Navigating the legal complexities of international transactions can be overwhelming. At Van Eden Law, we offer a unique service, Florida Civil-Law Notarial Services, helping individuals and businesses with connections to civil-law jurisdictions (Europe and South America) navigate transnational transactions seamlessly.
A “Civil-Law Notary” means a person who is a member in good standing of The Florida Bar, who has practiced law for at least five years, and who is appointed by the Secretary of State as a civil-law notary. The Civil Law Notary must take a course and pass an examination on the nature of notarial practice in civil-law jurisdictions and on the purposes of and uses for authentic acts.
According to Florida law, the Civil-Law Notary “is authorized to issue authentic acts and thereby may authenticate or certify any document, transaction, event, condition, or occurrence” and “[t]he contents of an authentic act and matters incorporated therein shall be presumed correct.” Each authentic act must contain a statement that “[the] authentic act is legally equivalent to the authentic acts of civil-law notaries in all jurisdictions outside the geographic borders of the United States.”
Practical Uses
What distinguishes a Florida Civil Law Notary is that he or she is authorized to authenticate documents not merely by witnessing a signature or taking an oath, but also by verifying and confirming the truth of the statements contained in the documents. When appropriate, a Florida Civil-Law notary also may verify and confirm the applicable law and include that verification in the authentic act.
Examples of uses of the Florida Civil-Law Notary include:
In example “1” above, it is should be noted as an authentic act, the statements contained in the authentic act are taken as true, and not merely matters of legal opinion from a biased lawyer. It is also significant to the weight given to the authentic act that an appointed and disinterested officer of the state made the statements rather than a private lawyer.
Other common uses include proving identity and relationship for spousal or family pension and survivorship benefits, authenticating school transcripts and work records, and authenticating certified copies of United States federal and state court judgments for domestication in a civil-law jurisdiction. Additionally, the Florida Civil-Law Notarial power is used to prove any circumstance where a proof of the authenticity and accuracy of a document is required, such as in foreign litigations. The Florida Civil-Law Notary may also perform the solemnization of marriages outside of the territorial limits of the state of Florida
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