What is a Notary Public in South Africa?
A Notary Public is an attorney authorized and admitted by the High Court of South Africa to witness signatures, draw up, and attest contracts and statements. They are also empowered to authenticate the validity of a variety of public documents.
What is an International Notary?
An international notary is a public officer that generally practices as a solicitor or attorney in a foreign country. These professionals have also been admitted as Notary Public in that country.
Who must be present when a Notary in South Africa signs a document?
This largely depends on where the document will be used. Some foreign authorities require documents to be signed in the presence of a Notary Public. In addition, one or more witnesses might also be requested to be present along with the Notary Public. Once the document is notarised, it might have to be authenticated, apostilled, or legalised by the High Court, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), or other government offices, depending on the nature of the document.
Is a notarised copy the same as a certified copy?
Although similar in nature, a notarised copy of a document holds more validity. Certified copies of original documents are certified by a Commissioner of Oaths in South Africa. The Commissioner of Oaths endorsed the document with his or her stamp to validate that it is a true copy of the original document.
A notarised copy of a document is affixed with a Notary Public stamp or seal. The document’s contents are verified against the copy to ensure no amendments have been made to the document. After the document has been notarised, the Notary Public issues a collation certificate.
Do notarised documents expire?
This depends on the requesting authority’s regulations and the process for which the document is intended to be used.