Public Notary
In Australia, Notaries are senior legal practitioners who authenticate, prepare, attest, verify, witness and certify original and copy legal documents for use in Australia and overseas. A notarial act is generally seen as a certification of authenticity. Under the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legislation for Foreign Public Documents, the office and seal of a Notary is internationally recognised.
Speaking generally, Notaries draw up and authenticate documents of a quasi-public character requiring unusual solemnity and to give a certificate of due execution of such documents, authenticated by his/her signature and seal. Most commonly, Notaries provide certificates of execution and attach Apostilles to documents which will be used in countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legislation for Foreign Public Documents or alternatively causing documents to be Authenticated where they will be used in countries that are not party to the Convention. In that case it will be necessary to deal with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and the relevant Consulate to arrange for the appropriate certificates to be attached to the documents.
At Coastal Mobile Legal Service we have extensive experience with both types of procedures. If you have a Power of Attorney that is to be used in transactions overseas, preparation of an affidavit for use in foreign legal proceedings or simply require certification of the authenticity of academic qualifications to be used in foreign job applications, contact our experienced staff for assistance.