What is an Apostille?

An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the signature of an individual, or public official, and the merit of the document that was signed; so that ultimately, the signed document can be utilized in another country. Apostilles are distributed by the California Secretary of State, but in order to receive an apostille for your documents, they must first be notarized by a notary public. An apostille is typically required any time that you would like to enforce a document or contract outside of the country in which you reside.

For example, you live here in California, but you have family in Spain where you also own a vacation home. Because you are extremely busy and unable to frequently travel to Spain, you would like to give Limited Power of Attorney to a trusted family member in Spain so that they may manage the property and take care of certain affairs on your behalf. First you would need to have the Limited Power of Attorney notarized. Once the documents have been notarized, the apostille request can be prepared and delivered to the California Secretary of State (CA SOS). After the CA SOS reviews the documents they will return your original notarized Limited Power of Attorney, along wit your apostille certificate. Then you can provide both the Limited Power of Attorney and apostille certificate to your selected family member in Spain, and they can immediately begin carrying out your those designated tasks on your behalf.

If you have any further questions pertaining to the apostille process, or you would like to receive assistance in securing an apostille, please feel free to reach out. As both a licensed notary public and apostille specialist, The Bay Area Notary is always more than happy to help.

Thank you for reading,