Notary Public
What is a Notary Public and what should you expect when having documents notarised?
What is a Notary Public and what should you expect when having documents notarised?
What is a Notary Public?
A Notary Public is a specialist lawyer, qualified to certify legal and official documents. Their job is to certify the authenticity of deeds and legal documents. Specifically, a Notary Public authenticates documents for use in foreign jurisdictions – in which a solicitor’s authentication would not be accepted.
Preparing for your appointment
When you book an appointment to meet with Nathan, you will receive a Client Care Letter. This includes confirmation of your appointment along with details of the service(s) that Nathan will provide.
When Nathan arrives, you will be required to show your proof of identity and your address. Please have these ready, before his arrival. If you forget to bring proof of identity and address, then your appointment will either be delayed until someone can bring them to you, or it may have to be rearranged.
Acceptable forms of proof of identity include passports, UK driving licences, Biometric Residence Permits and Visa Cards.
Examples of proof of address include council tax bills, bank statements, utility bills, rental contracts, and mortgage statements.
Proof of Address should be dated within the last 3 months and provided in electronic or physical form. Proof of Identity must be original.
What to expect
Your appointment will be a one-hour block. Nathan will arrive within this timeslot and carry out the act of notarising your documents. First, he will check your proof of identity and proof of address to check that you are who you say you are. Then, he can notarise your documents and take you through the rest of the process.
Usually, an appointment should only take a few minutes, so you will not need to wait around for the whole hour. However, sometimes things can go wrong, such as a client document being incorrect. In the event that something happens, Nathan will do his best to ensure that your documents do not take too much longer to notarise.
Should documents need to be legalised by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) or a particular consulate/embassy, Nathan will take the documents and you will be notified of their progress before being returned to you by post.
Please note that some documents will need to have extra witnesses for when you sign them, who will then need to sign the document themselves; one example of this is a Power of Attorney. You can bring people with you to act as witnesses.