Guidance for appointments with a Notary Public
Preliminary Guidance
These notes are not exhaustive. They are preliminary guidelines only, intended to save time and expense both for you and for us. They interrelate with our accompanying notes "Notary Public Times & Fees".
1. NOTARIAL DUTY: The international duty of a notary public involves a high standard of care, not only towards you as the client but particularly to the transaction itself, as well as towards other parties and governments or officials of other countries. Both you and they are entitled: (1) to assume that a notary will ensure due compliance with the relevant requirements at home and abroad, whether or not specifically requested to do so; and (2) to rely on the notary's register and records. Vigilance is essential at every stage to minimise the risk of errors, omissions, alterations, fraud, forgery, impersonation, money-laundering, etc. It is not a mere rubber stamping exercise.
2. SIGNATURE/SEALING: Your signature/sealing should normally be witnessed by the notary public. Do not jump the gun by signing the document in advance of your appointment with the notary.
3. DOCUMENTATION TO BE SENT IN ADVANCE: It can save time, expense and mistakes, if you or your advisers arrange for us to receive, sufficiently before the appointment date/time, the originals or exact photocopies of:
3.1 the documents to be notarised;
3.2 any covering correspondence or instructions from the destination country;
3.3 evidence of your identity (see 5. below).
4. DOCUMENTATION TO BE PREPARED: We may need more than one appointment to finalise the matter, particularly if it is necessary for us to prepare all or some of the documentation.
5. IDENTIFICATION: Please produce by way of formal identification both at the outset and again, most essentially, when you attend to sign the documentation:
5.1 your current passport;
5.2 your current driving licence, security pass, or other formal means of identification;
5.3 any other means of ID particularly specified in the documentation;
5.4 if the above do not incorporate a good photographic likeness, a spare print of a satisfactory recent photograph for retention in our records;
5.5 current evidence of your address e.g. Council/gas/water/telephone/bank statements. Occasionally, it may suffice for you to be personally accompanied and identified to us by someone reliable who is well known both to you and to us.
If the document to be notarised concerns a Company the following are also usually required:
5.6 we will carry out a check with the Registrar of Companies. This will usually involve obtaining all online information available for purchase - such as current appointment records, annual returns etc.;
5.7 unless the document is routine or of limited value, we will also need to check certain records of the Company, including the minute book and the company registers (articles and memorandum of association, register of directors, company secretaries, shareholdings etc.
This level of checking will usually always be required where we are asked to witness and/or notarise the signing of a power of attorney, contract or some other such document;
5.8 in some cases it may be necessary to get a Certificate of Good Standing from the Registrar of Companies. Normally obtaining a Certificate of Good Standing takes approximately 3 to 7 working days and is sent by the Registrar by post. It is possible to obtain this certificate the same day or next day, but at a substantial premium.
6. PROOF OF NAMES: You should also produce relevant certificates re your names (especially where there have been name changes or variations of the spelling or the sequence of your names) e.g. certificates of birth, baptism, marriage, divorce, examinations, qualifications and any deed poll or statutory declaration made on change of name.
7. IMPERSONATION/FALSIFICATION: Notaries need to guard against the increasing trend of (1) impersonation; (2) falsification of documents/certificates/qualifications (we will therefore check with the academic body concerned that a certificate for a qualification is genuine - it may take several days for a reply)/photographs/signatures; (3) Appearers acting (innocently or otherwise) without due authority, etc.
8. NOTARIAL INDEPENDENCE: This is paramount, in the interests of all concerned. The notary's duty extends to: (1) you as the client; (2) any other party; (3) each intended recipient; (4) all to whom the notarised documentation may come; as well as (5) an overriding duty to the transaction itself.
9. CHAIN OF EVIDENCE: Notarisation is part of the international law or chain of evidence and must be scrupulously undertaken and reliable both in your own interests and the recipient's.
10. EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE: Careful examination by the notary is required to check whether the evidence produced is original, genuine, valid, complete, accurate, and unaltered. This extends to: (1) the document(s)/certificate(s) to be notarised; and (2) the personal I.D. evidence of each Appearer.
11. INCOMPLETE/INEFFECTIVE DOCUMENTS: The notary public has to check that each document to be notarised is fully and duly completed. Unfortunately, many documents produced as ready for signature are inadvertently defective, incomplete or inadequate. This occurs even when they have been prepared by professional advisers or agents, who are possibly in too much haste or (not surprisingly) not quite au fait with current notarial practice, procedure and developments.
12. WRITTEN TRANSLATIONS: (1) In relevant cases, official translations may be required before and/or after execution of the documentation. (2) We are not multi-linguists but we may be able to advise as to professional translators. (3) Foreign documents (including covering correspondence and instructions) should be translated into English before execution of the documentation. (4) English texts may need to be [re-]translated here or abroad into the foreign "specimen" translations. (6) Professional translators should include their names, address, relevant qualifications and/or experience and should incorporate their own certificate, signed and dated, to the effect that document B is a true and complete translation of document A the original [or a true copy] of which is annexed [t]hereto. Failing this, the reliability of the translation is unproven; it may be suspect or even lethal, and it may be rejected. (7) Translations may need to be declared or sworn by the maker in proper form, according to circumstances.
13. ORAL INTERPRETER: Similarly, arrangements may have to be made for a competent professional interpreter to be available at interviews.
14. SEPARATE ENTITIES: In the case of an entity such as a company, partnership, society, club, etc., notarial requirements should preferably be discussed across the desk with us personally at a preliminary meeting;
14.1 Verification is required as to the current authority for the organisation's representative(s) to sign/seal on its behalf, including proof of: (a) its original formation; (b) its current continuing existence; (c) its present powers and regulations for undertaking this type of transaction; (d) its actual authorisation of this specific transaction; (e) which office holders are authorised to sign, etc; (f) proof of the valid appointment of the present holders of such office(s), etc.
14.2 Sometimes notarial attendance may be required at a meeting of a Company, etc. Such meetings may be arranged either at our address or at the client's office, or elsewhere as the case may be, depending on circumstances.
15. RESPONSIBILITY: Subject to the foregoing general guidelines, our responsibility is limited to the notarial formalities and appropriate incidentals, unless specifically instructed to draft or advise on the documentation, with adequate time/details.
16. COMMON NOTARIAL TASKS: The most common tasks are:
- Preparing and witnessing powers of attorney for use overseas
- Dealing with purchase or sale of land and property abroad
- Providing documents to deal with the administration of the estate of people who are abroad, or owning property abroad
- Authenticating personal documents and information for immigration or emigration purposes, or to apply to marry or to work abroad
- Authenticating company and business documents and transactions