5.3 Third-Person Affidavit

In addition to the litigant’s affidavit, the IFP application must include an affidavit of a third person who knows the applicant’s “financial condition.”1  The third person must attest to a “[belief] that the applicant is unable to pay the costs of court in advance, or as they accrue, or to furnish security therefor.”2  The third party cannot be the applicant’s attorney.3  Unlike in the provision requiring supporting documentation to support the litigant’s affidavit, the Code of Civil Procedure makes no mention of attached documentation to support the third-party’s assertions.4

• 1La. C.C.P. art. 5183(A)(2).
• 2Id.
• 3Id. However, a former attorney of the applicant can sign an affidavit, as when a litigant files an appeal pro se and has his trial attorney sign the third-party affidavit. See Auto-For-Rent, Inc. v. Provenza, 242 So. 2d 353, 355 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1970).
• 4Compare La. C.C.P. art. 5183(A)(1), with La. C.C.P. art. 5183(A)(2).