Commencement of a contract

Usually starts with This agreement or An agreement or Articles of Agreement

But it is better to specify, i.e. This Mortgage or This Contract of Sale

Personal circumstances of

parties

Full name

Capacities

Civil Status

Residence

Take note ---- the logical order in which parties

are to be named in the document must be

observed.

Example:

In a Deed of Conveyance name of the seller, mortgagor, or grantor must be first

stated.

Employment Contract name of the employer usually comes first

Principal or Operational clauses

State in separate, numbered paragraphs

WHY? To facilitate ready reference

Specific or technical terms which have special meanings should be defined,

Names of parties should be repeated the use of pronouns might give rise to ambiguity

Keep the document neat must be free from erasures, suspicions of alteration

Place and date of execution usually at the last part of the legal document.

Recognizing that the judiciary uses excessive quantities of costly paper (for the purpose of saving trees, conserving precious water and helping mother earth), the Supreme Court issued the Efficient Use of Paper Rule (A.M. No. 11-9-4-SC). This Rule, which took effect on 1 January 2013, prescribes the format of pleadings, motions and documents filed in courts.

a) All pleadings, motions and similar papers intended for the court and quasi-judicial bodys consideration and action (court-bound papers) shall written in single space with one-and-a half space between paragraphs, using an easily readable font style of the partys choice, of 14-size font, and on a 13 inch by 8.5- inch white bond paper; and

b) All decisions, resolutions and orders issued by courts and quasi-judicial bodies under the administrative supervision of the Supreme Court shall comply with these requirements. Similarly covered are the reports submitted to the courts and transcripts of stenographic notes.

The parties shall maintain the following

margins on all court-bound papers: a left

hand margin of 1.5 inches from the

edge; an upper margin of 1.2 inches

from the edge; a right hand margin of

1.0 inch from the edge; and a lower

margin of 1.0 inch from the edge.

Every page must be consecutively

numbered.

Unless otherwise directed by the court, the number of court- bound

papers that a party is required or desires to file shall be as follows:

a. In the Supreme Court, one original (properly marked) and four

copies, unless the case is referred to the Court En Banc, in which

event, the parties shall file ten additional copies. For the En Banc, the

parties need to submit only two sets of annexes, one attached to the

original and an extra copy. For the Division, the parties need to submit

also two sets of annexes, one attached to the original and an extra

copy. All members of the Court shall share the extra copies of

annexes in the interest of economy of paper.

Parties to cases before the Supreme Court are further required, on

voluntary basis for the first six months following the effectivity of this

Rule and compulsorily afterwards unless the period is extended, to

submit, simultaneously with their court-bound papers, soft copies of

the same and their annexes (the latter in PDF format) either by email

to the Courts e-mail address or by compact disc (CD). This requirement is in preparation for the eventual establishment of an e-

filing paperless system in the judiciary.

b. In the Court of Appeals and the

Sandiganbayan, one original (properly

marked) and two copies with their annexes;

c. In the Court of Tax Appeals, one original

(properly marked) and two copies with

annexes. On appeal to the En Banc, one

Original (properly marked) and eight copies

with annexes; and

d. In other courts, one original (properly

marked) with the stated annexes attached

to it.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT JURAT

Act of one who has executed

a deed, in going before

some competent officer and

declaring it to be his act or

deed

DEFINITION

Part of an affidavit where

the officer certifies that the

same was sworn before him.

1. To authenticate an

agreement between tow

or more persons

2. Where the document

contains a disposition of

property

WHERE

USED

1. Affidavits

2. Certification

3. Whenever the person

executing makes a

statement of facts to

the truth of an event,

under oath

1. To authorize the deed to

be given in evidence

without further proof of its

execution.

2. To entitle it to be recorded

PURPOSE

Gives the document legal

character

JURAT:

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this

15th day of January, 2015 in the City of Naga,

Philippines, affiant exibiting to me her SSS

Identification Card bearing No. 05-123456-1

issued last January 5, 2014 by the Social

Security System.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

BEFORE ME, a Notary Public for and in the City of Naga

and who exhibited to her SSS ID no. 05-12345-1 issued

on January 5, 2014 by the Social Security System,

known to me and to me known to be the same person

who executed the foregoing instrument which

(he/she) acknowledged to me as (his/her) free and

voluntary act and deed, consisting of only ______

(____) page/s, including this page in which this

Acknowledgement is written, duly signed by (him/her)

and (his/her) instrumental witnesses on each and

every page hereof.

WITNESS MY HAND AND SEAL this _____________ at

_____________, Philippines.

TYPICAL PARTS:

Venue

Title

Personal Circumstances

Oath

Statement of Facts

Signature

Jurat

Republic of the Philippines) Naga City ) S.S.

AFFIDAVIT OF LOSS

I, WILHELMINA A. POBRE, of legal age, married, Filipino citizen, with residence address at 51-G Yakal Street, Naga City, under oath, depose and state:

(1) I, together with my husband, own a Certificate Of Participation No. 0044335 issued by Security Bank in the principal amount of P100,000.00.

(2) On January 10, 1999 I lost the original of the above Certificate of Participation when we moved to our new house in Naga City, during which we relocated a number of personal possessions.

(3) Diligent search of said document among our personal effects proved futile and unavailing.

(4) I am executing this affidavit to comply with the requirements of Security Bank for the reconstitution of said document.

Affiant further sayeth naught.

WILHELMINA A. POBRE

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 16th day of January 2015 in Naga City, Philippines, affiant exhibiting to her SSS ID No. 05-12345-1 issued by the Social Security System on January 5, 2014.

Doc. No. ____; Page No. ____; Book No. ____; Series of 2015.