Whenever you are sending documents to other countries, you need to get your documents properly authenticated by a notary. An apostille is a kind of certificate that is attached to the document by any appropriate government official after getting it notarized.
As per the Hague Conference, an apostille is a certificate that will authenticate the origin of any kind of public document. For using apostille, both the issuing as well as receiving countries must be a member of the Apostille Convention.
While you need not have to be notary public for assisting with the apostille process, and many documents that need an apostille has to be first notarized, so having a notary commission will be a plus for you.
The following are a few lists of documents that may need proper authentication from the London Notary Marylabone for use in different countries abroad:
- Affidavits
- Articles of incorporation
- Agreements
- Deeds of assignment
- Company bylaws
- Home study
- Diplomas
- Income verification
- Powers of attorney
- Trademarks
- Transcripts
- Extraditions
- Warrants
- Other general business documents
Also, if parents want to adopt a child who is living in some other country then they need to have their adoption certificate properly authenticated. Here the notary will be responsible for asking for the authentication.
Requests for such authentication certificate are usually submitted in writing to the notary commissioning authority of your area and must contain:
- An explanation by telling the reason why such authentication is required.
- Your original document must also include the completed notarial certificate from a notary.
- The final destination of your document.
- A postage-paid return envelope that will be addressed to the document custodian or the final destination of the document.
- The necessary fee
The commissioning office will decide whether the document will need an apostille or an authentication certificate, based on the destination of the document.
What is the role of a notary?
The only responsibility of yours will be to notarize the document. As the document is actually to be sent to another country, so the notarization must be done properly to make sure that there are no issues on the receiving end.
As an example, some judges who may be presiding over adoption cases in some other countries may reject your documents for not properly notarized.
You must keep in mind that with any kind of notarized documents that is passing through an office of notary regulator, the entire paperwork will be very closely scrutinized. If there are any notarial errors then it may result in a certain enforcement action against you too.
Can notaries also offer apostille services?
You will find that there are a few enterprising notaries who may be living quite near to their secretary of state’s office who may be offering “apostille services” as a way to generate their additional income.
Essentially they provide a courier service for delivering and returning all the paperwork to be done for the customers. All these are not actually considered as “notarial” acts, and hence the Notary may establish a certain relevant service fee with their client.
