Notary Public Times and Fees
Outline
These notes are not exhaustive but are a preliminary guideline only. They interrelate with the accompanying notes: "General Guidance Notes For Notarial Appointments".
1. FEES: Our current hourly rate is £210.00. Our present minimum fee for a brief matter is normally £70.00. We reserve the right to vary the rate, particularly in respect of extremely urgent and/or onerous or unusual matters.
2. VAT: We are not registered (as notaries) for VAT.
3. DISBURSEMENTS: Additionally, clients are responsible for all disbursements, including such of the following as are applicable: (1) legalisation fees payable to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or Embassies, etc; (2) translators'/interpreters' fees; (3) companies registry fees; (4) agents; (5) travelling expenses, where applicable; (6) couriers' and/or other transmission costs.
4. PAYMENT: Notarial charges are normally payable upon signature/release of the notarised documentation, although subsequent work may remain to complete the matter. Payment should be by cash or cheque. We do not accept debit or credit cards
5. SPECIAL FACTORS: There are a number which may affect the fee rate e.g. (1) complexity, difficulty or novelty; (2) skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility; (3) time; (4) number and importance of documents prepared or perused; (5) place and circumstances in which the business or any part is undertaken; (6) value of any money or property involved; (7) importance of the matter to the client; (8) urgency, disruption, dislocation/re-arrangement of other work; (9) work unavoidably undertaken out of office hours.
6. PLACE OF ATTENDANCE: Your personal attendance at our office is usually essential where our own photocopying and secretarial facilities are available as required. In exceptional cases justifying attendance at your own address, e.g. in the event of incapacity, special arrangements can be made but this inevitably increases time and expense.
7. TIME: Quite often, one appointment suffices, but fuller details emerging at the appointment may necessitate one or more further meeting(s), possibly the same day in cases of real urgency.
8. TIME CHARGE: This applies to all work undertaken from start to finish, including taking preliminary details and giving advice, preparing documents, attendances, drafting documents, phone calls, correspondence, faxing, legislation and final work including writing up the Notarial Register and Protocol.
9. PREPARATION: This includes:
9.1 the consideration and/or drafting and/or engrossment of documents before, during or after interviews;
9.2 checking and dealing with (a) any instructions accompanying the documents; (b) missing data; (c) vital accuracy of names/addresses and any variations; (d) any special requirements/formalities of the foreign country;
9.3 obtaining all requisite verifications.
10. URGENCY: Urgency and/or expense must not override essential accuracy and validity.
11. YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS:
11.1 Have you taken advice about this matter from: (a) your own English lawyer(s); and/or (b) relevant foreign lawyer(s), and/or (c) other competent professional advisers, here or in the relevant country?
11.2 Are you taking the potentially huge risk of relying on documents prepared by another party or its adviser(s), without yourself taking independent legal or other competent professional advice?
11.3 Do you want, expect or hope that the notary public will do this for you?
11.4 Are you trying to save time and/or money by attempting to cut corners?
12. STANDARDS: Individual notaries do not write the rules but have to follow internationally recognised and acceptable procedures. Also, professional requirements in the U.K. have become more stringent and onerous through progressive assimilation of European notarial standards, and global developments affecting notarial practice. Anyone who has dealings with a Notary Public in the USA may be surprised at the different formalities and cost over here. The role and responsibility of the Notary Public in the United States is very different.
13. STRINGENT RESPONSIBILITIES: Whether you, your agents or other parties wish it or not, the notary as an independent scrutineer has to insist on satisfactory compliance with and/or reliable proof of all appropriate matters relating to: (1) your identity; (2) your legal capacity/authority; (3) your comprehension and approval; (4) interpretation/translation; (5) documentary objective; (6) form and substance; (7) voluntary act/undue influence; (8) prescribed formalities both at home and abroad; (9) due signature(s); (10) witnessing; (11) observance of other specified formalities at home and abroad; (12) Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or Consular legalisation.
14. FOREIGN & COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (FCO) AND/OR CONSULAR LEGISLATION: Legalisation is the process by which the signature and seal of the notary are authenticated by the Foreign Office and the Foreign Embassy. Some countries require notarised documents to receive further certification (usually termed "an Apostille" which is a French word which means a certification) by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or legalisation by the relevant High Commission, Embassy or Consulate. Documents going to countries which are, or have been, part of the British Commonwealth seldom need legalisation nor, at present, do documents going to most parts of the United States. Documents which have been notarised by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. We can obtain an apostille for an additional charge otherwise we recommend that clients deal with legalisation themselves, in person or by courier, especially if the matter is extremely urgent. The FCO charges a fee of £27 for each document that it legalises. Consular legalisation fees vary depending on the country concerned. For more up-to-date information we suggest you take a look at the FCO Legalisation Department Website at www.fco.gov.uk
15. REGISTER & PROTOCOL: Once the matter is concluded, a formal register entry has to be made by the notary as a permanent record, and a protocol copy of the notarised documentations is customarily kept. Frequently, a fully executed set of duplicate originals is required, or advisable, to be retained by the notary. In some instances, the notary may retain the original and issue a certified copy.