Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

UK notarial and public document legalisation: FCDO Apostille, consular legalisation and e-Apostille

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Practice notes

Legalisation

Most papers that a notary public or a scrivener notary attest are intended to have effect in a country or jurisdiction outside England and Wales. Legalisation is the method by which one state, eg England and Wales, confirms to another state, ie the receiving jurisdiction, that the signature and seal of a public official, such as a notary, are genuine, following checks against its register. As the receiving jurisdiction has no independent means of knowing whether the notary’s seal and signature are authentic, the notary’s signature and seal may need to be legalised by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and, on occasion, a foreign Embassy, Consulate or High Commission, to evidence the notary’s status. The process is complex and varies with the receiving jurisdiction’s requirements, so specialist advice should always be sought.

Legalisation by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Many states are signatories to the Hague Convention of 5th October 1961 (Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents) (the Hague Convention 1961), meaning a document may require only an Apostille from the Legalisation Office of the FCDO, based in Milton Keynes and London...

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Jenny Bird

Macfarlanes

Jenny advises individuals, families, executors and trustees primarily based in the UK on a wide variety of UK tax, trust, succession and estate planning issues.Jenny has broad experience in many aspects of the law that individuals encounter on a day-to-day basis including advising on and setting up trusts, administering estates, drafting wills and providing tax advice. She is part of our probate team and since qualifying as an associate in 2010, she has been involved with the administration of complex and high-value estates, including estates with cross-border elements and estates where offers in lieu of inheritance tax have been made.Jenny qualified as a Notary Public in August 2015 and is able to provide notarial services to individuals and companies.Jenny is a member of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) and the Notaries...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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