chachagal

I recently moved back to the UK after living in the US for many years. I need to make my Ex wife my Power of Attorney so she can sign mortgage paperwork on my behalf. She is a US citizen residing in the US. Should this Power of Attorney agreement, which was generated in the US, be notarized by a US Notary? Or would a UK Notary suffice?

Sue

I don't have any personal experience of this at all to share. But doing a quick search I pulled up this:
"In best case circumstances, the foreign citizen issuing the power of attorney should notarize the document with a licensed USA notary; for the notarization to be proper, the notary must either see the person sign the document or the person signing must attest to the notary that the signature is his or hers." from here

Wikidpedia says this: "Signatures and notarization
In order for a power of attorney to be a legal document it must be signed and dated at a minimum by both the principal and by the agent. This alone, however, is not usually considered sufficient if the legality of the document is ever challenged by a third party. Having the document reviewed and signed (and often stamped) by a notary public increases the likelihood of withstanding such a challenge. However, such notarization is not always necessary for such a document to be considered legal—in California and in South Carolina a power of attorney is considered legally valid by the state if it is signed by the principal, by the agent, and then either by two witnesses OR by a single notary public;[2] In Arizona and Illinois, a power of attorney requires notarization and the signature of at least one witness. Each state has specific process and it is important to confirm the most recent version"

On eHow they write about "Apostilles" for foreign documents: "Apostilles are an internationally recognized way of verifying the authenticity of one country's official document to another country. For example, if a United States citizen needed to present her United States birth certificate to the government of Italy, the birth certificate would have to contain an apostille for the Italian government to accept it. To get apostilles for United States government documents, each state has a different procedure, but the secretary of the specific state the document was issued in typically issues the apostille. In New York, the New York Department of State issues apostilles on official documents created in…"


So I'm sorry I couldn't really answer your question, but hopefully the above will give you some points of reference from which to start from.

DDL

I would contact the American Embassy. I think they have special notaries and would know how to handle the signing of an American POA whilst the principle resides in the UK.

Having a document - any document - notarised by a UK notary is very expensive. Normally, Solicitors are the notaries over here. It's not like in the States where virtually anyone can become a notary (I was one in South Carolina) and most of those don't even charge anything. (I never did.)

It certainly would have been easier for you to have signed, notarised and recorded that POA whilst you were still in the States. Also remember to revoke the POA once everything is done and dusted. Hopefully your lawyer worded the POA correctly.

And remember: in the US, a notary public is only attesting to the signature - that the person signing the document is the person they say they are. A notary public does not attest that the document is legal, binding, etc.

I'm a [former] US Legal Secretary and have seen many a POA scenario go wrong.

canadian_critic

Can you find someone in UK who has the powers to notarize US legal agreements. I have no idea whether that's better than a solicitor, except their credentials would be easier to verify and less likely to raise an eyebrow for the US courts / ex-wife's counsel.

I find it a bit odd that you're doing it this way though. Regardless of the fact you obviously trust your ex-wife, and I'm sure you have good reason to, having her act on your behalf is possibly a conflict of interest as far as the law stands, and may cause you problems and delays wrapping up the deal. Ideally you need someone independent of the transaction to represent you, who you'd give POA.

Mummy in the foothills

I did ours while in the US, it was a limited one only giving permission to sell the house and collect the money. Maybe you can get your US half to send the actual papers needed and you can sign them and notarize them in UK through these guys

DDL

I'm not sure a UK notary can notarise a US document because it was my understanding that, over here, when a document is notarised, the notary is actually attesting to the document itself, its legality, etc., (that's why it costs so much money) whereas in the US, a US notary is only attesting to the signature. Don't see how a UK notary could attest to the legality of a US document?

But I could be wrong. (Certainly wouldn't be the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Mummy in the foothills

According to the site they attest to the legality of the signature same as in US making sure the person signing is the person who is listed on the paperwork. They happen to also be UK lawyers where in the US they aren't.
From the site it says.

What a Notary Does

Many notaries provide a service for commercial firms engaged in international trade, and for private individuals. The most common tasks are:

* Preparing and witnessing powers of attorney for use overseas

DDL

Right, but as a UK firm I'm thinking they would be 'preparing and witnessing UK powers of attorney for use overseas'.

But probably good idea for OP to ring them and ask. This would be good info to share, as well.

osgood

It would be easier if you got the notarised power of atty in the state where your property is,or are you just changing deed's,names on mortgage..i have used power of atty notarised from europe but it confuses the hell out of bank's,mortgage-co...etc...much easier with the state's notary's..