What a Notary Does

Many notaries provide a service for commercial firms engaged in international trade, and for private individuals. The most common tasks include:

• Preparing and authenticating powers of attorney for use overseas
• Dealing with purchase or sale of land and property abroad
• Authenticating foreign wills and providing documents to deal with the administration of the estates of people who are abroad, or owning property abroad
• Authenticating personal documents and information for immigration or emigration purposes, or to apply to marry or to work abroad, such as education or professional qualifications or declarations of freedom to marry
• Authenticating company and business documents and transactions or providing certificates as to the status of a company or the identity of its directors

What else can Notaries do?
Most notaries act in that capacity to provide the sort of services already described, but they can also provide authentication and a secure record for almost any sort of transaction, document or event.

Notaries are specifically authorised to carry out certain Reserved Activities under the Legal Services Act 2007 and can do any form of legal work except any contentious matter or taking cases to court. Approximately half of notaries are also solicitors and do their general legal work in that capacity. Others (including the Scrivener Notaries in London) practise only as notaries undertaking commercial and property work (including conveyancing) and family and private client work (including wills, probate and the administration of estates).