Solicitor vs Notary Certification for Australian Documents

If the document is leaving Australia, you usually need a notarial certification, because that is what DFAT can apostille or authenticate and what foreign authorities rely on. If it is staying in Australia, a solicitor's certification is usually enough, and so, often, is a free Justice of the Peace or another authorised person.

Key takeaways

• A solicitor's certification is a domestic act: an endorsement on a copy by one of many occupations authorised to certify for Australian purposes.
• A notarial certification is a certificate under the notary's signature and official seal, recorded in their register, which DFAT can act on.
• Most Australian notaries are also solicitors. For overseas use, make sure they sign as a notary, not as a solicitor.
• Some overseas banks and universities list "a solicitor" as an acceptable certifier. Confirm in writing that an Australian solicitor is meant and that no apostille is needed.
• Neither certification says the contents of a document are true or valid.

One person, two different acts

The twist that catches people out is that the same person can often give you either certification. Most Australian notaries are experienced solicitors who hold a separate notarial appointment, made in most states by the Supreme Court and in Queensland through the Court of Faculties in England. If your solicitor is a notary and the document is going overseas, they need to sign as a notary. A certification signed in their capacity as a solicitor will not carry the document through DFAT, however senior the person who signed it.

As a solicitor, they are one of the many occupations commonly authorised to certify copies and witness documents for Australian purposes. The certification is an endorsement on the copy with their signature, the date and their description as a lawyer. It is a domestic act, and it is recognised because Australian lists of authorised certifiers include lawyers.

As a notary, they perform a notarial act. They issue a notarial certificate under their signature and official seal, usually attached or bound to the document, and they record the act in their permanent notarial register. DFAT checks a notary's signature and seal against the specimens it holds before it adds an apostille or authentication. A solicitor's endorsement is not a notarial act, so it is generally not something DFAT can act on, even when the solicitor is, in another capacity, a notary.

The practical differences

Point	Solicitor certification	Notarial certification
Authority comes from	Authorised-certifier lists for domestic purposes	Appointment as a notary under state or territory arrangements
Recognised overseas	Generally not, with some institutional exceptions	Yes, usually with DFAT's certificate added
DFAT apostille or authentication	Generally not available	Available
Form	An endorsement written or stamped on the copy	A notarial certificate under seal, usually bound to the document
Record	No notarial register	Entered in a permanent register
Identity checking	As the receiver's rules require	To the standard foreign authorities rely on
Cost	Varies; sometimes folded into an existing matter	A notarial fee, usually per act

The register matters more than it looks. Because a notary keeps a permanent record of each act, a foreign authority that doubts a certificate years later can ask the notary to confirm it. Our article on the notarial register explains what is recorded.

When a solicitor's certification is the right choice

• An Australian government department, bank, employer or university lists solicitors among its acceptable certifiers.
• Documents for the Department of Home Affairs, where a copy certified by an authorised person is usually enough and a notary is often not needed. Check the instructions for your application on the Home Affairs site.
• An affidavit for an Australian court, where the court's rules allow a solicitor to take it.
• Your solicitor is already acting for you in the matter and the receiver is Australian. It is simply convenient.

In each case a notarial certificate would usually be accepted too, but you would be paying for international recognition you do not need. For many of these, a Justice of the Peace would also do, at no cost. See notary or JP for that comparison.

When only a notarial certification will do

1. The document needs an apostille, for a Hague Convention destination, or DFAT authentication followed by embassy legalisation, for a destination outside it.
2. It is going to a foreign government, court, registry or immigration authority.
3. The foreign instruction says "notary public", "notarised" or "before a notary".
4. It is a company document for a foreign registry, or a power of attorney meant to operate in another country.

Hague membership changes, so check your destination on the HCCH status table at the time you are acting. Some original Australian public documents, such as registry certificates, can go to DFAT directly with no certification at all; confirm with DFAT first. Our document notarisation and apostille and authentication pages cover both steps, and which documents can be apostilled sets out what DFAT accepts.

The grey area: overseas institutions that list "a solicitor"

Some overseas institutions, more often banks, universities and professional bodies than governments, publish a list of acceptable certifiers that includes solicitors or lawyers, and ask for no apostille. Where that is the written requirement, a solicitor's certification may be all you need.

Before relying on it, confirm two things in writing: that a solicitor admitted in Australia is acceptable, because the list may have meant solicitors in its own jurisdiction, and that no further authentication is required. Ask too whether they want the solicitor's practising details on the endorsement. If any answer is unclear, the notarial route is the one that cannot be refused on this ground.

Certification is not advice on the contents

A notarial certificate proves that a copy matches an original the notary has sighted, or that a particular person signed in front of the notary. It does not say the document is valid, enforceable or in your interests. Our article on the legal effect of a notarial certificate covers this in more depth.

For wills, deeds, property transfers, guardianship and powers of attorney, the execution and the content are separate questions. You may need a solicitor's advice on what the document does as well as a notary's act on how it was signed. The same practitioner may be able to provide both, but they are two pieces of work, and it is worth being clear which one you are asking for. For documents with legal consequences, see a solicitor about the content before anyone certifies or witnesses it.

Witnessing signatures follows the same split

Everything above about certified copies applies equally to signatures. A solicitor can witness a statutory declaration or, where the court's rules allow, take an affidavit for use in Australia. A notary can do both too, but for a foreign receiver the notary does something more: they confirm who you are to the standard foreign authorities rely on, satisfy themselves that you understand the document and are signing freely, administer the oath or affirmation where one is needed, and attach a certificate that DFAT can then authenticate.

That extra step is why a statutory declaration witnessed by a solicitor for an Australian employer is perfectly valid here, while the same declaration sent to a foreign ministry usually is not. The form of words can be identical. What differs is whether there is a notarial act behind the signature. If a foreign authority has sent you its own declaration form, take that form to the notary unsigned rather than signing it earlier before someone else.

How to ask for the right one

Say what the document is for when you book, and name the destination country and the receiving body. Then check the finished document before you leave.

Do not unbind the pages afterwards. A notarial certificate is often fixed to the document with a ribbon or seal, and separating them can mean the certificate no longer describes what it is attached to.

If DFAT has already refused a solicitor's copy

Return to a notary with the original. A solicitor's endorsement cannot be upgraded or countersigned into a notarial act, and a notary cannot certify a copy of a copy. If your solicitor is a notary, they can perform a fresh notarial act; the original document is not wasted, only the earlier certification. See what makes a notarial act invalid for other reasons a certificate can fail.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

An accountant in Canberra is applying for registration with a professional body in the United Kingdom and a work permit for a country outside the Hague Convention. The professional body's written list includes "a solicitor admitted in any Commonwealth country", so a solicitor's certification of her degree is enough there. The work permit is different: the foreign ministry wants the degree notarised and legalised. Her university verifies the degree, a notary issues a certificate stating the original was verified with the university, DFAT authenticates it, and the embassy legalises it. Two receivers, two different certifications, both correct.

In short

A solicitor's certification is a domestic act, and it is enough when the receiver is Australian or has said in writing that an Australian solicitor will do. A notarial certificate is what DFAT and foreign authorities act on. When your solicitor is also a notary, ask them to sign as a notary for anything going overseas, and check for the seal before you leave.

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