Notary | Sydney CBD

Sydney CBD

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Our Visiting Service | Brighton Le Sands

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Our Visiting Service | Marrickville

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We can come to you!

We can arrange an out of office notary service at your home or other location if required should you not be able to come to our office for an appointment.

However please note we have an established visiting service in addition to our Sydney CBD location at Brighton Le Sands and Marrickville.

Notaries are appointed by the Supreme Court of NSW

Notaries in NSW play a role helping people execute documents, or verify the authenticity of documents or true copies of documents that are to be accepted or have legal effect in another country.

Notaries are appointed by the Supreme Court of NSW under the Public Notaries Act 1997(NSW) and the Public Notaries Appointment Rules 1998.

All Notaries in NSW are lawyers who have been appointed by the court (as notaries) and entered on the Roll of Public Notaries maintained by the Legal Profession Admission Board.

Regulation of notaries in NSW is similar to the regulation of practicing solicitors in NSW. Notaries in NSW like practicing lawyers in NSW are required to hold professional indemnity insurance for the protection of clients.

A Notary is permitted to practice anywhere in NSW whilst the Notary remains on the Roll of Public Notaries. The majority of work of a Notary involves personal or corporate documentation that is required by a domestic or visiting client that will be used in a foreign jurisdiction.

Notarisation generally applies to documents and it involves a notary doing something with or in relation to a document before it is sent to a requesting party, so notarisation is not a unique singular act.

The most common notary acts include:

1 | witnessing the signing of documents such as powers of attorney and contracts;

2 | certifying a true copy of an original document such as a power of a power of attorney or passport; and

3 | certifying the authenticity of a document such as an academic transcript, an employment history, company documents such as ASIC extracts.

For example a foreign body (eg government or private authority or organisation) may require the execution of a document to be performed before a notary or it may require a notary to verify a document as being authentic before the document will be acceptable by the foreign body.

In other instances, a client may not want to send a an original document to a foreign body or another party and may prefer to send a true copy certified by a notary. Document copies certified by a notary generally will accepted by requesting bodies however in some instances the requesting body may also require the legalisation of the notarised copy as an additional requirement.

In any event it is the requesting party that knows (or should know) what its notarisation requirements are because it is the requesting party's requirements that need to be satisfied.

Ideally the requesting party should clearly communicate to you what it wants it wants the notary to do with the documents, then you can instruct the notary accordingly.

However if the instructions you received are incomplete or unclear it would be prudent that these are clarified with the requesting party so you can instruct your notary as to your notarisation requirements and avoid the possibility the notarised documents are rejected by the requesting party as unsuitable.

If required we can help identify what notarisation and or legalisation steps are required as an additional service and in that case book an appointment for a consultation.

In the event the applicable notarisation requirements are not ascertainable from the instructions you have received and or the documents that have been requested we may have to contact the requesting party on your behalf to clarify the applicable requirements.

Notarisation of a document generally is completed when the notary applies their signature and seal to the document which may also include a certificate setting out what the notary actually did in relation to the notarised document.

For illustration purposes examples of notary certificates can be viewed or downloaded from the following dropdown panels.

A notary certificate is applied by printing or stamping it directly on the document or as a separate page that is fixed to the document.

We may fix a certificate to a document by a stapling process or it may be bound to the document by a ribboning process terminated by an adhesive seal.

What is legalisation?

In some instances notarised documents that are to be used abroad are required by the recipient to be legalised before they will be accepted by the recipient as being validly effective legal documents.

Subject to the recipient country, the legalisation process is either a consular/embassy process or it is merely a simpler Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) process.

Notarisation | Legalisation

It must be noted that notarisation is a separate process to legalisation.

Notarisation is undertaken by a notary, and legalisation of the notarised documents is undertaken by DFAT and possibly the consulate/embassy in Australia of the recipient country.

Notaries can complete the legalisation process on behalf of a client if required by attending to the DFAT and consulate/embassy steps as required as an additional service to notarisation.

Legalisation via the consular/embassy process

The consular/embassy legalisation process of notarised documents involves two principal steps.

The first step requires the notarised documents to be submitted to DFAT for an authentication certificate.

DFAT will asses the notary certificate and if in order will apply their own certificate to the notarised documents, this is referred to as an authentication certificate.

The authentication certificate may be a physical certificate or it may be a stamped certificate with a signature or something similar.

The second step requires the notarised documents with the attached DFAT authentication certificate to be submitted to the relevant foreign consulate or embassy in Australia of the recipient country.

The consulate/embassy will complete the legalisation process by verifying the DFAT authentication certificate as being valid by applying their own authentication certificate to the notarised documents.

The consulate/embassy certificate may be a physical certificate or it may be a stamped certificate with a signature or something similar.

Legalisation via the apostille process

Some countries, members of the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the HCCH 1961 Apostille Convention) have replaced the requirement of the legalisation of documents via the two step consular/embassy process by a simpler one step legalisation process known as a apostille process.

The apostille process removes the involvement of the relevant foreign consulate/embassy in the legalisation process.

The apostille process requires the notarised documents to be submitted to DFAT for an apostille certificate.

DFAT will asses the notary certificate and if in order will apply their own certificate to the notarised documents, this is referred to as an apostille certificate (or apostille).

The apostille certificate may be a physical certificate or it may be a stamped certificate with a signature or something similar.

A notarised document with an apostille certificate will be accepted as a legalised document for the purposes of countries that have adopted the legalisation of documents via the apostille process.

Apostille Convention Countries

A list of countries that are party to the HCCH 1961 Apostille Convention can be viewed here: 1961 Apostille Convention Countries.

Therefore if you require us to also attend to the legalisation of the notarised documents then we will need to know which country the notarised documents will be used as that will determine whether we seek an apostille or authentication certificate for the notarised documents from DFAT.

Is legalisation required?

To avoid any doubt about whether legalisation is required for its intended purpose, your instructor requesting the document (‘the instructor’) should know and expressly specify whether legalisation of the documents is required, and if required, whether consulate/embassy legalisation is required or an apostille process is required to meet the requirements of the recipient country.

The consulate/embassy in Australia of the recipient country may also be able specify which of consulate/embassy legalisation or an apostille legalisation process is required to meet the legal requirements in the recipient country.

A notary is not in a position to know if legalisation of the notarised documents is required until the notary has had an opportunity to peruse the instructions you were given by the instructor.

If the instructions are unclear then clarification must be obtained from the instructor as legalisation may be a completely unnecessary additional expense or the legalisation steps undertaken may not meet the requirements of the recipient country/organisation.

In any event the onus is on the instructor to clearly state the legalisation steps that are required to satisfy the requirements of the recipient county/organisation however we can on your behalf consult your instructor if required as an additional service.

Select following to view sample legalisation certificates issued by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Our notaries are in legal practice so an appointment is recommended to see a notary to ensure availability and to ensure you are suitably prepared for the appointment and minimise your costs.

You can book an appointment for consultation or service here!

We may be able to accommodate urgent appointment request to see a notary however additional charges may apply for that additional service.

However some services require the engagement of outside bodies (public and private) such as DFAT, consulates, educational institutions, registries, employers and the like. In such cases, urgency requests will be subject to the availability and cooperation of such external bodies.

If you have an urgent request contact us now to discuss your requirements.

We may be able to accommodate an after hours appointment to see a notary however additional charges may apply for that additional service.

If you require an after hours appointment contact us now to discuss your requirements.

We may be able to accommodate an out of office appointment at a place of your convenience if required however additional charges may apply for this additional service.

If you require an out of office appointment contact us now to discuss your requirements.

The cost to notarise one or more documents depends on the notary service required in relation to the document(s) before applying the notary signature, seal/certificate to the document(s).

Notary service options in relation to documents include:

• 1 | witnessing execution, starts from $300 per document;
• 2 | certifying a copy of an original document, starts from $200 per document;
• 3 | authenticating a document with issuing authority or author, from $550 per document but variable on case by case basis;
• 4 | notary consultation $660 per hour charged on actual time required but in 6 minute units;
• 5 | authentication or apostille from DFAT, from $307 per document inclusive of DFAT fees;

The actual costs that apply for our notary services are provided on our fees and booking page.

If you want to minimise your notary costs then there are things within your control that you can attend to minimise the notary charges, these steps include;

• make sure you are clear on what you want the notary to do by:

  1 | carefully perusing the instructions you were given by the person (your instructor) asking you to go see a notary; and or

  2 | seeking clarification from your instructor as necessary; and or

  3 | peruse the frequently asked questions (FAQ's) herein;

  otherwise we can help clarify or identify your notary requirements for you as an additional service.

• once you are clear on what you want the notary to do book an appointment for the notary services(s) you require;
• carefully peruse the information we send you relating to the notary services you have requested so you can be prepared for the appointment;
• send us any pdf/jpeg documents we ask for in advance of the appointment in good time for the appointment so we have time to prepare necessary certificates at our convenience;
• ensure any pdf/jpeg documents you send us are print quality otherwise we may have to manipulate the pdf/jpeg documents or may have to scan the originals as an additional service if we can not work with what you sent us;
• bring to the appointment any original documents we ask for otherwise you may be required to book a return appointment as an additional service so we can complete your notary requirements;
• be punctual at your appointment.

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