Notaries form a distinct legal profession. In England and Wales Notaries are the oldest surviving legal profession which predates solicitors and barristers. Unlike solicitors and barristers, a notary is a public official whose duty is to the public in general. Notaries record agreements between parties, usually for use abroad and gives an additional layer of authenticity for persons in usually a foreign jurisdiction.
What is ‘notarisation’?The traditional function of the notary is to record agreements and statements made by members of the public. These often relate to dealings in a personal and corporate capacity in issues relating to another jurisdictions which requires the notarial act. A notarial certificate is an additional certificate signed by the notary and affixed to the documents and includes confirmations of the identity of a signatory. The types of overseas dealings used frequently include marriage/divorce, charities, purchasing property, international property investment, logistics, warehousing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, shipping, sports management and wealth management which may be required by profession, including accountants, architects, doctors and other health professionals, engineers, insolvency practitioners, patent and trade mark, attorneys, solicitors as well as notaries. Below are some examples of when you may require a Notary Public:
How will the ‘notarisation’ take place? Before meeting with the notary, you need to email the notary the documents that needs to be notarised and any specific requirements in relation to the documents. The notary will then review the documents before the meeting. Depending on the document, on the day of the meeting, the notary will ensure you understand the statement you have been asked to make and ensure you are signing under your own freewill. The notary will then add their signature and seal to certify the document. If it needs to be legalised by an embassy or Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), we can arrange this for you as well as with secure delivery to the intended recipient abroad.
There are many situations in which an apostille stamp from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) would need to be affixed to the notarised document. The notary in essence authenticates the document, while the FCDO, being a government office, verifies the seal of the notary. Whether an FCDO legalisation is required will be specified by the party who requested the document in the receiving jurisdiction. If there is any doubt, we recommend that you get an FCDO legalisation.
HOW LONG: FCDO Legalisation takes about ONE WEEK, which the time it takes for the document to be sent to the FCDO, usually via the agent, apostille it and have it returned to a UK mainland address.
HOW MUCH: FCDO fee is £40.00 for the standard service. However, we use an agent whose fees are £70.00 which includes the FCDO fee, the agent's fee for submitting the document to the FCDO and returning it to a UK mainland address. International courier service is also available at additional cost.
Listed below are some examples of where an apostille certificate is necessary:
This the process by which the document if authenticated at the Embassy or High Commission of the country where a document is going to be used. This usually follows the notarising of the document by the notary and FCDO Legalisation. The notary in essence authenticates the document, the FCDO, verifies the seal of the notary and the respective Embassy or High Commission verifies the final document. The fees charged by the Embassy or High Commission vary. Consular legalisation usually to be only required for countries that are not part of the Hague Apostille Convention.
HOW LONG: Consular Legalisation times vary. This information will be provided on or before the first meeting.
HOW MUCH: Consular Legalisation fee vary. We will advise you of our agent’s fee for this service when you instruct us.
There is a minimum fee of £150.00 per matter. Fees are calculated at the hourly rate of £275.00 unless specified otherwise and no VAT is payable. Please see fees
Fees are calculated with reference to complexity of the matter, the value of the work, nature of the work, time spent, urgency, number of documents to be notarised, level of involvements in the drafting/amending documents, number of persons appearing before the notary.
Fees charged are exclusive of disbursements (such as fees charged by third parties or agents, postage/courier fees, FCDO fee and/or embassy legalisation fees
The free includes telephone and personal attendance upon you including arranging initial appointment and initial review of documents; advice; perusing and preparation of documents and notarial acts, telephone calls, emails, photocopying, storage and completion of notarial register and protocol where required. We may also be required to undertake extra third party ID and Anti Monley Laundering (AML) checks for which additional fees may apply.
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