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Apostille Local Certifying Documents

Not often, but there are times you need to get your document Apostilled/ Certified. This may have you scratching your head and wondering where you start. Not to worry, it is not as complicated as you may think. I will walk through the process.

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Apostille Local Certifying Documents

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  1. Apostille Local Certifying Documents Not often, but there are times you need to get your document Apostilled/ Certified. This may have you scratching your head and wondering where you start. Not to worry, it is not as complicated as you may think. I will walk through the process. We are only going to be discussing documents that will be going to your local Clerks office or your State’s Secretary department. Those documents that need to go to the State Department may have more steps, and I will write a blog on that at another time. When you are asked to get your document Apostille/Certified, it does not mean your document is legal. It means that the Secretary of your State, or local Court Clerk has given “full faith and credit” to the official’s seal and signature. Okay – I know, you are asking WHAT??? WHO??? WHAT??? This simply means that they will be looking at who notarized your document, and if that person is in good standing and a commissioned notary for that State or County/City. It is particularly important that you go to a Notary that is in good standing and knows what they are doing in. I have seen documents returned because the document was not notarized correctly. All notarized documents must contain: 1) the notarial statement, 2) date, 3) city and state, 4) expiration of the date of the notary’s commission, 5) notary registration number, 6) stamp/seal and 7) the notary’s signature. Once your document has been notarized correctly, it will need to be authenticated. Documents that need to be authenticated for use in the U.S. and its territories are called Notary Authentication Certificates. These documents will need to go to the Circuit Court where the notary took his/her oath. If you are doing this yourself, you will need to contact the notary and ask where they took their oath. For documents that will be used outside of the U.S. and its territories, your document will need to go to the Secretary of the Commonwealth/State. The office will be in your state capital. Document generally apostilled by the Secretary of State/Commonwealth’s office will be but not limited to: affidavits, agreements, articles of incorporation, bylaws, commercial invoices, copy of Passports (identification page only), deeds of assignment, diplomas, home study, income verification, power of attorney, single status, transcripts, and other business documents. There are documents that will not be notarized, but still need to get an apostille. Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates and Death Certificates are documents that cannot have a True Copy certificatenotarized. The actual document will need to be apostille. In most cased, it will need to be issued for your State’s Vital Statistic and be issued in last 12 months. Court documents like Divorce Decrees and Judgments, you will need get a certified copy from the recording Circuit Court. This means, if you filed for divorce in Dallas, you will need to go to the Circuit Court in Dallas to get a certified copy of your Divorce Decree, then send it to our Secretary of State/Commonwealth’s Authentication department.

  2. To recap, to get your document Apostilled or Certified you will need to: Get your document notarized by a trusted notary Determine if the document will be used in the U.S. or overseas Take or send your document to the appropriate Circuit Court or Secretary of State/Commonwealth office Of course, nothing is for free. There will be a cost involved. These could include the notary cost, court fees, apostille fees, and mailing/overnight cost to name a few. So please be aware that you will have to pay to get this done. Also, as I mentioned at the start of this blog -some documents will need to go to the U.S. State Department in D. C. These typically will include Federally Issued Documents. Again, I will do a short blog on this subject. One last important note: Remote and Electronically Notarized Documents will not be Apostilled. You must get your document traditional notarized. Before getting your document remote online notarized, ensure that the document will not be used in another country. Hopefully, this has taken the “OH MY” out of the “I need to get this document Apostilled” process. If you need any help, Hampton Roads Notary Public notaries are here to help. Just fill out the Apostille request form. For more info log on to: https://hamptonroadsnotarypublic.com/blog/apostille-local-certifying- documents Contact Us: Hampton Roads Notary Public 56 Chowning Dr. Hampton Virginia 23664 USA 757-224-8693 757-343-4161

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