The United Kingdom Government’s Legalisation Office has informed notaries that it will continue legalising (issuing apostilles on) documents destined for use in Russia and Belarus at the present time. No doubt this could change.

Notaries are required to comply with the Government’s latest sanctions regulations: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/russia-sanctions-guidance/russia-sanctions-guidance. 

Increasing levels of fraud in this country and overseas are causing many financial services providers to tighten their anti-money laundering procedures. Sometimes this involves a request for a copy of evidence of an individual’s home address to be notarised. This will often take the form of a copy of a utility or council tax bill linking the person to an address. It is common for there to be a requirement that the document is dated within a specific period, say the last three months. Since United Kingdom driving licenses can be up to 10 years old, they are of limited use as evidence of address.

If I am asked to notarise a copy of a utility bill or similar, I will need to see either the original document, if it was issued in paper form, or the original electronic document on the website of the issuing body. To verify an electronic document, you will need to (a) bring a printed copy of the electronic document and (b) when we meet, have access to a device on which you can enter the relevant website with your log-in details so that I can compare the printed copy with the original electronic document. (To be clear, I do not wish to have access to your login details.)

Documents that are authenticated by a notary public are almost always for use overseas. This raises the question of how to send them to the destination. The options are ordinary airmail, Royal Mail “Tracked and Signed” and courier services such as FedEx and DHL, which deliver to the addressee. If I am instructed to send a document overseas for a client, I will only use FedEx or DHL. This is because they reliable and fast. Sadly, each year a number of of my clients send their documents by some form of mail which fails to deliver and causes the client, delay, extra cost and sometimes consequences of missing a deadline. All systems are fallible, but the courier services very rarely fail to deliver and the cost is usually much less than having to repeat the document formalities.

Until recently, legalising a document for the Philippines was a two-step process, involving an apostille from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and then consular legalisation from the Philippine Embassy in London. The Philippines has recently joined 117 other countries with accession to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Accordingly, documents originating in the United Kingdom that are going to the Philippines only require an apostille issued by the FCO.

My office will close at noon on Tuesday 24th December 2019 and will re-open on Thursday 2nd January 2020. Please contact me by email if you wish to make an appointment either before or after the Christmas and New Year holiday.

If you use the what3words app on your smartphone, and you navigate to tones.answer.places, you will find yourself at the front door of Time Central.

Many legal documents require the signatory to use their full name. A person’s name can be quite a complex issue, because of changes of name, not commonly using a middle name and changes of status, such as marriage. If a person’s name on a notarised document (for example a degree certificate) does not match EXACTLY the name in identity documents, then further evidence may be needed by the person or body receiving the notarised document in another country. I can provide a statutory declaration if required to explain the situation.

It is good practice always to use all middle names in all officials documents. It can save a lot of trouble at a future date in explaining why a person uses different names.

Where I am being asked to notarise a document which contains a different family name, I will need to see evidence of the change of name. For example if a person’s name has changed on marriage, I would need to see the marriage certificate.

Typically, French documents relating to property transactions use a woman’s family name before marriage. Where the woman is using her married name, and that is the name on her identity documents, again a copy of the marriage certificate will be needed in order to authenticate the document.

Newcastle University has a new system for degree verification: please see https://www.ncl.ac.uk/exams/results/#verifications. If you need to have your degree certified by a notary, you should use this link to request verification and nominate Jonathan Kemp, Notary Public, to receive the response. Please email or call for further guidance.

There are many legal requirements relating to the data necessarily held by notaries, including the General Data Protection Regulation. Notarial services, like any legal services, depend on high standards of discretion and data protection. Therefore, we (Jonathan Kemp Notary Public) treat your personal data as if it was our own and in accordance with GDPR and other applicable laws.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner with registration no. Z1237397.

Please email if you have any queries.

The office will be closed over Christmas and will re-open on Tuesday 2nd January 2018.