attest

Attest means to testify or confirm that something is true, genuine, or authentic. Some common usages of the term “attest” in a legal sense include: 

In the context of evidence law, cases such as this one from Ohio, explain that “to ‘attest’ means to certify to the verity of a copy of a public document formally by signature; an attested copy of a document is one which has been examined and compared with the original, with a certificate or memorandum of its correctness, signed by the persons who have examined it.”

In the context of wills, this case from North Dakota, explains that “the term ‘attest’ means act of witnessing performance of statutory requirements as to valid execution of will and doing things that statute requires witness to do as part of attestation.”

[Last updated in December of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]