Any of the people who are authorised to receive Affidavits or witness Statutory Declarations may certify a document

When you require documents to be certified, you must ensure that you have the original document(s) to be sighted by the person who is certifying the documents. It is also a good idea to ensure that you have the copy of the actual documents to be certified with you, as you may be charged a copy fee. The copies should be clear and legible.

Registrars and Deputy Registrars’ of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria are available during normal business hours to witness statutory declarations or affidavits, or certify documents for members of the public.

While Court staff can direct you to the relevant forms and advise you on the type of information you need to include on any court forms, they are not required to assist you in completing the relevant details required by any form. For example, in the case of a rehearing application, Court staff may advise you to fill in your personal details and that your reason/s as to why the Court should grant your application must be filled in. However they cannot advise or assist you with a reason in support of you application. If time permits, Court staff can prepare a court form for you but there is a fee that will be charged for this service.

The Court Result is the determination of the Court, made on the date upon which the matter was set down for hearing. Extracts of the Court Register are available to the parties to the proceeding (that is, the individual/s or organisation/s listed on the charge sheet, application or complaint). Any party who is not a party to the proceeding may make application to the Registrar requesting an extract of a court result. Please note that there are fees attached to the provision of extracts (See 'Scale of Costs' under the ‘Practice and Procedure’ - 'Costs and Fees' section of this website).

The video link facility is a communication tool utilised by the Magistrates Court of Victoria to enable Court users to communicate more efficiently. In order for you to make arrangements for a video link in the Magistrates’ Court, you need to contact the relevant Court Coordinator. The contact details are available on the Contact List on this web-site. Video-link facilities are not available at all Courts, so you should make the appropriate inquiries prior to any other arrangements being made.

All proceedings of the Magistrates’ Court are recorded. If you wish to obtain a copy of the recordings you will need to contact the relevant Court and speak to the Registrar of that Court. The Magistrates’ Court retains all recordings for a period of 3 months from the date of hearing. If a party to the proceeding (or any other person or organisation who has received special permission) has requested the recording, they are retained for a period of 2 years from the date of hearing.

Only parties to the proceedings, being the defendant, Police Informant, Complainant, Plaintiff, Respondent, Applicant and their legal representative, are permitted to obtain a copy of the recording. If any other party wishes to obtain a copy of the recording, a written request is to be forwarded for consideration by the Chief Magistrate. Such request should be addressed to the Manager, Magistrates’ Support Services at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

A copy of the recording maybe obtained for a fee of $55.00 per case, per day. For example, if you have two matters listed and they run for one day, the fee will be $110.00. Court staff endeavour to attend to all audio copy requests expeditiously, however you will have to contact the relevant court to ascertain how long it will take to fulfil your request.

The Magistrates’ Court does not provide transcripts of court proceedings. The following agencies provide transcript services:

Agencies providing transcript services can be found in the Yellow Pages Telephone Directory under 'Court Reporting Services'.