Legal: templates and forms

An Italian free-form self-declaration, in Italian (art. 46 of Presidential Decree 445/2000), stating personal status, qualities and facts in place of a certificate: an educational qualification, membership of a professional register, being alive, income and the other cases the law lists. With the warning on penalties (art. 76) and the note on signing (art. 38). Public bodies and private parties must accept it; many bodies publish free models. No stamp duty is due (art. 37). Sign it in front of the official or hand it in with a copy of an identity document.

An Italian request, in Italian, that anyone can make without giving reasons, for data and documents held by a public body (art. 5(2) of legislative decree 33/2013, Italy’s freedom of information act), within the limits of art. 5-bis. The body answers within 30 days; a refusal can be reviewed by its transparency officer. Release is free apart from the cost of copies on paper or media: no revenue stamp. Many bodies have a free form in their ‘Amministrazione trasparente’ section. Send it by PEC or e-mail.

For anyone who wants a trusted person to handle their everyday affairs: paying bills and taxes, collecting money, picking up documents, dealing with the building’s condominium and with offices. Under Italian law a private power covers only ordinary administration and the acts expressly listed; selling or buying property, a gift or any act to be registered needs a notarial power. Banks and Poste Italiane may ask for their own forms. Signed by the principal and accepted by the agent.

For someone who cannot attend to one matter in person and asks another person to do a single act: file a document, sign for keys, attend a meeting, hand in paperwork. Many Spanish bodies have their own form or an online power in their electronic office, both free: if they require it, use theirs. The authorisation describes the act, where it is done and until when it is valid, and excludes anything needing a notarial power. Both people sign it, and the authorised person carries it with their ID. In Spanish.

For every time you leave originals with someone else — an accountant, a lawyer, an employer, a bank, an agent. The receipt lists the documents one by one, marks which are originals and which copies, and gives a date for their return. An original handed over without a receipt is later chased with no evidence that it was ever handed over at all.

For someone giving written evidence in a civil case in France: a dispute between neighbours, at work or in the family, an accident. Article 202 of the French Code of Civil Procedure requires the statement to be written, dated and signed in the witness's own hand, so this document is not the statement itself but a model in French, filled with your details, to copy by hand on plain paper or on the official form Cerfa 11527, which is free and optional. It holds every compulsory statement. Enclose a copy of a signed ID document.

For an unmarried couple without a PACS who are asked to prove they live together: by an insurer, a health fund, an employer, a landlord, a pension fund or a foreign authority. Both partners declare on their honour that they live together in a stable and continuous way (article 515-8 of the French Civil Code), since when and at which address, and enclose their ID and proof of address. The French document recalls the penalty for a false declaration (article 441-7 of the French Criminal Code).

The written request for an apostille on an Austrian public document — or for its legalisation for a country outside the Hague Convention. Who apostilles depends on who issued it: the Land (birth and marriage certificates, registration and criminal record certificates, for instance), the president of the regional court (court and notarial documents) or the Foreign Ministry. With the document, the country it is for and how it comes back. Where a Land has its own form, as Salzburg does, use that. In German, ready to print and sign.

Used where an original document has been lost, stolen or destroyed — a diploma, a certificate, an employer's letter. The particulars of the lost document and the reason for the loss are stated.

The all-purpose declaration that institutions and employers ask for most often. You fill in your details and the wording of what you are declaring; the clause on criminal liability for a false declaration is already in the text.

For declaring in writing, on your own responsibility, a fact about yourself when an administration, employer, school, bank or landlord in France asks for it: family situation, lack of income, residence, a lost document, the accuracy of information. In French under French law, the statement identifies the declarant, sets out the facts, names the recipient if you wish and recalls the penalties for a false statement (article 441-7 of the French Criminal Code). For evidence in court, use the witness statement instead.

For an individual, self-employed person or business with a dispute of up to 2,000 euros in Spain who wants to settle it without a trial: the Spanish confidential binding offer of art. 17 of Organic Law 1/2025, stating the dispute, the amount and the terms, with an acceptance at the foot. If the other side accepts it expressly, it binds the offeror; if it refuses or stays silent for a month, the pre-court requirement is met. Sent by burofax. In Spanish.