A signature is not just a signature. There are thousands of variations of documents that require Notary services. You want to be certain no details are missed. At Carter Notary, we excel because we thrive on attention to detail.
Some documents may require more time or have additional requirements depending on the use, intended purpose, jurisdiction (country/province/state), complexity, and language of the document(s). Trust us to complete your documents correctly!
What Can We Notarize?
When life happens, it often times requires documentation. From immigration invitation letters, to parental consent for children to travel, to real estate, to court or government documents and everything in between — we can help you notarize almost any document.
Here is a list of some of the documents we can notarize. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Should you have a question about a specific document, please contact us.
- Document Certification: Includes birth, death, marriage certificates, wills, transcripts, and similar documents.
- Signature Witnessing and ID Verification: Involves witnessing signatures and verifying identities for many different purposes such as children’s travel consent letters, and work, school, or foreign processes.
- Statutory Declarations and Affidavits: Covers a range of declarations like immigration forms, divorce affidavits, and common-law declarations.
- Immigration and Travel Documents: Related to travel consents, immigration forms, travel visa and identity proof for travel, passports, powers of attorney.
- Real Estate Documents: Encompasses documents for property transactions, mortgages, and real estate from various regions.
- Government Documents: Involves various documents from government departments and agencies, often for immigration, court, income tax and confirmation of spouse status.
- Apostille & International Documents: Includes a range of documents for use in other countries, often for real estate, probate and estates, life certificates, work or school, and many government forms.
- Legal and Court Documents: Involves affidavits, probate or estate forms, and legal declarations for court purposes.
- Banking and Financial Documents: Includes banking forms, pension and retirement forms, RRSP withdrawal, and financial declarations.
- Professional licenses: Covers medical, dental, nursing, naturopath, RMT, engineering, and other such professional licensing requirements where oaths and identities are confirmed.
- Insurance Documents: Pertains to insurance loss, licensing, and inheritances.
- Powers of Attorney: Witnessing signatures of people appointed in these documents.
- Miscellaneous Forms and Declarations: A diverse category with forms like police record checks, fingerprint records, construction declarations, and other specific declarations.
The documents we most frequently notarize are:
- Certified copies of IDs and other documents
- Statutory Declarations for Common Law
- Immigration Visa Invitation Letters
- Immigration Government Forms
- Probate Estate Forms
- Child Travel Consent Letters
- Name Change Declarations
- Real Estate Purchase and Sale Forms
- Foreign Powers of Attorney
For a complete list of documents Carter Notary can Notarize, please click below.
Authentication of Documents in British Columbia
As Canadian Notaries, we help people with documents from all over the world. Many of these documents require extra levels of authentication before being accepted in foreign countries. This is where the Apostille process is needed.
Apostille Process in British Columbia
The term Apostille originates from the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. It currently has 126 signee countries and helps to eliminate many previous consulate authentication processes. Canada became a member of The Convention on January 11th, 2024, and is now bound by its rules and regulations.
Here in British Columbia, the Provincial Attorney General Office is designated to issue Apostille certificates. Our Notaries, Beverly Carter and Victoria Helmink, are registered with The Attorney General for notarizing documents requiring the Apostille certificate.
The Attorney General’s Office outlines very specific rules regarding the submission of documents. Any documents containing languages other than English require translation by a professional certified translator. Even if the document is written in both English and another language, a translation of the non-English portion is still required.
Lists of approved translators can be found at the links below.
For further information visit the BC Attorney General Guide to Authentication.
If you have any specific questions about the apostille process or translation requirements, please call our office at (250) 383-4100 or visit the Provincial Attorney General website.
The Notary will ask you for important information. Click the button below for common apostille questions to ask regarding your document before seeing the Notary.
Important Information about Wills and Powers of Attorney
As a Notary Public in BC, we prepare Wills and Powers of Attorney for our clients. We are frequently asked to witness self-made Wills or Powers of Attorney. Obtaining these are easy through third party websites whose only interest is to sell a generic product. Homemade or DIY legal documents are high in errors due to lack of legal knowledge. BC has unique features in its laws, and it is incredibly important to make these documents with a trusted legal professional who can understand your particular family and circumstance. As these are such significant documents in a person’s life, we only prepare and witness our own documents. See our Will Questionnaire.
We only do Notary services for the following:
- Attorney signings for Powers of Attorney
- International Powers of Attorney
- Wills, Powers of Attorney, Representation Agreements where you are represented by an existing legal professional who has prepared the documents and reviewed them with you. In select situations we may act as an agent for the Notary or lawyer. **We must agree prior to booking any of these appointments and communicate with your legal representative.
- We do not ever sign Canadian DIY, homemade, or online (lawdepot) Wills, Powers of Attorney, or Representation Agreements.
Interested in learning more about DIY Wills, legal Wills, and remote signing? See our webinar here. Please call our office if you have any questions.
Our Process
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Arrive a few minutes before your scheduled appointment with completed documents and two pieces of ID: one must have a government issued current photo. Please DO NOT date or sign any documents. Watch the video below for what you need to now before seeing a notary.
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Leave with your paper document and an electronic copy will be emailed to you.
Helpful Tips
Your time matters to us, and we may ask you to send us the documents in advance, if possible, to make sure we set the right amount of time to meet your specific needs.
Not all documents are simple. Please call us now at 250-383-4100 to discuss your notarization needs.
Watch this video for tips on how to prepare for your notarization appointment.