 mai 1997, n° 95-42.498). You may therefore type the answers directly into the PDF and then print it. Two elements must, in any event, be handwritten: the criminal-warning sentence and your signature.
The identity section (page 1)
The form opens with two boxes — Madame / Monsieur. Tick the relevant one.
Votre nom de famille (nom de naissance). Your birth surname. Not your married name, not the name you go by in daily life — the surname on your birth certificate.
Votre nom d’usage (exemple : nom d’époux / d’épouse). The surname you currently use if it differs from your birth surname — for example a married name or a double-barrelled name. If you have always used your birth surname, leave this line blank.
Vos prénoms. All your first names, as they appear on your passport.
Vos date et lieu de naissance. Your date of birth in French format — eight digits, DD/MM/YYYY (so 15 July 1985 = 15 07 1985). After the word à, write your place of birth: city and country (for example, London, United Kingdom).
Votre profession. What you do today, not what you used to do. If you are retired, write retired. If you are unemployed, write unemployed. If you are a student, write student. Do not worry that your profession seems unrelated to the case — this field is for identification, not qualification.
Votre adresse. The number and the street of your current home address.
Complément d’adresse. Flat number, building name, « care of » — anything that completes the address. Leave blank if not applicable.
Code postal / Commune. Postcode and town. The French postcode field has five digits; if you live outside France, simply enter your own postcode (it can be longer than five digits — write what is needed).
Pays. The country where you live.
Lien de parenté, d’alliance, de subordination, de collaboration ou de communauté d’intérêts avec les parties — Oui / non. This is the box people most often tick wrongly out of fear that admitting a connection will weaken the statement. Tick YES as soon as you have any link at all with one of the parties — friend, neighbour, colleague, former boss, distant relative. Then describe the link briefly: « friend of Mrs X since 2018 », « former colleague of Mr Y at company Z », « neighbour at the same address since 2015 ».
A French judge fully expects most witnesses to know the parties — that is precisely why they are witnesses. Acknowledging the link openly will not destroy your statement; concealing it will.
The criminal-warning sentence — must be handwritten
The form contains a sentence reproducing the French criminal-law penalty for false statements. Even if you fill in the rest of the form on a computer, you must copy this sentence by hand, in French, in your own handwriting, in the empty lines provided just below it:
« Est puni d’un an d’emprisonnement et de 15 000 euros d’amende le fait d’établir une attestation ou un certificat faisant état de faits matériellement inexacts. »
In English, this means: « Producing a witness statement or certificate containing materially inaccurate facts is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a €15,000 fine. »
This handwritten passage is not just a formality. If a judge sees it typed, they may suspect that the statement was drafted by someone else and merely signed by the witness — and may discard it on that ground alone. Take the time to write it out, in French, even if you are copying letter by letter from the printed text above.
The facts section (page 2)
This is the most important page of the form, and the one most often badly written.
Write in English, not in French. French law does not require a specific language for a witness statement. The lawyer will attach a French translation when filing the document — a free translation prepared by a bilingual person is sufficient under French case law (CA Aix-en-Provence, ch. 4-5, 15 févr. 2024, n° 23/09202 ; TJ Toulouse, 19 nov. 2024, n° 24/02240), and there is no need to pay for a sworn translator. Your own voice in clear English carries far more weight than stilted French written by someone afraid to make a mistake.
The fundamental rule: you may only describe what you personally saw or heard yourself. Not what someone told you. Not what you think. Not what you assume or deduce. Only what you directly witnessed — and you must say so in words that make this clear.
Here is the difference in practice.
❌ What will be discarded by a judge:
« I have known Sophie for many years and can confirm she is an excellent mother. Her ex-husband is violent and irresponsible — she has often told me so. In my opinion, the children would be better off with her. »
Every sentence in that paragraph is either a value judgment (« excellent mother »), hearsay (« she has often told me »), or an opinion (« in my opinion »). A French judge will give it no weight.
✅ What carries weight in court:
« On Wednesday 12 March 2024, around 7.30 p.m., I went to Sophie Martin’s home at 14 rue des Lilas, Paris 11e. When she opened the door, I saw a visible bruise on her left cheekbone and her lower lip was swollen. Her two children, Lea and Tom, were in the living room and were crying. I saw broken pieces of a plate on the kitchen floor. I stayed at her home until around 10 p.m. »
That paragraph reports specific, dated, located facts that the witness personally observed. It will be read carefully.
A few practical rules:
- Write in the first person and in the past tense. « I saw », « I heard », « I noticed », « I went to ». Avoid « it seems », « I was told », « I have the impression », « apparently ».
- Always give the date. If you cannot remember it precisely, approximate honestly: « around October 2023 », « a Monday in January 2024 — I cannot recall the exact date ». Not knowing the exact date does not weaken the statement; pretending to know one you do not destroys it.
- Always give the place. The address, or at the very least the context: « in the company offices », « in the corridor of our building », « in the car park outside the supermarket in [town] ».
- Length. A simple fact takes three to five sentences. For several distinct facts, treat each in a separate paragraph starting with its date. A short, precise statement is far stronger than a long, vague one.
- Stay focused on the specific facts the lawyer has asked you to address. A general character endorsement (« X is a wonderful person ») carries almost no weight. Even a sincere statement is set aside if it does not establish the precise point in dispute (Cass. crim., 15 juin 1984, n° 83-92.495 ; TJ Nice, 3e ch. civ., 8 oct. 2024, n° 21/04533).
- If you make a mistake while handwriting, cross the wrong word out with a single straight line, write the correct word next to it, and put your initials next to the correction. Do not use correction fluid (Tipp-Ex) — it can be read as an attempt to falsify.
- Use your own words, even if you are shown a template or another witness’s statement. Each attestation must read in the witness’s own voice. French courts give little weight to attestations that use stereotyped or general formulas, or that mirror each other word for word, even when the underlying facts are genuine (CA Colmar, ch. 4 a, 8 déc. 2023, n° 21/05170). Consistency of facts strengthens credibility; consistency of phrasing destroys it.
The honour declaration (page 3)
The third page contains an attestation sur l’honneur — a declaration on your honour that the information given is accurate. Fill in:
Je soussigné(e) (prénom, nom). Your first name and surname.
Fait à. The town where you are signing.
Le. The date you sign — eight digits, DD/MM/YYYY. This is the date of signature, not the date of the events you are describing.
Signature. Sign by hand, with your usual signature, in the box provided.
The ID copy you must attach
The form requires you to attach an original or a photocopy of an official identity document showing your signature.
In practice, send a photocopy of the page or pages showing both your photograph and your signature: for a passport, the photo/data page; for a national identity card or photographic driving licence, both sides. Sign the photocopy by hand.
How to send the document back
Scan the signed form (all three pages) and the ID photocopy into one single PDF file and send it to the lawyer who asked you to write the statement — one PDF per witness.
Avoid raw mobile phone photographs: they are often skewed, badly lit, and may be challenged. If you have no scanner, use a scanning app — Adobe Scan, Microsoft Lens or the document scanner built into most modern phones — to produce a clean, flat PDF.
After you send the document
Once the file reaches the lawyer, they will attach a free French translation before filing the document with the court. The translation can be prepared by the lawyer, by a colleague or by any bilingual person — there is nothing further you need to do unless the lawyer comes back to you with questions.
Common questions
What if I am asked to give the statement before any case has actually been filed?
That is allowed. A witness statement does not require ongoing court proceedings to be valid. Lawyers regularly gather statements before filing the claim, while memories are fresh.
Can I change my mind after signing?
In principle yes, but only as long as the statement has not yet been filed with the court. Once the document has been produced before the judge, you cannot withdraw it unilaterally. If you signed under pressure, speak to a lawyer immediately — pressuring a witness is itself a criminal offence in France (subornation de témoin); you are the victim, not the offender.
Can I be sued or prosecuted for what I wrote?
If you describe facts you genuinely witnessed, no. French law strongly protects witnesses who give honest testimony, and a witness statement made in good faith cannot ground a defamation claim. Producing a statement containing knowingly false facts, however, is a criminal offence punishable by one year of imprisonment and a €15,000 fine — that is the meaning of the sentence you copy by hand on page 1.
What if I would rather not be involved at all?
You are under no legal obligation to write a statement for someone. You can decline. The party for whom you would have testified can, if your testimony is genuinely critical to the case, ask the judge to summon you to a court hearing — but that is rare and decided by the judge, not by the parties.
A French-language version of this article is available here:
Attestation de témoin sur l’honneur : comment la remplir ? (+ modèle)
Valentin Simonnet is a lawyer at the Paris Bar (avocat au Barreau de Paris). He practises in business litigation and white-collar criminal defence, and regularly works with English-speaking clients and witnesses on French court matters. Contact: contact@simonnetavocat.fr.
