Cristina Leone Notary Public (incorporating the former Notarial Practice of Peter C Fletcher)
Notarial Times and Fees
Notarial Times and Fees
These notes are not exhaustive but are a preliminary guideline only. They interrelate with my accompanying notes: "General Guidance Notes For Notarial Appointments".
1. FEES: My present minimum fee for a brief matter is normally £70 + VAT, with an additional lesser fee for each additional document processed at the same time. I reserve the right to vary the rate, particularly in respect of extremely urgent and/or onerous or unusual matters.
2. VAT: I am registered (as a notary) for VAT.
3. DISBURSEMENTS: Additionally, clients are responsible for all disbursements, including such of the following as are applicable: (1) legalisation fees payable to the Foreign ,Commonwealth and Development Office and/or Embassies, etc; (2) translators'/interpreters' fees; (3) companies' registry fees; (4) agents; (5) travelling expenses, where applicable; (6) couriers' and/or other transmission costs.
4. PAYMENT: Notarial charges are normally payable upon signature/release of the notarised documentation, although subsequent work may remain to complete the matter.
5. SPECIAL FACTORS: There are a number which may affect the fee rate e.g. (1) complexity, difficulty or novelty; (2) skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility; (3) time; (4) number and importance of documents prepared or perused; (5) place and circumstances in which the business or any part is undertaken; (6) value of any money or property involved; (7) importance of the matter to the client; (8) urgency, disruption, dislocation/re-arrangement of other work; (9) work unavoidably undertaken out of office hours.
6. PLACE OF ATTENDANCE: Your personal attendance at my office is usually essential where my own photocopying and secretarial facilities are available as required. In exceptional cases justifying attendance at your own address, e.g. in the event of incapacity, special arrangements can be made but this inevitably increases time and expense.
7. TIME: Quite often, one appointment suffices, but fuller details emerging at the appointment may necessitate one or more further meeting(s), possibly the same day in cases of real urgency.
8. TIME CHARGE: This applies to all work undertaken from start to finish, including taking preliminary details and giving advice, preparing documents, attendances, drafting documents, phone calls, correspondence, faxing, legalisation and final work including writing up the Notarial Register and Protocol.
9. PREPARATION: This includes:
9.1 the consideration and/or drafting and/or engrossment of documents before, during or after interviews; 9.2 checking and dealing with: (a) any instructions accompanying the documents; (b) missing data; (c) vital accuracy of names/addresses and any variations; (d) any special requirements/formalities of the foreign country; 9.3 obtaining all requisite verifications.
10. URGENCY: Urgency and/or expense must not override essential accuracy and validity.
11. YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS:
11.1 Have you taken advice about this matter from: (a) your own English lawyer(s); and/or (b) relevant foreign lawyer(s), and/or; (c) other competent professional advisers, here or in the relevant country? 11.2 Are you taking the potentially huge risk of relying on documents prepared by another party or its adviser(s), without yourself taking independent legal or other competent professional advice? 11.3 Do you want, expect or hope that the notary will do this for you? 11.4 Are you trying to save time and/or money by attempting to cut corners?
12. COMPARATIVE FEES: If you have attended an English notary in the past, you may have been charged less/undercharged. But times and standards have changed, as indicated by these and my accompanying "GENERAL GUIDANCE NOTES FOR NOTARIAL APPOINTMENTS". My fees take into account the recommendations of the Notaries' Society, which state that it should not be assumed that all notaries will, or should, charge the same amount for the same work.
13. STANDARDS: Individual notaries do not write the rules but have to follow internationally recognised and acceptable procedures. Also, professional requirements in the U.K. have become more stringent and onerous through progressive assimilation of European notarial standards, and global developments affecting notarial practice.
14. STRINGENT RESPONSIBILITIES: Thus, whether you, your agents or other parties wish it or not, the notary as an independent scrutineer has to insist on satisfactory compliance with and/or reliable proof of all appropriate matters relating to: (1) your identity; (2) your legal capacity/authority; (3) your comprehension and approval; (4) interpretation/translation, (5) documentary objective; (6) form and substance; (7) voluntary act/undue influence; (8) prescribed formalities both at home and abroad; (9) due signature(s); (10) witnessing; (11) observance of other specified formalities at home and abroad; (12) Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or Consular legalisation.
15. RECIPIENT'S REQUIREMENTS: If the foreign country, authority or party with whom you are dealing stipulates that documents are to be notarised, then they will not settle for less. So it is pointless to try to take short cuts which will not be acceptable.
16. RISK OF REJECTION: If we do not do things by the book, unsatisfactory documents are likely to be rejected by the recipient country or authority and come back to you to start all over again, at greater expense and loss of time to you, and the risk of you missing a vital deadline or contract etc.
17. FOREIGN, COMMONWEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE (FCDO) AND/OR CONSULAR LEGISLATION: Some countries require notarised documents to receive further certification (usually termed "an Apostille") by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or legalisation by the relevant High Commission, Embassy or Consulate. The FCDO charges a fee for each document that it legalises. Consular legalisation fees vary depending on the country concerned. For more up-to-date information I suggest you take a look at the FCO Legalisation Department Website at https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised/
18. REGISTER & PROTOCOL: Once the matter is concluded, a formal register entry has to be made by the notary as a permanent record, and a protocol copy of the notarised documentations is customarily kept. Frequently, a fully executed set of duplicate originals is required, or advisable, to be retained by the notary. In some instances, the notary may retain the original and issue a certified copy.
[These notes are based very largely on ones kindly made available by T.E.N. Kemp Esq, Notary Public at Chelmsford]
