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Legalisation & apostille

An experienced legal professional, I provide specialist legalisation and apostille services throughout Merseyside, the Wirral and beyond, supporting a truly diverse range of clients either at home or in the workplace.

Do you need legalisation support?

Just send me an email, give me a call or complete the contact form.

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Legalisation and apostille services, Liverpool and Wirral

Certain documents required for use overseas must first go through a process of further verification and approval - a process called legalisation.

This involves your documentation being sent directly to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, undergoing a series of checks to ensure that your notary public is authorised to carry out this type of work. For a small fee, they'll also verify that both the correct signature and seal have been used before attaching a certificate or 'apostille'.

Despite this, however, a number of countries demand that even more stringent assessments take place, requiring any documentation to be sent to the receiving country's embassy or consulate for their approval. Called consular legalisation, this type of confirmation typically incurs an additional fee, the value of which is determined by the country in question.

In order to facilitate this process, I use a well-established, trusted and discrete third party who, acting in the strictest confidence, will take your documents to the relevant embassy or consulate.

FAQs

Unsure whether you need our legalisation service? Based in Liverpool or the Wirral and looking for more information? Here's some of our most frequently asked questions.

Legalisation is the process of approving or certifying the authenticity of the certifying signature and stamp on a document (typically mine) for use in another country.
A French word meaning 'certificate', an apostille is an official authorisation that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office must append to a document before it can be accepted by the receiving nation.
Actually, no. Certain countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries, the USA etc.) don't usually require legalisation. If you're unsure as to whether a particular country requires documentation to go through legalisation, please get in touch.
You'll need to bring all of your original identity documents (photocopies, scans or photographs etc. can't be accepted), original proof of address documentation, the original documents you wish to be legalised and the agreed fee.
Examples include a valid passport or a current UK driving licence.
Examples include a current UK driving licence, a recent bank statement or a utility bill.
That varies depending on whether you need an apostille only, or if it needs to be sent to an embassy or consulate. Turnaround times will also dictate the cost of the apostille or legalisation.
Based in New Brighton, we provide legalisation services to clients throughout Liverpool, wider Merseyside and the Wirral.

A few words from my clients

Elaine was my Notary of choice back in August 2020. Her welcoming yet professional demeanour was exemplary. My documents were presented beautifully and arrived in plenty of time before I moved to Kuwait. Knowing how fantastic a job she had done, I contacted Elaine this summer to ask if she could offer her reliable services again. Through regular communication, Elaine has once more made my pre-arrival process back to Kuwait a seamless one. What a woman!

Ashleigh O'Grady

When you have need for the services of a Notary, it's usually for an important reason. Over the years, Elaine has been of great assistance in my many requests. Her professionalism and response is second to none, whilst her transparecy in undertalking her duties provides a reassuring level of comfort. The end result is an accurate and reliable service, which is flawless in every regard. Thank you very much for all which you do.

Cars tt Channel

Would definitely recommend Elaine to anybody, she was efficient, professional and very friendly.

Jenni Lloyd

Why choose me?

A specialist notary public, I provide legalisation and apostille services to organisations and individuals throughout the North West. But why choose me over another notary?

Every client is different and so are their requirements. Whilst rules and regulations demand that our work is done in a certain way, however, we're committed to providing to meeting our clients' needs, providing the most flexible service possible. Perhaps you want somebody to handle the entire process for you? You may need an evening or weekend appointment or even an office visit? No matter what your requirements, I'm here to support you.
I haven't always wanted to be a notary public. My journey throughout the legal sector and beyond has given me a breadth of experience working many notaries can only dream of, having worked within a variety of sectors and for a truly diverse range of people. I use this experience to deliver excellent communications, accurate documents whilst offering a personal, efficient customer service.
Appointments would usually take place in my office (also my home address) but, if this is unsuitable for you, I'm more than happy to visit you at your own home or workplace.
Most of my clients initially have no idea what a notary is, or what we do. I'm always happy to explain the ins and outs of the notarisation process and the process of completing the documents that you bring to me. If you need to bring your children, dogs or anyone else to your appointment that's absolutely fine.
Depending upon the document and the country involved there's a chance you may need to have your documents legalised, which I can arrange for you for a small fee. All disbursements are charged at cost on top of this. I will break all of the options down by time and cost so that you have full visibility of the entire process.