Certifying documents during the Covid-19 pandemic
Some legal restrictions on how documents can be certified and how identification can be confirmed have been temporarily adapted at this time. Please get in touch if you have any questions about how this might affect you.
We offer a full range of legal document certification services. This can be helpful if you’re undergoing a legal application process, making a Lasting Power of Attorney, moving abroad or are required to submit a statuary declaration or affidavit.
How can we help with certifying documents?
Please note that if you use any of these services it is vitally important to provide correct information and valid identification documents. If you dishonestly provide information or make a statement that you know is, or might be, untrue or misleading, and intend doing so to make a gain for yourself or another person, you may commit the offence of fraud under section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006. The maximum penalty for this is 10 years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both.
- Certified Copies
- Countersigning Passports
- Certifying Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Affidavit of Parental Consent – South Africa
Certified Copies
You may sometimes need to submit a certified copy of an important document rather than the original. To do this, you will need to take the original document to a solicitor who will sign and date a photocopy to confirm it is a true and exact copy of the original.
This can include:
- Passports
- Driving licences
- Birth, death or marriage certificates
- Letters from government departments or hospitals
- Bank or building society statements
- Utility bills
We are also able to certify photographs to confirm that they are a true likeness of the person pictured.
Our certified copy document service is charged at a fixed fee and is offered remotely.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a certified copy of my documents?
We provide our certified documents service via post. You will need to send us your original documents (as well as the photocopies), but this may be preferable to posting the original documents to a larger corporation or overseas. We cannot certify photographs via post, but we can do this via video call.
How much does it cost to get a certified copy of a document?
We charge £75 + VAT to register you as a client and an additional charge of £10 plus VAT per certified document.
What do I need to provide to get certified copies of my documents?
You will need to provide us with the originals of the documents you require certifying as well as personal identification documents.
I need my documents legalising, what do I do next?
We can send your certified documents straight to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for you, if you wish. You may need to do this if another country has asked you to provide a UK document and they’ve said it must be legalised. Alternatively, you can deal with this yourself by visiting the gov.uk website.
How much does it cost for you to send them to be legalised?
We charge an additional administration fee of £75 plus VAT for this service. This will be on top of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s fees (currently £30 per document for their standard service) and postage or courier fees of £5.50-£25 depending on where the documents are being sent.
Can you certify print outs of documents?
We may be able to certify print outs from the internet of documents such as utility bills and bank statements. However, we need to adapt our usual wording for this to show that it is not an original document we have seen. You’ll need to check with the organisation asking for the certified copies, to see if they will accept them. Depending on what the document is and what it is for, we might say something like ““Certified as a true copy of the document presented to me which I understand to be a print out of an electronic copy.
Countersigning Passports
In order to countersign a passport application and photo, a professional signatory must have known the applicant (or the adult signing on behalf of a child under 16) for a minimum of two years. This is to ensure they are able to personally identify you (or the child you are signing on behalf of).
If one of our solicitors has known you for more than two years, they will be able to countersign a passport application and photo for you.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer this service if we’ve known you for less than two years.
Frequently asked questions
Do passport applications and photos need to be countersigned in person?
We can provide this service remotely. If you are applying with a paper form, you can either make an appointment to meet with us face to face, or you can post the forms and photos to us. If you are managing your passport application online, as part of the process you will be able to electronically nominate us to be your counter signatory. We’ll then receive an email from HM Passport services with a reference number and a log in to allow us to digitally countersign your application.
How much does it cost to get a passport countersigned?
We can provide this service remotely. We charge a fee of £75 plus VAT to register you as a client, with an additional £25 plus VAT per counter signature required.
What do I need to provide to get a passport countersigned?
If you are applying with a paper passport form, you will need to send it to us along with the two required passport photos. If you are applying electronically, you can nominate us as your counter signatory and the HM Passport services will notify us directly. We will also need to see up to date personal identification documents.
Certifying Lasting Powers of Attorney
There are two reasons you might need a certified document relating to a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA).
Certifying an LPA in order to start acting on it
If you have been named as an attorney in a Lasting Power of Attorney and you need to start acting on the donor’s behalf, you will need to obtain at least one certified copy of the LPA.
You will then be able to show the certified document to local authorities, hospital trusts, financial institutions and other bodies as evidence that you are legally entitled to act on behalf of the individual who made the LPA.
Only certain professionals are able to certify Lasting Powers of Attorney. Our solicitors are fully qualified to do this and provide this service for a fixed fee.
Obtaining a certificate when an LPA is made
We can also act as a certificate provider for a person who is making an LPA.
When you make an LPA, you will be required to submit a certificate completed by an independent professional such as a solicitor, registered health practitioner or social worker.
The certificate provider must confirm that you had full mental capacity at the time of making your LPA, that you fully understood the implications of making it, and that you weren’t being put under pressure to do so.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost for you to certify my Lasting Power of Attorney?
We charge £35 plus VAT per Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) to produce Solicitor Certified Copies. This is the same as what the Office of the Public Guardian charge, though they now only provide copies in exceptional circ*mstances. We also have a much faster turnaround time than the Office of the Public Guardian. If we do not already hold the original LPAs, we also charge £75 plus VAT to register you as a client.
How much does it cost for you to act as a certificate provider?
We offer a fixed fee for this service, but the exact amount will depend on your situation. For example, there will be extra steps involved in the process for people who have been diagnosed with certain health conditions, such as dementia. Please get in touch for a quote.
What do I need to provide?
If you would like us to certify an LPA for you, you will need to provide us with the original LPA (unless we are already storing it on your behalf) as well as your personal identification documents. We will keep a copy of your identification documents on file unless you tell us you would prefer us not to. If you would like us to act as a certificate provider at the time of making an LPA, please contact us and we’ll be able to advise on what information and documents you’ll need to bring in your specific circ*mstances.
How can I make payment?
We will send you an invoice that can be paid online or over the phone.
Statutory Declarations & Affidavits
In certain financial or legal circ*mstances, you may be required to provide a statutory declaration or affidavit.
This could be in order to:
- Legally change your name.
- Access a bank account belonging to a person who has died without a Grant of Probate.
- Confirm nationality, residency or marital status when other documentary evidence is unavailable.
Our solicitors have been appointed by the Chief Justice as Commissioners for Oaths, which means that we are fully qualified to authenticate statutory declarations and affidavits.
Statutory declarations and affidavits are written statements of fact that are witnessed and signed by a solicitor or other qualified professional. In order to make one, you’ll need to recite a declaration of truth then sign to confirm the statement you have made is correct. We will then sign, date and state our qualification to authenticate the document.
Frequently asked questions
What are the costs for swearing or affirming an oath, affidavit or statutory declaration?
We charge £75 plus VAT to register you as a client, along with an additional £10 plus VAT per affidavit. We do not charge any additional fee for exhibits or schedules to be marked.
Can I do this without coming in to see you?
Yes, absolutely. In fact we currently only offer this service remotely.
Should I do anything in advance?
We recommend that you send us a scan of the documents you require an affidavit for in advance. This will enable us to check the documents and ensure everything is in order before your appointment. This will also means we can send you an accurate invoice in advance.
What do I need to have with me?
You’ll need to have with you the originals of the documents you are swearing or affirming. These will then need to be emailed to us once they’ve been signed by you either before or during the videocall.
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
If you need to use a document abroad, such as a birth, marriage or death certificate, we can arrange for these documents to be legalised with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
When a document is legalised, it confirms to officials in other countries that the document has been issued by a UK public official.
We are able to manage this process on your behalf.
Frequently asked questions
How much does this service cost?
We charge £75 plus VAT to register you as a client plus a fixed fee of £75 plus VAT for this service. This will be on top of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s fees (currently £30 per document for their standard service) and postage or courier fees of £5.50-£25 depending on where the documents are being sent.
What do I need to bring with me?
You’ll need to bring the document that you need legalising. You can find out whether your document can be legalised by visiting the FCO website.
Do I need to see you in person?
We don’t need to see you in person to arrange for your documents to be legalised.
Affidavit of Parental Consent – South Africa
If you wish to take your child(ren) to South Africa without their other parent, you will need to have an Affidavit of Parental Consent with you when you travel.
This is a legal document which allows one parent of a child to take that child out of the UK and into South Africa without the presence of the second parent.
We can help you to prepare, complete and correctly execute the form of affidavit that is required for you and your child or children to travel to South Africa.
Not all countries require extra documentation for you to be able to travel with your child or children. If you have any concerns about travelling with your child without their second parent, the consulate or embassy of the country you are travelling to will usually be able to advise you.
We can help with the paperwork for any country that requires you to have an affidavit or similar documentation in order to travel with your child or children.
Frequently asked questions
How much does this service cost?
We charge £75 plus VAT to register you as a client, plus an additional £75 plus VAT per affidavit. We will send you an invoice before your appointment.
Will you need to see both parents?
We don’t necessarily need to see both parents, but we can only sign an affidavit on behalf of the parent we have seen. If the second parent cannot attend a meeting at the same time, they can make a separate appointment. If the other parent cannot attend a meeting with us in person due to living too far away or overseas, they will need to make their own affidavit with another solicitor.
What do I need to bring?
You will need to bring an unabridged copy of each child’s birth certificate, as well as their passports. You will also need to bring identification documents for all the people who will be named in the affidavit, including children.
What if my child’s other parent has died?
If you are the only surviving parent, you will need to bring a death certificate for the other parent (or a certified copy of the death certificate).
ID1 & ID5 Forms
ID1 forms are sometimes needed to verify your identity during a conveyancing transaction before your application can be lodged with the Land Registry.
This might be because you are dealing with a conveyancing transaction without the help of a solicitor. This can be required in situations such as a transfer of property or land, the discharge of a mortgage or because you want to change your personal details with the Land Registry (such as your name or address).
The Land Registry will ask for you to fill in an ID1 form, (which can be downloaded for free from the Land Registry website). Before you can submit this to the Land Registry, you will need a solicitor to check your identity and sign the ID1 form to confirm they have done this.
We offer a fixed fee for this service.
Frequently asked questions
Will I need to attend an appointment in person?
Usually we need to see you in person in order to verify your identity for an ID1 form. However, during the coronavirus pandemic the Land Registry are allowing solicitors to do this by video call. In these cases, you will need to download both the ID1 form and the new ID5 form. These forms will need to be submitted along with a screenshot of you taken by the solicitor during the video call.
What will I need to bring?
You will need to bring the ID1 form you have filled out, the passport photos specified in the form and identification documents. If you are not seeing us in person, you will need to provide these documents online or in the post.
How much does this service cost?
We charge £75 to register you as a client and an additional £75 for verifying identity with a form ID1 or ID5 per person.
Are there any time limits for completing an ID1 form?
If the Land Registry have asked you to complete an ID1 form, you will need to make sure this is signed and dated within three months of the associated transaction being lodged.
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