A Notary Public is a legal professional whose specialism is the certification of legal documents. Their role is to certify a copy of a document, which is often required if a person needs to use their document overseas. In fact, it’s only a Notary Public who has the authority to notarise documents – there is a common misconception that this can be done by banks, but this isn’t the case.
Legal certification
Ordinarily, a Notary Public will certify that the copy of a document is a true copy of the original by writing the certification on the copy of the document itself. If this can’t be done, they might attach a separate notarial certificate to authorise the copy.
As part of this process, a notary seal impression will be placed onto the copy of the document, as proof that the notary has confirmed it to be a true copy of the original.
Interestingly, each Notary Public has their own seal, which is unique to their role. As you can imagine, this is a long-standing tradition, which has been used for many years to prove the legal worth of a copied document, according to the Notaries Society.
If you require notary services London, consider visiting a specialist legal team such as bridgelawsolicitors.co.uk/notary-services-for-individuals/london, who can provide reliable, prompt notarial certification services.
When would I need the services of a Notary?
Having your documents certified by a Notary Public is particularly important if you need to use your documents abroad. This may include documents such as visas, mortgage applications or financial documents.
While a notary public is not necessarily able to perform the actual translation of a document from one language to another, they can certify the authenticity of the translator’s work as proof that it is a translated version of the original document.
Notaries undergo a specialist, two-year training programme to enable them to perform their specialist legal duty accurately and carefully. Indeed, they are quite different from solicitors, and remain the only profession who has the authority to certify documents in this way.
