Notary Public Chichester & West Sussex

I am a Notary Public serving Companies and individuals in West Sussex and Chichester.

I offer appointments at your business address or at your home.

I also offer appointments at my offices in Arundel if required.

I offer Notarial services to clients in Chichester and the surrounding areas of West Sussex including, Southwick, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Billinghurst and Littlehampton.

URGENT WORK

I am able to give a priority appointment for urgent work, often on the same day. I can arrange legalisation within 24 hours if required, and can visit you at your office or home if you wish for a small call out charge.

Click on a link below for more information.

What is a Notary Public?
What does a Notary Public do?
What is the difference between a Notary and a Solicitor?
What is Legalisation or Apostille?
Documents in a foreign language
What identification does a Notary Public require?
What does it cost?
Data Protection Privacy Notice
Regulatory information

What is a Notary Public?

A Notary is able to evidence acts and his word and evidence is accepted throughout the world by states, courts and other lawyers. A Notary is a legally qualified professional who is in addition qualified and licensed to carry out Notarial work for use outside the United Kingdom.

A Notary must pass 2 years of examinations after qualifying as a lawyer.

What does a Notary Public do?

The principal role of a Notary in England and Wales is to provide independent proof of documents, transactions and facts to the satisfaction of authorities overseas.
This involves careful checking and drafting and typically covers such work as:

Enables Companies to prove documentation for international trade
Signs and Notes a power of Attorney for use overseas
Gets an Apostille for a document from the Foreign Office
Get legalisation on a document from a consulate
Certifies a copy of a passport
Certifies qualifications for professional and student use
Provides evidence of identity
Takes a statutory declaration, swear an oath or affidavit
Is a witness to signature of a deed in front of a notary
have a translation certified by a notary
Sponsorship Documents for visitors to England
Confirms your single status in order to marry
Provides Notarised copies of Documents and Certificates
Provides Certificates of life
And many other international events which need attestation

For these or any other Notarial services please contact me.

What is the difference between a Notary and a Solicitor?

Notaries form a small, highly specialised branch of the legal profession, whose area of specialisation is the certification of documents so that they may be used effectively abroad.

Solicitors form by far the largest part of the legal profession. They provide advice and representation to their clients on a wide variety of legal issues, usually within the legal framework of their country of residence.

One important difference between a Notary and a Solicitor is that whereas a Solicitor's primary duty is to his client, the Notary's primary duty is to the transaction and the authenticity of the documents. As Notaries Public are recognised worldwide, they have to maintain absolute integrity and impartiality to maintain the standing of the Notarial profession.

What is Legalisation or Apostille?

Many countries also require notarised documents to be 'legalised'. This is a system which exists all round the world, not just in the UK. Legalisation is a double check to make sure that the Notary's signature is genuine. All Notaries' signatures and seals are recorded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Once the authenticity of the signature is confirmed a certificate is attached, called an "Apostille". Documents may also need to be checked by foreign embassies to make sure that the Notary's signature matches the one on their records. The requirement for this will depend on the foreign country involved.

Documents in a foreign language

If a document requiring notarisation is in a foreign language it may be necessary for the document to be translated by an official translator who will then have to sign a statutory declaration certifying that it is a true translation.

What identification does a Notary Public require?

One essential part of a Notary's work is to identify the people whom they see. This has always been a part of the Notary's records to ensure that documents are correctly signed and may be relied on by persons overseas.

Following the implementation of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, Notaries are now obliged to keep sufficient evidence on their files of the identity and the address of all their clients before they undertake any work.

Each person whose signature they are to certify must provide one of the following original identification documents at the time of the appointment.

Valid passport
Driving licence (with photo card)

In addition, they require proof of residence, which can be one of the following original documents:

Up to date printed Bank statement
Recent Inland revenue tax demand or self assessment statement

When a Notary Public is acting for a corporate client, evidence of the due incorporation of the company or entity is required. The Notary will usually wish to make their own enquiries of the Companies Registry to obtain some documents such as:

Extract from the company register
Certificate of incorporation
Latest report and audited accounts
Up to date certified copy of partnership agreement
Evidence of being regulated by a regulatory body

In addition to the above, each individual signatory will need to produce one of the identification documents mentioned above.

What does it cost?

An early indication of the costs can usually be given in advance but so that we can establish the charges please tell us the following:

What service you need - witnessing signatures, certifying copy documents, obtaining Apostille etc
The type of documents concerned - e.g. is it a Power of Attorney?
Who is signing or presenting the documents - are they personal papers or for a Company?
How many documents are there?
Which country they are to go to.

Information and Scale of Charges

Minimum Fee - simple ID, capacity check and Signature	£95.00
Notarial Act – e.g Power of Attorney, Certify doc etc	£125.00
Second person – Add per person	£25.00
Second document etc - Add per document	£20.00
Arrange Apostille – Up to 4 documents	£65.00
Arrange legalisation by Embassy	£45.00
Attendance outside my Office - minimum	£75.00
Non quoted time: My Hourly Charge rate	£250.00
Land Registry ID1 Identification	from £45.00

Disbursements
Pay Foreign Office Fees for Apostille per document	£40.00
Pay London Agent and Courier per document	£37.50
Pay International Courier including tracking details, scan reporting etc	£65.00
Premium Foreign Office – (24 hour service) Per document	£75.00
Premium London Couriers Per document - Courier to collect and deliver.	£55.00
Economy Fees overseas from (FCO Courier)	£15.50
Embassy Fees vary for different Embassies. Please enquire -

All fees are inclusive of VAT where appropriate.

Please visit the contact me page to obtain a quotation.

Regulatory Information

I am Regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

My Professional Insurance cover is from £1,000,000.

My complaints procedure is set out here.