Our Services | APEX Notaries

Notarisation

We notarise a wide variety of documents for our business and individual clients. The list below is a sample of the types of documents we commonly notarise, but it is not intended to be exhaustive. If you have a document that is not on the list please do enquire with us as to whether we can assist with having it notarised for you as the chances are that we probably can.

It may not always be clear whether a document needs to be signed before a notary public or a solicitor. Usually, you will have been sent an instruction advising you who you need to see regarding your document. This will be sent to you by the person or business that has asked for your document to be authenticated. If you haven’t, this should be checked and confirmed either by you or by the notary public.

As a general rule of thumb, if a document is to be used overseas and you have been asked to have it “certified”, “attested”, “verified” or “notarised”, it almost certainly needs to be dealt with by a notary public. If your document contains the seal and signature of a notary, this indicates to the authorities in the destination country that the relevant checks have been carried out by a suitably qualified professional.

Services for Individuals

Powers of Attorney
Certifying ID documents such as passports, driving licences and national ID cards etc.
Foreign adoption applications
Foreign passport applications
Child foreign passport applications
Property documents for use abroad
Certifying education certificates
Consent for a child to travel abroad
Change of name deeds
Affidavits
Declarations

Services for Businesses

Affidavits/Oaths
Statutory Declarations
Copy Passports
Copy Documents
Written Statements
Application Forms
Company documents
Certificates of Incorporation
Memorandum and Articles of Association
Certificates of Good standing
Powers of Attorney
Trademark Assignments
Bills of Sale
Maritime Bills of Sale
Ship Mortgages

Apostille & Legalisation

Legalisation

What is legalisation?

Legalisation is the process of authenticating or certifying a document so that a foreign country’s legal system will recognise it as having full legal effect.

In many cases, your documents may not only require to be notarised but also legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (by way of apostille) and/or by the embassy of the country  where the documents will be used.

If your documents need to be legalised or apostilled we can liaise with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the appropriate embassy or consulate on your behalf.

We appreciate that our clients often require this work to be done in a hurry or do not have the time to deal with the legalisation process. We can therefore handle all of these steps for you and can also take steps to expedite the process where required.

Apostille

An apostille is a form of certificate which is used among the countries that have signed up to the Hague Convention 1961 to get the certification recognized in those countries. Apostille is an easier way to verify and legalise a document between the countries. However, this method of legalisation can only be used in respect of countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention.

When a country issues an apostille for a document intended to be used in some other country which is a signatory to the Hague Convention, then no further authentication of such document should be required. The authority receiving the document should accept the legalisation as complete.

In the United Kingdom, apostilles are issued by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office based in Milton Keynes.

We provide a fast and highly convenient apostille service for the benefit of our clients. Please contact us to find out more.

Consular Legalisation

A significant number of countries have signed up to the Hague Convention but there are still some countries which are not a party to it – the UAE being an example of this. In such cases, there is often a need to have the documents you have had notarised legalised at the embassy of the country in which the documents are to be used.

Where consular legalisation is needed normally the notarised documents will require both to be apostilled and legalised at the consulate of the country in which the documents are to be used.

We provide a comprehensive legalisation service for our clients. Please contact us to find out more.

E-notarisation

E-notarisation refers to a completely digital method of signing and notarising a document. With the increased use of technology many of us will have become used to signing documents digitally using one of the many digital signature platforms. E-notarisation takes this a step further by allowing the notary to prepare any document or form etc. so that the client can sign it digitally and, crucially, allow the notary to also sign, seal and stamp the document digitally. In doing so this process serves to reduce the need to print documents thereby reducing the carbon footprint.

As the notarisation of documents is a centuries old process, it will take time for the switch to digital to be embraced in different countries and legal systems. We therefore recommend to our clients to check with the intended recipient first to see if they will accept an e-notarised document in advance of instructing us.

If you have any questions or comments about e-notarisation please contact us at info@apexnotaries.co.uk

E-apostille

E-apostille is the process of achieving a digital apostille on a document that has been e-notarised. Like the paper form of apostille, the e-apostille is issued in the United Kingdom by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

A key benefit of e-apostille is that it avoids the delay and cost of having to send documents by courier and post to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then wait for them to be delivered back. Instead the e-notarised document is submitted by the notary online and returned in the same way with the addition of the e-apostille.

If you have any questions or comments about e-apostille please contact us at info@apexnotaries.co.uk

Drafting & Reviewing Documents

As well as notarising and certifying existing documents, we can prepare and create documents for you, including powers of attorney, company resolutions and statutory declarations. Alternatively, we can review documents which have been prepared and advise if any changes may be required.

Translation of documents

Our notarial services are normally required by those involved in transactions or dealings overseas. This means that some of the documents you need to have notarised may also need to be translated into the relevant language. You may also have documents that do not require notarisation but nonetheless still require translation.

We offer a translation service, using qualified translators, for the translation of any existing documents you have in order to make them acceptable for any overseas jurisdictions where they may be required. If required, we can also notarise the accuracy of documents translated by qualified translators.

Get in Touch

There are many different ways to contact us to discuss your requirements. The simplest would be to use the form set out here. Alternatively you can use one of the following options to get in touch: