If you live in the UK and own property overseas you should take steps to find out what would happen to that property if you died and what tax consequences would follow. The position will be different to the position in the UK and may be unexpected. A good starting point is to read an accessible publication called “Cross-border successions: A citizen’s guide: how EU rules simplify international inheritances”. This can be easily be found on the Internet. However, with BREXIT in the pipeline, it is important to obtain specialist advice on this, possibly from one of the overseas advisers practising in this country. I work with many such advisers to notarise and arrange legalisation for succession documents, so they are in a form that is acceptable in the overseas country.

Legalising documents for Guatemala is about to become easier. Guatemala is joining over 100 other countries, including the United Kingdom, in the 1961 Hague Convention. This means that notarised documents will be acceptable in Guatemala with an apostille from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Embassy legalisation will no longer be needed.

If you are looking to work as a teacher in China, you will need to provide the school with proof of your degree and your UK criminal record check. You will need to meet the school’s requirements, which do vary and which evolve over time. Currently, most schools request a copy of the degree certificate and the original criminal record check, both authenticated by a Notary Public and then legalised. Notarial authentication involves the notary checking the existence of the degree (usually with Higher Education Degree Datacheck) and the authenticity of the criminal record check with the issuing body.

Legalisation involves obtaining an apostille from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then a further certificate from the People’s Republic of China Embassy (which requires certain supporting documents). You choose whether to arrange the legalisation yourself or to have it done for you by my consular agent.

If you require these services, please let me know and I will provide you with further details.

The latest form of UK passport requires the holder to sign, unless the holder is aged 11 or under  or is unable to sign because of a disability (in each case the passport will state that no signature is required). The passport will not be valid for travel until it is signed. Instructions as to signing should be received with your new passport. If your passport is being used as identity for notarial work, it must be signed.

For further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/signing-your-new-passport/signing-your-new-passport

I am now able to accept payment by cards.

As from 14th August 2016, documents for Brazil will no longer need consular legalisation – just an FCO apostille. This will considerably reduce the time taken to complete the formalities for documents heading to Brazil, and reduce the cost. It will bring Brazil in line with over 100 countries that are signatories to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.

Across the world, bodies receiving documents that have been notarially attested often require then to be ‘legalised’. This is an internationally recognised process whereby the notary’s seal and signature (or sometimes that of another public officer) are verified at governmental level in the notary’s country. It is not the verification of the document itself – that is done by the notary – but of the notary’s existence and attestation. Continue reading →

Care needs to be taken when an English company is preparing to sign a company power of attorney or other document that has been drafted by lawyers in Germany and other European countries. In those countries, companies are often represented by a managing director, whose signing power is a matter of public record and who signs in that capacity. Continue reading →

Many commercial documents for use in Saudi Arabia now require a three-part legalisation process once the English notary has certified the signature of the document by the company in the United Kingdom. Continue reading →

Companies tendering for contracts in some overseas countries need the tender documents notarised and legalised as a matter of urgency. With the help of my consular agent in London, I can arrange for such documents to be legalised (called an apostille) from the FCO the next working day, to receive any required consular stamp and to be sent to the destination address by DHL courier. Continue reading →