What documents can be certified by the notary seal




Often, transactions require the services of notary stamps and seals to certify documents. In some cases, it is a prerequisite, while in others the certification by a legal witness is just insurance for the parties. There is a need to understand in what situations documents can become invalid if you don't ask for help from a specialist. Usually notary ink color is blue, but it can be red and even green.

Peculiarities of the procedure for attesting documents with a notary's seal

Initially, one should comprehend that "notarization" isn't mentioned in Article 35 of the "Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on Notaries," signifying its non-legislative nature, existing solely in informal conversation.. In fact, notaries are engaged in:
  • certifying transactions;
  • certification of the time of presentation of documents;
  • lifting or imposing a ban;
  • certifying the authenticity of a copy of a document, and so on.
All of these are usually called "certifications," but as you can see, all the procedures performed by a notary have an official name. You can learn about all the procedures performed by a notary with a notary seal inserted from the law "On Notaries". In it, you can find a list of all the conditions for the documents that must be certified by a notary.

Benefits in certification and attestation of documents by a notary

A document certified by a notary will have a higher legal value because it is checked for the correctness of the form of filling in, the participants of its signing were confirmed, and they were in their right mind and good memory. A specialist before placing a custom notary embosser in this procedure does some work:
  1. Checking the documents for a legal basis for the transaction;
  2. Can perform clarification of the terms of the transaction from a legal point of view;
  3. Verifies the legal capacity of people, and must also make sure that both parties are mentally sound and sign the documents by consent;
  4. Assists in uncovering parties' intentions in a transaction prior to document signing.
notary seal or stampNotably, png copies were provided to both agreement-signing parties and retained by the notary. That is if you lose the document you can always go to a specialist who was a witness to the transaction and get a copy of the original documents. We would like to clarify that copies certified by a notary have the same legal force as the originals.

Transactions certified by a personalized notary stamp are quite difficult to challenge through the courts. Since the specialist is not an interested witness, they made sure that all parties signing the contract were in an adequate state and acted voluntarily.

List of documents to be attested

All documents that are provided to notaries and certified by fresh ink for notary stamps can be divided into two groups:
  • Documents that are required to be notarized with notary stamp image and witnessed by a notary. Without it, they are simply invalid and therefore have no legal effect;
  • Non-obligatory documents. They are certified by an expert with the voluntary consent of both parties.
Here is a list of mandatory documents to be witnessed by notary certificate stamps:
  1. Wills;
  2. Marriage contracts and agreements;
  3. Registration of LLCs;
  4. Translations of official documents;
  5. Powers of attorney and their copies;
  6. Package of documents authorizing children's travel abroad to the Russian Federation;
  7. Contracts of sale and purchase of the real estate, shares;
  8. Assignment of claims and transfer of debts.
Any procedure requires an individual package of documents to be submitted to the notary before he will put notary seal stamps. You should contact a specialist in advance for clarification.

Limitations on notarization of documents with custom notary seals

Sometimes a specialist may refuse the assurance service. Article forty-nine of the Law "On Notaries" lists the following grounds for refusal of placing a custom notary seal:
  • contradictions with the legislation of the Russian Federation;
  • If the right to act on the notarial procedure has been granted to another specialist;
  • if the notary has been approached by an incapacitated person, or who does not have certain powers;
  • inconsistency of the goals and conditions of the transaction with those prescribed in the documents;
  • provision of unconfirmed facts, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Stages of the procedure of drawing up contracts, followed by notary certification

All notaries carry out the notarization procedure according to a certain scheme. Let's discuss the whole procedure in the example of drawing up an agreement:
  1. Drafting of the document by a specialist. Every party in the transaction submits a document package for the notary's review, enabling them to compose the agreement.
  2. The specialist checks the personal data of the parties, and checks for consistency of names and other information.
  3. The legal capacity of the people who apply to the notary is checked.
  4. Drawing up the contract, explaining to the participants its essence and conditions.
  5. Putting signatures and seals.
It should be specified that certification of the document can be done without the first step if the necessary agreement already exists. Simply bring the existing document to the notary, who will then examine it and proceed to verify parties' personal information.

A successful transaction will require a witness who can legally certify and witness the documents. Not only is this necessary for the papers to be legally enforceable, but notary certification will be insurance for all parties involved. Challenging this document in court proves difficult since the expert verified individuals' legal capacity, sobriety, and good health during signing.

The notary should be consulted both for mandatory certification and witnessing of documents, and for the registration of optional papers for this procedure. This way, the specialist will help protect you from fraudsters and avoid lengthy proceedings in any case.


Date of publication 2022-12-31