Certified copies of documents may be required anywhere, especially for those who do not want to carry originals, or when important papers are needed in several places at once. Sometimes, how the document is certified may affect the outcome of the lawsuit, since a regular photocopy does not have legal force and is not accepted as evidence. To do this, you must have the original for verification or a duly certified copy.
What is the difference between a copy and an original document?
The copy accurately reproduces the appearance and content of the original document, but is not the original. In order to be able to submit it instead of the original to state authorities, at the place of work, study, or to the courts, and it had the same force, it is required to certify a duplicate of this document by an authorized person. In a copy that is taken from the main document, all data should be reproduced in full without any changes or fuzziness, so it is important to do this using high-quality equipment.
In what cases do you need to certify copies of documents?
Before you certify a document, it will be right to first find out for what purpose it needs to be done, and then you can decide how to certify the documents correctly. When it comes to providing a document to government bodies (for example, to obtain a license), the requirements for issuing a duplicate are substantially tightened. It is necessary to find out the requirements of this organization, that is, how to properly certify copies of documents specifically for them. Otherwise, you can easily make a mistake and the document will be considered invalid.
If it is necessary for internal use, then the general norms that are approved at a particular enterprise are usually met. Most often personal documents are certified: certificates issued by the registry office, passports, diplomas, documents of title to property. Situations are different, and papers may be required when applying for a job, in educational institutions, for submitting applications to the tax inspectorate, government agencies, when concluding transactions, participating in tenders, receiving grants, in banking organizations, in judicial instances.
Preparation of documents for certification
A copy of the document is prepared using a copy machine using the original document or print a scanned copy of the document. The main point is that the copy clearly reflects all the details of the original, the text is read, all seals, signatures, graphic images are visible. In the case when the document consists of several sheets, it must be numbered and stitched, indicating the number of sheets at the place of gluing. Also, if necessary, it is possible to certify not the entire document, but an extract from it containing the necessary information. In this case, you need to prepare copies of the sheets of interest. Next, you need to contact authorized persons who know how to properly certify copies of documents.
Who to contact to certify copies of documents?
For the provision of this service you need to contact a notary. This is the surest way. The notary shall be certified by copies of documents issued by the enterprise, institution, if it was drawn up in compliance with the law and is valid on the day of appeal. You can also certify a copy of a document issued to a citizen, if the original signature was certified by a notary. For example, a power of attorney for the right to manage real estate or representation in court.
Documents issued by a particular organization are certified by its head or other responsible person with the appropriate authority, this is their responsibility and they must know how to certify documents correctly. As a rule, the secretary or office management, accounting, personnel department deals with this issue. The right to perform these actions is reflected in job descriptions and specially issued orders. Only a specialist who is authorized by such management to certify the document should certify the document. Otherwise, there is a risk that the copy will be invalid. The work book, orders for employment, dismissal can be assured by the personnel department at the place of work.
In some state institutions, when applying for citizens a service, persons conducting the reception act as experts and have the right, having verified the original with a copy, to assure it with their attestation inscription. It will not be superfluous to clarify in advance how to correctly certify documents in the body to which they are provided.
Certification inscription and certification procedure
The authenticity of the copy is confirmed by affixing the seal of the organization, filling in the stamp or with a special inscription of the authorized person. In addition, it is important to indicate the date, position of the specialist, his surname, name, patronymic. Sometimes special blank dies are used, a date is simply written in the seal delivered with their help, and a signature is put in the right place. An official authorized to perform these actions knows how to certify documents. "Copy is true" - this is one of the most frequently used inscriptions, sometimes there is also a shorter option - "true." There are a number of rules on how to certify a stitched document that contains more than one sheet. As a rule, all sheets are numbered, the document is stitched, paper is glued on top, on which the number of sheets is indicated and one certification inscription is put. It is allowed to certify each page separately, this method is used if the document is not flashed.
Notarized document authentication
In some cases stipulated by law, notarization of a copy by a notary is mandatory. In such cases, not a single official shall have the right to replace the notary's confirmation inscription. These are rather exceptions, however, many departments trust precisely notarized documents. To carry out this procedure, it is enough to contact a notary public, present an identity card, the original and a copy of the document. The notary carefully examines the document, checks the copy with the original, checks whether the document was legally issued, whether all the necessary details and signatures are present.
How much it costs to certify a document with a notary depends on the number of sheets and the document itself to be certified, most often personal documents or the charter and certificates of the company are certified.
In what cases does a notary public refuse certification?
If the original is in doubt or clearly has signs of fake, then a copy of the certificate will be refused. The notary also has the right to refuse in cases where the document has incomprehensible text, postscripts, vague seals, unspecified corrections, when it cannot be read, or it has significant damage, scuffs. In addition to these cases of refusal, there are also those when the signature on the document was made by facsimile, or it is laminated, issued abroad, but not legalized. Medical documents or papers containing state secrets are also not subject to certification. Sometimes the document itself may cast doubt on its authenticity, then the notary has the right to send it for examination.
Certification of extracts from documents
In some cases, there is no need to certify a copy of the entire document. Citizens who only need copies of some pages of a document often turn to notaries. However, the notary can not certify the sample sheets, as this would violate the integrity of the entire document. True, if in such a paper several different issues that are not related to each other, then this is possible.
The procedure for certification of documents in a notary office
How to certify documents correctly can be found in any notary's office. The requirements for such a procedure are usually the same. This is the physical presence of an interested citizen with the specified document in his hands. A lawyer may not necessarily be contacted by the owner of the document, but any citizen who is entrusted with this task. To do this, he needs to have a passport, an original and a high-quality copy of the document on which the text is clearly read, and graphic elements are displayed.
The validity period of notarized documents is not defined by law, that is, it is valid indefinitely. The question of how much it costs to certify a document with a notary depends on the rates approved in the office. As a rule, the notary chamber regulates these points, so the cost is approximately the same for all notaries. As for documents in a foreign language, the price of such services is higher, since it includes the cost of the work of a translator.
Translation of documents and their certification
In those cases when documents are drawn up in a foreign language, it is first required to translate them into Russian. How to correctly certify documents that partially have words or stamps in a foreign language will help the translator find out.
To do this, you must contact a special translation agency or any translator who has the right to this type of activity. They will hand out a notarized translation of documents. This can be any specialist with the appropriate qualifications, known and not in doubt by a notary public in his knowledge of the language. The notary attests the signature of the translator on this document. Further, the translation can be used in the original, or remove a copy from it and also be certified by a notary. It is better to have a notarized translation of documents with any foreign citizen located in our country when applying for a job, getting married, and making any transactions.
Depending on how to properly certify the documents, the legal issue can be resolved fairly quickly or drag out. It is very important who has the right to certify copies of documents, as well as the procedure for their certification. In some cases, the availability of properly executed documents plays a decisive role in the adoption by some authorities of a positive decision regarding your appeal.
If you take into account all the nuances in advance, prepare all the documents correctly, assure them properly and accordingly the requirements of the receiving authority, then there will be no problems with the documents.