A theft or loss affidavit is a sworn account of something being stolen, lost or destroyed. Insurers ask for one, so do banks and transfer agents, and so does the DMV where a vehicle is involved.
It is short, it is sworn, and the detail in it is what decides whether it is accepted.
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Report it first
Almost every version of this requires a police report, and most insurers will not proceed without one.
File promptly. Delay is the first thing an insurer questions, and a report filed three weeks later is worth considerably less than one filed the same day.
Get the report or complaint number and keep it. Every document that follows will ask for it.
What belongs in the affidavit
Your name and address, and your relationship to the property.
What was taken or lost, described specifically. A laptop is not a description; the make, model, serial number and approximate purchase date is.
When it happened, or the range within which it must have happened, and where.
The circumstances, factually. What you observed, when you noticed, what was disturbed.
The police report details. The value, and how you arrived at it.
And a statement that the property has not been recovered, sold or transferred, which is what the recipient is really asking.
Specificity is what gets it accepted
Vague affidavits are refused, and reasonably so. Anybody can write that items were taken.
Serial numbers, purchase dates, receipts, photographs of the items in your home, and card or bank statements showing the purchases turn a statement into a claim.
Where you cannot document something, say so plainly rather than inventing a figure. An honest partial claim is stronger than a complete one that falls apart under questioning.
Do not inflate it
The temptation exists, particularly where a deductible eats a small claim, and it is a serious mistake.
You are swearing, under oath, to what was taken and what it was worth. Adding items you did not own, or values you cannot support, is a false sworn statement in an insurance claim.
Insurers investigate, they compare claims across time, and the consequences reach well beyond a denied claim.
Vehicles, checks and certificates
Three specific variants worth naming.
A stolen vehicle affidavit accompanies the insurance claim and the DMV process, and the title and registration position matters alongside it. See what happens when a title is missing.
A lost check affidavit usually contains an indemnity: you are agreeing to make the bank whole if the original turns up and is cashed. Read that before signing.
A lost stock certificate affidavit typically travels with a transfer agent’s requirements, frequently including a surety bond and a medallion signature guarantee, which is not something any notary can provide. See financial forms that need a notary.
Signing it
It is sworn, so you sign it in front of the notary rather than beforehand, with valid unexpired government issued photo identification.
Bring the completed affidavit and the police report number. Same day across the five boroughs, or online in minutes.
We verify who swore it. We do not verify that anything in it is true, which is precisely why the oath is there.
Burglary in a New York apartment
The most common version we see, and there are a few practical points beyond the paperwork.
Photograph the scene before you tidy, including forced entry, and do not repair the door or lock until the insurer has what it needs, beyond making the place secure.
Tell the building. Superintendents and management often have camera footage, and it is frequently overwritten within days, so ask immediately rather than next week.
Renters need their own policy. A landlord’s insurance does not cover a tenant’s belongings, which people discover at exactly the wrong moment.
And check whether items away from home are covered, because policies differ on a bag stolen on the subway or a laptop taken from a car.
Identity theft is a different affidavit
Worth separating, because it comes up alongside theft and follows its own process.
Where somebody has used your identity rather than taken your property, the documents are different: reports to the credit bureaus, disputes with each creditor, and a specific federal identity theft report.
Some of those require a sworn statement and some do not. Follow the process published by the relevant agency rather than adapting a property theft affidavit, and act quickly, because the disputes have their own timelines.
What happens if the property is recovered
Tell the insurer.
If a claim has been paid and the item is later recovered, the insurer generally has rights in it, and quietly keeping both the payment and the property is not an option available to you.
Similarly, if a lost check or certificate turns up after you swore it was lost, the indemnity you signed becomes live. Raise it rather than waiting to see whether anybody notices.
Build the record before you need it
The single most useful thing anybody reading this can do, and it takes an afternoon.
Walk through your home with your phone and film every room, opening drawers and cupboards, narrating what things are. Photograph serial numbers on anything valuable. Keep receipts for significant purchases in one email folder.
Store that somewhere that is not in the apartment, meaning cloud storage or emailed to yourself, because a fire takes the evidence along with the property.
People who have done this settle claims quickly. People who have not spend weeks trying to remember what was in a room, and inevitably recover less.
Values, honestly
Two different measures, and your policy pays on one of them.
Actual cash value is what the item was worth at the time, after depreciation. Replacement cost is what it would cost to buy new today.
Know which basis applies before you fill in the figures, because a claim prepared on the wrong basis looks either inflated or unnecessarily modest.
Where an item is unusual, a jewelry piece, an instrument, a collection, appraisals and purchase documentation matter far more than your own estimate, and some items need to be scheduled on the policy separately to be covered at all.
A short checklist
File the police report the same day and keep the number.
Photograph everything before touching anything.
Notify the insurer promptly and ask what they need, in writing.
Build the item list with serial numbers, dates and values, using documentation rather than memory.
Complete the affidavit fully, leaving nothing blank.
Sign it in front of a notary, not before.
Keep a copy of everything you submitted, with the date.
Seven steps. The affidavit itself takes ten minutes; the list behind it is the work, and it is what determines what you recover.
Writing it yourself? Start from our free general affidavit template, which has the sworn wording and notary block in place.
Related reading
- Sworn proof of loss: the document with a deadline
- Which insurance claim forms need a notary
- Making a life insurance claim after a death
- When a claim is denied or delayed
This is general information, not legal or insurance advice, and NotarEaseNYC is not a law firm, an insurer or a public adjuster. Policy terms and deadlines differ, and a notary cannot read your policy, value a loss, or advise on a claim. Work from your own policy and, where a claim is significant or disputed, speak with an attorney or a licensed public adjuster.