What will it cost?
My fees are based on an hourly charging rate of £185.00 per hour (no VAT at the present time). Where documents have already been prepared and no extra work and/or communications with enquirers, foreign lawyers or other 3rd parties are necessary I will charge £85.00 to notarise the first document and £40.00 per subsequent document.
Where extra work and/or communications as mentioned above are necessary or I have to come and see you in your home or other premises I will charge on an hourly basis and will be pleased to provide a costs estimate at the beginning of the matter – if it transpires during the matter that my costs estimate will alter I will communicate that to you as soon as this becomes apparent.
In addition, depending on the country or territory where the notarised document(s) are to be sent, it may also be necessary to obtain the Hague Convention Apostille from the UK Foreign Office. At present this costs £30.00 per document plus £5.50 to be returned by courier to you or other address in the UK – at the present time this takes about a week from start to finish although this may vary and the Foreign Office website states the approximate time taken on any given day. If there is great urgency to obtain the apostille(s) the premium legalisation service in London is available at a cost at present of £75.00 per document plus my Legalisation Agents’ fees. Further, some countries also require separate legalisation by their own Embassies – if this is the case I will enquire as to the fee and timescale together with my Legalisation Agents’ fee.
If I am asked to act as a Commissioner for Oaths for an affidavit or statutory declaration to be used in England and Wales I will charge the statutory fee for this service which at present is £5.00 per document and £2.00 per exhibit (no VAT).
What is involved
I will need to see you personally. You must produce your current passport, driving licence or other similar photo identification together with up to date evidence of your home address. I may also need to see other document(s). Any necessary verification of educational or other certificates will then have to be dealt with and once they are verified I can then sign and notarise the document(s) concerned. If you wish me to arrange apostille(s) and, if required Embassy legalisation I will then instruct my Legalisation Agents to arrange this, provided that my costs and other outgoings have been paid beforehand. As mentioned above, I will let you know the total estimated timescale involved. Once all this has been dealt with then, unless you instruct me to the contrary, I will arrange for the notarised and legalised documents to be returned to you directly.