 Courts must assess the credibility of the document examiner as an expert witness and to do this they will often rely upon the examiner's reputation in the profession, his or her affiliations with credible professional organizations or societies as well as any third-party certifications they may possess.The ABFDE is sponsored by the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE), Canadian Society of Forensic Science (CSFS), the Southeastern Association of Forensic Document Examiners (SAFDE), and the Southwestern Association of Forensic Document Examiners (SWAFDE) and further recognized by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), the International Association for Identification (IAI) and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists (MAAFS).The ABFDE is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia and was formed in 1977 under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.