What is a Notary?

A Notary Public is an Attorney with a post-graduate qualification and in some respects held to a higher standard of care than an ordinary attorney. A Notary Public holds a respected office which is internationally recognised, and Documents prepared or executed by a Notary are generally accepted most places in the world without question.

The office of notary is instrumental in the execution of legally enforceable Notarial deeds and the accuracy of the information is relied on by third parties. Another major occupation a notary undertakes on a regular basis is to authenticate documents for international purposes.

When documents are required to be notarised, we refer to them as notarial deeds, and it includes a Notary having to draft the document before it can be signed and witnessed in the presence of the Notary. Notarial deeds include, amongst a long list other, the following:

• ante-and-postnuptial contracts

• deeds of cession of usufruct

• deeds of servitude

• notarial leases

• Cession of Exclusive Use areas

• trust deeds of donation

• notarial bonds

Apart from notarial deeds, a Notary Public is also needed for the legalisation of documents which include attestation, apostille, authentication, and notarisation of documents for use in foreign countries. The purpose of an Apostille Certificate is to simplify the legalisation of documents for use internationally. The legalisation procedure depends on whether the country is a party to the Hague Convention for international treaties and declarations, which event the Apostille procedure will be followed and if not a more complicated procedure will be required.

Some of the countries which have become signatories to "The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents" include amongst others following: Australia; Austria, Botswana, France, Germany, Italy, Namibia, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.