A national directory of public notaries
A national Notary Public Directory listing Notaries Public practising in all Australian States and Territories who witness, verify or certify public documents required by members of the public for international use.
A Notary Public is a senior legal practitioner who prepares, verifies, certifies or witnesses original Australian public documents for overseas use.
Notaries may act for both parties in notarial transactions so long as there is no conflict of interest - all that's necessary is that each transaction to be concluded fairly and equally.
A Notary's duty is to the notarial transaction itself, a significant distinction from a lawyer's duty which is to his or her client.
Please click on the headings below to read more.
NOTARY SEALCLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Public Notaries are identified on documents which they notarise by their individual seals or stamps. These personal seals or stamps of Notaries have significant historical origins and are regarded by most overseas countries as paramount in assessing the authenticity of a notarised document.
Most notaries' seals or stamps and their signatures are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and with foreign Embassies and Consulates in Australia.
Formal procedures exist for the official seal, stamp and signature of a Notary to be further authenticated, either by the issue of an Apostille Certificate, or by more formal and complex Embassy legalisation procedures.
APOSTILLE CERTIFICATECLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Apostille (French word for notation) Certificates or Stamps are issued by DFAT pursuant to "The Hague Conference on Private International Law: 1961 Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents" [Hague Convention], which authenticates or validates the seal, stamp and signature of a public official (such as a notary) on an Australian public document intended for use in a foreign country.
It is a simple form of authentication accepted by countries which have signed the Hague Convention and abolishes the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalisation for public documents originating in one Convention country for use in another Convention country.
An Apostille Certificate is normally compulsory in respect of documents relating to important transactions such as adoptions, extraditions, probate reseals and generally any document that might be required as formal proof of fact or matter by a foreign Court.
Structurally, the Certificate is formulated into numbered fields to allow its data to be understood by the receiving country, regardless of the official language of the issuing country.
Do you require an Apostille Certificate? If so, visit www.apostille.com.au
PUBLIC DOCUMENT EXAMPLESCLICK HERE TO READ MORE
EXAMPLES OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS REQUIRING APOSTILL CERTIFICATES
