If you are buying, selling or remortgaging property in the USA you may be sent a bundle of documents to be signed, some of which must be notarised and some just need to be signed. The documents to be notarised would usually include a warranty deed and affidavits.
A notary public in the USA does not need to be a lawyer and it is very common for documents to be notarised in the States. It is an administrative function and your realtor may be surprised at the fees and requirements of notaries outside of the USA.
Our experience has shown that even though “notarized” means something different in America, you will still need to get the documents “notarised” by a notary public in the UK. A solicitor will not be accepted.
Some States in the US, e.g. Florida, have started to ask for the notarised documents to be legalised (or apostilled) before they will be accepted as legally binding. This means that the notarised documents need to be sent to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office for legalisation before we send them back to the USA.
If you require a notary appointment to deal with documents for the USA please complete an enquiry form and we will respond to you straight away.