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The Notary is not a professional advisor he
is a witness of the state. There are many transactions, such as
the purchase of land, that the law requires that they be witnessed
by a Notary. The escritura of your house is signed and filed away
at the Notary and becomes an "escritura publica".
You will have a certified copy of the document and the original
remains with the Notary.
These are typical thing you might do at the Notary's
office.
- Signing the deeds (escritura) of a house.
- Signing the deeds (escritura) of a mortgage.
- Signing a will.
- Signing for a bank loan.
- Having you signature witnessed on a document.
- Setting up a power of attorney for yourself
of a company.
- Asking the notary to witness something.
- Registering the Charter (Escritura) of a Limited
Company.
- Registering the minutes of a community.
You can not instruct a Notary as you can a professional
advisor but a Notary or his assistant may be able to give you useful
advise.
A busy Notary's office is a fascinating place, indeed
a bewildering place especially to those who don't speak Spanish
and just wonder what is going on with people in suits walking around
and shaking hands moving in and out of rooms. Their offices are
fascinating places.
Normally you will not need to understand what is going on as your
lawyer will advise you. You will probably just sign on the dotted
line when he tells you to.
Procedure Overview
At the reception an appointment is booked for the signing.
All the parties involved must turn up at this time.
Your lawyer will organize with the assistant notary for a copy of
the document to be prepared so this can be checked. (If you wish
to know yourself exactly what you are signing for your only chance
is to get a copy of this document in advance so you can review it
at leisure). This checking may be done jointly by the lawyers of
all parties.
Sometimes there is a large number of people present.
Consider the case of the signing of the deeds for a property purchase.
There could be present:
- The buyer and spouse
- The sellers and spouse
- The buyers lawyer
- The sellers lawyer
- The sellers estate agent
- The notary and assistant
When all the parties can physically assemble in
one of the little rooms at the same time (sometimes a feat in itself)
the notary will arrive, bid everyone good day and print the document
from his computer. He will read out the main points so that everyone
understands and then invite the parties to sign it.
On the way out at the reception desk the document
can be collected and paid for. Your lawyers administrative staff
will probably return to do this later.
Notary Fees & Charges
Notary's fees are set by law and are based on the
value of the transaction. For example a Will may cost 75 Euro and
a witness of a signature 25 Euro, a Power of Attorney 45 Euro, a
property Escritura 300 Euro for a small apartment and 1000 euro
for a large villa. It can seem a lot of money at the time for one
signature but with it does come the obligation and infrastructure
to keep the documents safe and to be able to retrieve them on demand.
There is at least one Notary in each town. You can
choose which notary you use. Your lawyers usually choose the one
that is the most convenient geographically for all the parties.
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