Hague Convention
New York Mobile Notary offers an end to end Apostille Service. We come to your home or office to properly Notarize the document. We also retrieve documents that have already been been notarized. Upon arrival, we inspect the document to make sure that is has been properly executed and notarized with the correct verbiage on the document. We then in turn take the document to the respective County Clerk and then to the Department of State. We either hand deliver or Federal Express the apostilled document back to the signatory or their client.
Our prices are very competitive with discounts applied to multiple documents. Our turnaround time is 24 hours.
Apostille
An Apostille (pronounced App-oh-steel) is a French word meaning certification. It is a standard certification that many governments, both foreign and domestic, use to certify that a document is genuine and can be officially recognized.
If a document is going to be used overseas a simple notarization may not be enough, you might be asked to have your documents apostilled. This is known as ‘Superlegalization’ or ‘Legalization of documents for overseas use’. The validation of documents, for use in another country used to be a tedious job involving a chain of paper work. To bypass this, all you have to do is get your documents apostilled. Once apostilled, your document is recognized worldwide. Not all countries can issue an apostille, only the country members of The Hague Convention can issue an apostille.
Apostille is the legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention. Countries around the world have adopted this validation procedure for its simplicity and worldwide acceptance.
Apostille certificates are issued by a state government only for documents which have been signed by a Notary Public of that same state. Once a document has been Apostilled, thereby providing official government authentication of the signatures and stamps appearing on it, it is automatically deemed “legalized” for use in another member country.
Apostille certificates are issued by the Secretary of State of the government only for those documents which have been properly notarized by a Notary Public of that same state. It does not certify that the original document’s content is correct, however. They are one page documents embossed with the Great Seal of a State. An Apostille certificate can be obtained for virtually any public document. An Apostille is effective upon the date it is issued. An Apostille cannot be “back-dated.”
If the country where the document will be used is not a party to The Hague Convention, you will have to begin the cumbersome, time-consuming process of obtaining a series of certifications known as the “legalization”.
The “Apostille” attests to the validity of the signature of the notary public, county official or state official, but not of the underlying signature nor of the contents of the document.
An apostille certifies the authenticity of the issuing official’s or notary public’s signature on the document, the capacity in which the person has acted, and identifies the seal/stamp which the document bears. Any receiving party can verify the authenticity of an issued apostille by comparing the apostille number and date to the information in the apostille register.
An Apostille consists of the following elements:
1. the name of country from which the document emanates;
2. the name of person signing the document;
3. the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted;
5. the place of certification;
6. the date of certification;
7. the authority issuing the certificate;
8. the seal or stamp of authority issuing certificate; and
9. the signature of authority issuing certificate.
The state authority must follow specific guidelines in affixing the apostille to public documents. An Apostille must be placed directly on the public document itself or on a separate attached page (called an allonge). Apostilles may be affixed by various means, including rubber stamps, self-adhesive stickers, impressed seals, etc. If an Apostille is placed on an allonge, the letter can be attached to the underlying public document by a variety of means, including glue, grommets, staples, ribbons, wax seals, etc. While all of these means are acceptable under The Hague Convention, Competent Authorities are encouraged to use more secure methods of affixation so as to safeguard the integrity of the Apostille. You should never detach an Apostille, regardless of whether it is placed directly on the public document or on an allonge.
Certification or Authentication of Notarized Documents
There are certain documents which after being notarized, need to be certified or authenticated. This is performed by the county clerk where the notary is commissioned or has a good character card on file. It is imperative for the signature of the notary on the notarized document, to be a perfect match with the signature on file with the county clerk. For if the signature on file does not match the signature on the notarized document, the document cannot be authenticated and must be redone.
The certification or authentication of a document is extremely important because it allows for a notarized document to be recorded. The recordation of a document gives constructive notice to the world that a specific event, transaction or statement was memorialized by the document. Many jurisdictions or document recipients require certification and authentication. In addition, a certified or authenticated document allows a document to be read into evidence. In today’s litigious society, the ability of certain documents to be read into evidence can be crucial for the testimony of a plaintiff or defendant.
New York Mobile Notary offers the fastest possible turnaround (24 hours) for documents which need to be certified or authenticated in the following Counties:
Please view the specific statutes below of the Notary Public License Law, Executive Law 132 and 133 which details Certificates of Official Character and Certification of Notarial Signatures.
Executive Law 132
The county clerk of the county in which the commission of a notary public is filed may certify to the official character of such notary public and any notary public may file his or her autograph signature and a certificate of official character in the office of any county clerk of any county in the State and in any register’s office in any county having a register and thereafter such county clerk may certify as to the official character of such notary public.
Certification of Notarial Signatures
The county clerk of a county in whose office any notary public has qualified or has filed his or her autograph signature and a certificate of official character, shall, when so requested and upon payment affix to any certificate of proof or acknowledgment or oath signed by such notary anywhere in the State of New York, a certificate under his hand and seal, stating that a commission or a certificate of his or her official character with his or her autographed signature has been field in his office, and that he was at the time of taking such proof or acknowledgment or oath duly authorized to take the same: that he is well acquainted with the handwriting of such notary public or has compared the signature on the certificate of proof or acknowledgment or oath with the autograph signature deposited in his office by such notary public and believes that the signature is genuine. An instrument with such certificate of authentication of the county clerk affixed thereto shall be entitled to be read in evidence or recorded in any of the counties of this state in respect to which a certificate of a county clerk may be necessary for either purpose.