About Notary Public NI

The principal function of a Notary Public is to facilitate the transaction of business in foreign countries by citizens of this country and usually consists of either:-

• certifying copy documents; or
• seeing to the signing of documents and certifying that the persons signing are who they say they are.

My fee will be calculated by reference to all relevant matters including the time needed to carry out the work, the value and importance of the matter, its complexity and the urgency. The minimum fee payable is £75.00 per person plus outlay (if any).

Yes, mostly drafting “one-off” documents for a variety of purposes.  I charge £200 per hour for my time.

No, as I have no knowledge of the law of any country outside of Northern Ireland.

An Apostille of the Hague Convention, to give it its full title, is the Government Certificate attached to a document by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London which confirms that the document was properly notarised by me, a duly authorised and registered Notary Public.  This process is also known as “legislation”.

Yes, at the moment it is £40.00 per document.  I also charge a postage and administration fee for each set of documents that I send to the FCO to be legalised.

Some countries do not require this at all.  The countries that do require it do not necessarily require each document to be legalised.  However, your covering letter should tell you what needs to be done.

We will ask for the documents to be returned from the FCO as soon as possible and whilst we have no control over how long this will take we anticipate receiving all documents from the FCO within 5 working days.

I will phone you as soon as they arrive and you will collect them from my office when it suits you.  This reduces the chance of them getting lost in the post.  However, if you insist that they are to be posted or couriered to you or to a third party then there will be an additional handling charge.

I will accept cash, bank transfer or payment online (link will be provided with invoice) but I do not have the facility to handle Debit or Credit Cards.

Yes, but an additional professional fee will be payable.

Yes, but I will have to charge for mileage (£0.50/mile) and for travelling time (£20.00/hour) in addition to the charges for notarising your documents.

Yes, but I will have to pass on to you the charges from the translation bureau.  I shall also charge you an additional administration charge for arranging for the translation.  Translation bureaux are generally very quick but again it depends on how busy they are.

Yes, and I will not notarise any document unless adequate identification has been produced.  Each person attending must therefore bring with them one of the following documents:

• a Passport,
• a Driving Licence (which in the case of an EU Driving Licence consists of two parts, both of which must be presented for examination),
• a Rail or Bus Pass,
• a Police or Armed Forces ID Card,
• a “Blue Badge” disabled driver’s permit,
• a Firearms Certificate,
• a Resident’s Permit,
• a National ID Card; or
• a Works ID Card,

all of which must be current and, where appropriate, signed by the holder.

By way of “second best” evidence, any of the following types of document (which do not incorporate a photograph) may be tendered as proof of identification although I reserve the right to reject them:-

• a Bank Card,
• a Credit Card,
• a Bank or Building Society Pass Book
• a Pension Book,
• an HMRC Tax Notification,
• a Sub-Contractors Certificate,
• a Birth Certificate; or
• a Marriage Certificate.

Yes, each person attending must bring with them a recent utility bill in their own name.