Notary

A full range of notarial services is available at our firm including certification of documents, notarial certificates and witnessing of documents.

Please have the following information available when you contact us for an appointment:

full name, address and contact telephone number
description of document
name of country requiring the document
number of people to attend and sign
number of copies of document to be signed or certified
company details if a company is involved; this may include production of company constitution, preparation of a statutory declaration by director or the attendance of directors to sign on behalf of the company; the company seal may also be required.
whether a certificate is provided on the document, usually the certificate is prepared by us
whether a copy of the document can be faxed or emailed to us with a copy of any covering letter from your local or overseas lawyers, patent attorneys, government department or commercial associates
details of available identification including Australian or overseas passport, overseas identity card if applicable or Victoria Driver Licence; identification should be current for all signatories
if a certificate is required on witnessing a signature please advise how the person will sign e.g. "J. Smith, John Smith, John P. Smith, John Paul Smith, etc."

Costs

Our costs can usually be estimated after we see the documents and obtain information set out above. Typical costs range from $110.00 to witness a single document to upwards of $500.00 for more complex matters.

Appointments

Normally if we have documents in advance only one appointment is necessary. We usually prepare any necessary certificates before your appointment. This is more efficient for you, much faster and less expensive. Appointments out of the office will involve an additional charge.

Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade - document legalisation service

Details of the fees charged by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) are available from their website, www.dfat.gov.au. Please note the location of the Melbourne office and the usual office hours.

From 1 July 2015 all face-to-face service delivery will be provided by the Australian Passport Offices in all capital cities.

General telephone and email enquiries are now handled by the Australian Passports Information Service (APIS). The "document legalisation request form" is available from the Smart Traveller website at http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/services/legalising-documents-australia.html

Payment to DFAT must be by EFTPOS (in person) or credit card (Visa and MasterCard).

Office hours in Melbourne are currently 8.30 am to 1.00 pm.

To check whether an appointment to lodge documents for legalisation in the Australian Passports Office is necessary you should check the website before attending the office.

A link to the Smart Traveller website is provided here: www.smarttraveller.gov.au

Other Embassies & Consulates

Fees vary for each country. Telephone enquiries will usually be answered without delay by the respective embassies and consular offices.

Interpretation & Translation

In some circumstances interpretation may be required. Similarly an official translation of written documents may be needed. Please advise us if any document is in a language other than English and if the person signing is not literate in English and the language of the document.

Copying

We have facilities for black and white and colour copying to A4. In some circumstances larger documents can be reduced in size to A4. The reduction in size will be noted on any certificate attached to a copy.

Naturally you must produce the original document for examination by us even if you have arranged your own copying.

Visit our law firm for more.