Costs

In the vast majority of cases I will charge a fixed fee and I will do my best to identify in advance all disbursements such as legalisation fees, postage, consular agent fees, courier fees, travelling expenses, translating costs and so on. I do not charge VAT. All the figures specified below are on the basis of one appointment with one person. I can take payment in cash, Bank transfer, or by card. For card payments, a surcharge of £2.50 applies.

My fees vary according to whether my notary services are needed for personal, or business, matters.

For personal matters, my fee for notarising 1 document is £90, and for 2 documents it is £100. 3 or 4 documents cost £110, 5 or 6 documents cost £130, and so on. A special concessionary fee of £70 applies for preprinted forms which need to completed to confirm that someone in receipt of a pension from another country is still alive .

For business matters, my minimum fee for notarising 1 or 2 documents is £130. 3 or 4 documents cost £150, and so on.

If you ask me to assist with legalisation, I charge an additional fee of £25 for this assistance, this is not a fee for each document – the fee stays the same regardless of the number of documents involved. The third party costs of legalisation – delivery charges, UK Foreign Office and/or Embassy fees, and so – are of course also applicable.

I can see you by appointment at my home address – Manor Barn House, 7 Back Lane, Rackheath, Norwich NR13 6NN. Alternatively, I can meet with you at another address if this is preferable for you. I do not make any additional charge for travel to appointments within the area covered by Norwich, Sheringham to the north, and Great Yarmouth to the east. For travel outside that area, a discretionary travel supplement of between £20 – £40 may apply.

For more complicated or time-consuming matters the fee will be based on my hourly rate of £200 subject to a minimum fee of £250, plus disbursements. The fee charged may include time spent on preliminary advice, drafting and preparation time, making and receiving telephone calls, correspondence written and received in all formats, arranging legalisation and record keeping.

Payment of my fee and disbursements is due when the document has been prepared which I may retain pending payment in full.

Some documents require legalisation before they will be accepted for use in the receiving jurisdiction by obtaining an apostille through the UK Foreign Office and, for some countries, additional legalisation is required through the relevant embassy or consulate.

Currently, the Foreign Office fees for apostilles are as follows. The fee for what the Foreign Office calls a standard paper-based apostille is £45 plus delivery costs. The time this takes varies and the Foreign Office sometimes changes its advice on its website about the timing, however this tends to vary between 5 – 10 working days. The Foreign Office fee for what it calls a next-day delivery is £40 and, as the name suggests, the apostille is normally issued on the next working day. This service can only be accessed if you also use one of an approved list of contractors, who charge their own handling fee. I have an established contact with one of these contractors. If you are dealing with a country and a situation where an electronic version of the apostille will be accepted – called an e-Apostille – then I can arrange this. The Foreign Office fee for an e-Apostille is £35 and typically it is issued within 2 working days. I charge an addtional fee of £20 to process an e-Apostille.

Occasionally unforeseen or unusual issues arise during the course of the matter which may result in a revision of my fee estimate. Examples of this could include where additional documents are required to be notarised, additional translations or legalisations are needed to meet the requirements of the receiving jurisdiction, third party fees are adjusted to reflect external factors such as fuel price changes and so on. I will notify you of any changes in the fee estimate as soon as possible.

These details are also included in the Terms Of Business page on this website.