The primary purpose of a Notary Public is to ensure the authenticity of a person signing on a document.
This is commonly completed by reviewing the person's identity documents, comparing these to the person, witnessing the person sign a document, then comparing the signature in the document to the identification.
In this process, however, the Notary Public needs to follow through on additional actions, depending on the documents provided and the intent of the document.
For example, if the document is a Statutory Declaration, then the Notary Public may be administering an oath or an affirmation.
This includes confirming the person's willingness to sign the document and ensuring they are aware of the contents of the document.
If they are administering an oath or an affirmation, then the person signing needs to declare the oath or the affirmation at the time of signing, where they attest that they, to the best of their ability, understand and believe the contents to be true, for example.
Each document varies, so a Notary Public needs to be familiar with a variety of documents and how to administer these. Since many documents are to be used in other provinces, or even other countries, and sometimes in different languages, some Notary Publics are not familiar with each type or the varying differences required for each jurisdiction.
Agreements, of any kind, whether it is a business agreement, a separation agreement, or any document that has two, or more, parties signing that includes terms and arrangements where each party agree to. These can be signed with witnesses, then the witness can sign an Affidavit of Execution, where they attest that they witnessed the signature of the agreeing party.
Guarantees, specifically involving the Guarantees Acknowledgement Act, in Alberta can only be signed by a lawyer (or a Barristor or Solicitor). Our office commonly sees these from financial institutions. The bank says to "get it notarized", yet it does not mean the same thing.
There are many instances where an inexperienced Notary Public will sign these anyways, and the bank or the parties signing the agreements will accept them anyways. We can't say what will happen if they do, but if you can imagine the importance of the document and what could happen if there are any errors or issues years later, how this may cost you substantially more in time and money over the convenience of a signature and seal today.
This all depends on where you are sending it, or who is receiving it and what they require.
In Alberta, if the document is to be used here, then you should not need any further steps, other than providing it to whomever requested it.
If it is heading to another province, then most likely there are no other steps as well. All provinces and territories are able to verify the Notary Public by communicating with the respective justice office in each province or territory.
However, if it is heading outside of Canada, this is where it can be tricky to navigate.
Most of our clients that require a document heading overseas, they already have an idea of what is needed. Simply because the office or department instructing them to have the document notarized usually provides instructions for the document.
But this is not always the case. Or, the instructions are just not that clear.
Commonly, the document needs to accompany an Apostille. This is a term not used in Canada for Canadian authorities. It means to have a government-level authentication attached to the document so as to confirm the Notary Public is legitimate and authorized to administer the signing of the document.
Since foreign governments are unable to confirm with a Canadian provincial or territorial office of the Notary Public's authority, these countries will request the document be verified by Alberta Justice, for example, or Global Affairs Canada, the residing embassy or consulate for the country, or a combination of any of these three.
Not sure what the next step is? Contact our office here before you get your document notarized and we can see what you need to do next.