If you are buying or selling property abroad or carrying out some other transaction which involves international legal documents, you will need to use the services of a document authenticator. You will see that there are two common terms for these: notarisation and apostille. And while they are both types of document authentication, they do serve different purposes and are used at different stages of the legal process.
What is a notary?
A notary is a qualified lawyer who checks that legal documents are authentic. Most notaries support commercial firms with international trade and private individuals with tasks like the purchase and sale of property or land in another country, powers of attorney to be used overseas and authenticating foreign wills.
Notarisation
When a document is verified by a notary public and certified, it is known as notarisation. After verifying the identity of whoever is signing the document, the notary confirms that they signed it willingly and knowingly. After that, the notary stamps the document and signs it to confirm its authenticity. Doing this, however, doesn’t make the document legally recognised overseas, and this is why an apostille is needed.
The types of documents that usually require notarisation include affidavits, powers of attorney, company documents, academic certificates and statutory declarations.
Apostille
An apostille is a certificate provided by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It provides confirmation that any signatures, seals or stamps on a document are genuine. It is a requirement when documents are being presented in countries which are members of the Hague Apostille Convention.
Examples include academic qualifications, birth, marriage or death certificates, criminal record checks, certified company records and court documents. An apostille only certifies that a signature or seal is authentic and doesn’t validate the document’s contents.
Do You Need Both?
You will need both notarisation and an apostille for most private legal documents. The document is notarised first before being submitted to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for an apostille.