Notary Services Near Me
Section 1: Notary Public UK
Apostilles, legalisation, certification, attestation, and notarisation are some commonly used terms when you need to prepare documents to be used overseas. For any UK document to be recognised as valid and legal in another country, it needs to be authenticated through various means. Notarisation specifically refers to documents being authenticated with the signature of a notary public.
What is a Notary Public in the UK?
In the UK and other parts of the world, a notary public has the authority to verify documents and the information in them. This allows the documents to be used in other countries in their full legal effect. Notarised documents are often requested when you are dealing with business or property issues, especially overseas, which might require litigation in a court.
Who is a Notary Public?
Consider a notary as a legally trained, impartial witness, who has looked into the said documents, without any prior judgement. They analyse the document to ensure that its information is true and real. This way, they authenticate and certify that the document is fit for official and legal use.
In most cases, a solicitor becomes a notary public by adding certain qualifications to their repertoire. The main responsibilities of a notary include witnessing signatures, making copies of documents and document authentication. They also need to confirm that they are who they say they are. In a nutshell, they sign documents to authenticate them. Notarisation is usually a first step in the legalisation of certain types of documents and can be used for personal documents as well.
Section 2: General Queries about Notary Public UK
1. When Would I Need Notary Services?
If you have been requested to submit legal documents in a country different from the one that has issued the documents, you will need to legalise them. Notary services can help in this regard.
2. What Documents Require Notarization?
Usually marriage, birth and death certificates, powers of attorney, wills generated abroad, transaction confirmations and translations of documents into another language require notarisation.
3. What is the Difference between Notarization, Legalization, and Apostille?
- Notarisation: This is the authentication of paperwork intended for use both domestically and overseas through the signature of a notary public.
- Apostille: An apostille stamp certifies a document as being legally valid for use in signatory countries of the Hague convention. In the UK, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issues the apostille.
- Legalisation: Countries that are not members of the Hague Convention require documents for use in their country to be legalised as authentic by their embassy in the document issuing nation. In the UK, London embassies legalise UK documents for use in their respective countries. However, they require the documents to be apostilled beforehand.
Additional FAQs
Only a certified notary public can notarise documents. The easiest way to get documents notarised is by hiring a reputed firm, like Rapid Legalization Services (RLS), which offers the entire gamut of legalisation services. In the UK, RLS is one name that is most likely to appear when you search online for “Notary Services Near Me.” Remember that RLS is not a notary public but works closely with establishes notaries to offer the most prompt notarisation services.
With RLS, you can get the documents notarized in 1-2 days, based on the kind of service you choose. RLS offers same-day and 2-days services.
If you are wondering what the notary fees are, you should know that the cost of notarising a document mainly depends on the nature and complexity of information in the document. However, RLS ensures that the cost of notarisation is kept at a minimum. However, prices might vary according to the urgency of notarisation.
Yes, notarisation acts proof that a document is genuine and can be used with full legal effect overseas. However, there might be a difference in the requirements for authentication of documents from one country to another. If the country is a member of the Hague Convention, it will need an apostille stamp from the UK FCO, while non-member countries require embassy attestation, after the apostille stamp is attached, for legalisation.