Notary Public Appointments -The Essential Guide  

IMPORTANT:    

Please read the following sections before your appointment

Identification requirements 

You must bring the following to your Appointment:

• Original valid photo ID which is normally your passport or driving licence.   If you don’t have either of these, please call our office to agree a suitable alternative.  
• Proof of your residential address.   E.g. utility bill or bank statement.   If you do not have a paper proof of address, we will accept an electronic version if you can access that in our office via the internet.     For instance accessing your online banking via the internet in our office.  You can also ask your bank to print off a paper statement and we will accept this provided that it has been stamped by the branch.    

We are bound by regulatory practice rules to formally identify all our clients using these methods.  

Anti-money laundering procedures are also a significant factor in our needing to identify you, we take this element very seriously.

We must

• Establish that the person, who appears before us to sign a document, is in fact the person mentioned in any documentation which is to be signed.  
• Establish that the person understands what they are entering into
• Establish that the person has the capacity to do so and is willing to be bound by his or her actions.

If you have many variations of your name or if the name on your document does not match with the name on your identification, please produce relevant documentation to evidence your name.    

E.g. a marriage certificate or a change of name deed in order that we can positively identify you as the person to whom the document relates.

Certified copy documents

If you have been asked to provide a certified copy, it means that the Notary will certify a copy of an original document to be a true copy of the original document which we have seen.  We must see the original document.    

We cannot offer a certified copy of a copy, we can only offer a certified copy of the original.    

In many cases some documents are now only supplied in electronic form.  

If this is the case you can either access the third party electronic database which supplies the electronic document via the internet in our office or, have the issuer email us the electronic document directly to us.  

For instance, if you have been asked to provide a certified copy of an insurance certificate.   You can either access your insurance company’s portal in our office and show us the evidence, or have the insurance company email us directly with a copy of the electronic document.    

If documents are in electronic form, please raise this issue with us in advance so that we can offer you a suitable solution before attending our office.

Documents in a foreign language

We may not be conversant with the language contained in your document but we are able to assist you with foreign language documents provided that you can show evidence that you understand the content of the document.    

When we can help:

• The document is in your native language or you can show proficiency in the language.
• It is clear to us that you have been assisted by a professional adviser overseas.

If we are unable to establish the central issue that you are fully understand the contents and effects of the document which you are signing, we will refuse to verify your signature on the document because by doing so, it will be implied that you have demonstrated your understanding to us or that we are conversant in the foreign language and has explained its contents to you.    

If you do not have an understanding of the contents of a foreign language document which you have been asked to have notarised, please obtain a professional translation of it. We can arrange this if necessary.

Often clients are asked to provide a ‘sworn’ or ‘certified translation.  This is usually where the receiving jurisdiction has an official translating service provided by an organ of the state.   Such circumstances do not exist in the UK and the next best thing is  a certified translation, which is where we  testify a translation has been professionally undertaken.  We can help clients with this requirement.

Attestation of Degree Certificates, Academic Qualifications and Professional Memberships

We can help you with attestation of degree certificates for the UAE, Saudi, Qatar and any other country.  We may be  required to safeguard against the falsification of academic certificates.   We therefore seek confirmation directly from the awarding institution that our client has in fact obtained the award set out in any degree certificate or other document provided.       We need a consent form to be completed by the client enabling the awarding university to release the information to us.    If we are unable to seek confirmation from the awarding body, we will limit our notarial certificate by stating that we have not independently verified the degree or academic award.

Legal and/or procedural advice

Our terms and conditions set out our role and what we do.    For the avoidance of doubt, we do not give legal advice as part of our services nor do we draft documents unless specifically agreed between you and us.  

If you do not have a complete document, we may have to terminate your appointment and ask you to rearrange another one.

Do I need an Apostille or further legalisation? 

Knowing What Your Requirements Are

You should check with the person or organisation with whom you are dealing with overseas as to their exact requirements.  

As outlined below, we are generally asked to certify your signature and identity and cannot advise you with authority the exact requirements of the entity with whom you are dealing.

We can offer rough guidance on what is normally required in the territory in which you are dealing with but it is best to seek confirmation of the exact requirements with the people with whom you are dealing with on the ground.    They should know their jurisdictional requirements and be able to authoritatively help you.

We would specifically ask you to seek confirmation as to whether an Apostille is required or whether consulate legalisation is required.