Short answer. Beyond your own sworn account, Rule 38, Section 3 requires the petition to be accompanied with affidavits showing the fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence you are relying on, and separate affidavits establishing the facts constituting your good and substantial cause of action or defense.
What the law says
A petition provided for in either of the preceding sections of this Rule must be verified, filed within sixty days after the petitioner learns of the judgment, final order, or other proceeding to be set aside, and not more than six months after such judgment or final order was entered, or such proceeding was taken
Rule 38, Section 3 — Time for filing petition; contents and verification. Read the full provision →
What the law says
must be accompanied with affidavits showing the fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence relied upon, and the facts constituting the petitioner's good and substantial cause of action or defense, as the case may be.
Rule 38, Section 3 — Time for filing petition; contents and verification. Read the full provision →
Two sets of affidavits, not just your own account
Section 3 spells out exactly what has to come with the petition: it must be accompanied with affidavits showing the fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence relied upon, and the facts constituting the petitioner's good and substantial cause of action or defense, as the case may be. That is two distinct categories of supporting affidavits, not a single sworn narrative covering everything at once.
The first affidavit: proving the ground itself
One affidavit, or set of affidavits, has to show whichever ground you are relying on, fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence. This is the evidence that the judgment or order should be set aside in the first place, separate from the merits of your underlying case. Without this, the petition has no basis for relief even if your case is otherwise strong.
The second affidavit: showing you actually have a case
The section also requires affidavits establishing the facts constituting your good and substantial cause of action or defense. This is what shows that, if the judgment is set aside, you actually have something worth litigating, whether as plaintiff or defendant. It is a separate requirement from proving the ground for relief, and both have to be satisfied before the petition can succeed.
The timing that runs alongside these attachments
The same section ties these attachments to a deadline: the petition must be verified, filed within sixty days after the petitioner learns of the judgment, final order, or other proceeding to be set aside, and not more than six months after such judgment or final order was entered, or such proceeding was taken. The affidavits are part of what has to be filed within that window, not something that can be supplied afterward.
Why both affidavits matter, not just the more obvious one
It is easy to focus on proving the ground, fraud, accident, mistake, or excusable negligence, since that is the dramatic part of the story. But Section 3 will not grant relief just because something went wrong; it also wants proof that undoing the judgment would actually lead somewhere, which is what the affidavit on your cause of action or defense supplies. Leaving either affidavit out is treated as an incomplete petition under this section.