Notary Public.

Our Notary Public (Notary) is able to assist individuals, companies and other organisations with the authentication of documents for use overseas.

Background Information

A Notary is a qualified lawyer – a member of the third and oldest branch of the legal profession who are appointed and regulated by the Faculty Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Notaries are primarily concerned with the authentication and certification of signatures and documents for use abroad. Notaries will verify and certify provable facts under their signature and official seal for clients with businesses or property or court proceedings outside England and Wales. The need for notarisation will depend on the country or countries involved as well as the nature of the document itself and we can advise you on this.

The rules which govern Notaries are very similar to the rules which govern Solicitors.

Before seeing the Notary, please refer to the Notary Terms of Business below

The Notary will in all cases:

• expect you to make an appointment
• need you to bring appropriate evidence of your identity
• need to be satisfied that you understand any document particularly a document which is not in English
• want to see any relevant papers or documents that relate to your matter
  It would be helpful if you email or fax a copy of your document to the Notary before your appointment.

Identification documents required

• Preferably your passport. If you have no passport a government-issued document which bears your photograph, such as a photographic driving licence.
• Proof of residence – a recent document which confirms where you live, such as a recent utility bill or bank statement which is no more than 3 months old.

Corporate Identity

The Notary (in addition to checking the personal identity of the person signing the document on behalf of the company/corporate entity) will need to establish that the company or organisation actually exists. Accordingly for UK registered entities, the Notary will generally conduct checks through the online portal at Companies House Direct to ensure that the company/entity exists.

In some cases (particularly for companies or organisations established overseas) the Notary may ask you to produce certain documents. These might include a certificate of incorporation, certificate of good standing or overseas registration details.

Authority

The Notary will also need to satisfy herself that the authorised representative / officer of the company do indeed have authority to represent that company or organisation. The Notary may therefore ask for additional documents such as:

• A board resolution
• Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Other documents confirming the chain of authority as appropriate

Receiving country’s instructions

If available you should also bring along any instructions given by the lawyer who prepared the document (where applicable) or forward these to the Notary by email in advance of your appointment in order that the Notary can ascertain the requirements of your legal representative overseas.

We can notarise (and prepare where required) the following type of documents:

• Corporate and commercial documents
• Powers of Attorney
• Certification of original documents
• Attestation of documents
• Affidavits, oaths and declarations
• Change of name documents, deed polls
• Statutory Declarations
• Education Certificates
• OCI documentation
• Passport photos
• Sponsorship applications
• Letter of Consent for a child to travel without parent/s
• Others

Legalisation

In some instances depending on which country your document is to eventually go to, some further formalities must be undertaken before it can be used overseas. These include certification by apostille in accordance with the 1961 Hague Convention. An apostille is a certificate issued by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office confirming signature and seal of the Notary Public and this is accepted by a number of countries. However some countries still require notarial documents to be presented to the foreign consulate or other diplomatic representation of the country where the document is to be used. This is known as ‘consularisation’. The Notary Public can also arrange for your documents to be Consular/Embassy legalised without you having to worry about attending the various consulates in person.