FAQs – Notary Fee

Yes. In NSW, the State Government issues recommended notary fees which are increased from time to time. A copy of the recommended notary fees available from the Society of Notaries of New South Wales, see http://www.notarynsw.org.au/fees-scale.

Please be aware that notaries are not required to follow the recommended notary fees, and the actual fees charged for notary public services may vary greatly between different notaries and different firms. It is possible that other notaries may even charge more – we do not.

See also Is there a recommended notary fee?

The short answer is that we try to be. We intentionally keep our notary fees as low and as competitive as possible and sometimes announce specials, promotions and discounts through our email newsletter. But even if we are not the cheapest in terms of price, we are generally the most available, most accessible or the most conveniently located.

If you want a quote for our notary fees, please contact our office on 02 9687 8885 or visit our Notary Fees page.

In our experience, many notary public clients ask us first before shopping around with other notaries, but they always end up coming back because of our highly competitive price and our unbeatable service. Even when other notaries try to undercut our pricing they cannot equal our experience and knowledge of your specific requirements. We are committed to winning your business.

See also Are you the cheapest?

In Australia, a notary public must be a senior lawyer and therefore likely to charge a notary fee accordingly – or at least they need to justify spending the time to provide notary public services compared to other types of professional legal services by charging a similar fee. To that extent, their fees are justifiable – however, we have a different attitude and a different approach that we think you will prefer.

Our notary fee is lower because our practice focuses on providing high volume notary public services

While other notaries may only see 1-2 notary public clients a week, we may assist up to 5 notary public clients a day (sometimes more) and in this way make up for our lower notary fees by helping more people. The ‘common law of business balance’ dictates that you get what you pay for, but with us – you get more. We are proud to remain competitive with our notary fees to ensure that you get the most value from our notary public services.

We enjoy what we do and we do it well. We focus on notary public services so that you can rest assured that our experience and expertise will help you achieve what you need to achieve with your documents.

See also Why do other notaries charge so much more?

Our notary fees are highly competitive. We will always provide you with a fixed price quote for notary services.

How do I get a fixed price quote?

While we can provide an indicative quote over the phone, all quotes are subject to physical inspection of the documents to be notarised. We also need a clear understanding of what the document is intended to do, where it is to be used and whether it requires an ‘apostille‘ or ‘authentication‘ by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. However if you can confirm your specific requirements, then we generally will provide you with an immediate quote.

Visit our Notary Fees page to request a quote, or call our office on 02 9687 8885. All quotes are subject to physical inspection of the relevant documents.

See also Do you charge an hourly rate or a fixed price for notary services?

Yes. Although we generally quote a “per document” fee, as the number of documents increase we are able to discount the notary fee to reflect the work performed and time taken (ie, the total fee might increase, but the fee per document will generally decrease).

We also announce specials, promotions and discounts through our email newsletter from time to time.

If you have used our services before, you would have received a discount offer in the mail, and if you follow the steps set out in that offer and advise us accordingly, we would be pleased to apply the offered discount to your next notary public service.

Visit our LinkedIn page or Facebook page to keep up to date with our regular announcements. We also invite you to subscribe to our monthly email newsletter.

See also Do you offer any discounts?

Easy. Visit our Notary Fees page or call us on 02 9687 8885.

In most cases, we are able to provide you with an immediate quote if you can clearly describe the documents that you need to notarise, what the documents are supposed to do, identify the intended destination country, and confirm whether the document must be authenticated or stamped with an apostille. Our notary fee may vary depending on your specific requirements.

We try to make this process as easy and as transparent as possible so that you know what you are likely to incur and you can budget properly for using our notary public services. All quotes are subject to physical inspection of documents, instructions received at the time of notarisation and actual completed notary public services. We will only proceed with providing you with notary services if you agree to our quote for our notary fees.

See also How do I get a quote for your notary services?

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) charges fees for authentication and apostille, depending on the number of documents. Although the cost of authentication and apostille used to be different (also depending on whether those documents were bound or not), DFAT now charges the same for both authentication and apostille.

For more information regarding the fees and charges for authentication and apostilles, please contact DFAT on 1300 935 260 or visit smartraveller.gov.au.

See also How much does the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade charge?

Yes. Travelling is charged according to an estimate of time and distance in addition to the notary fee.

Be aware that the component of our fee for travel can be more than the fee to notarise your document. Despite this, we have several clients who prefer us to visit them in their office/home.

If you are using our online quoting form, please select that you require an office/home visit and provide your address so that we can include a component in our quote for travelling. You can decide whether you prefer us to visit you or you prefer to make an appointment with our office.

See also I want you to come to my office. Do you charge for travelling?

Generally, a fixed notary fee will apply to all notary public services.

In addition to a notary fee for our notary public services, other fees may include:

• travel fees if you require a mobile notary;
• postage or courier fees if we must arrange for documents to be sent or delivered to various destinations, including returning documents to you;
• filing or registration fees if we are looking after authentication, apostille or legalisation on your behalf; and
• any other out of pocket expenses that we incur on your behalf.

In all cases, we provide you with a fixed fee quote to give you certainty in budgeting for your expenses and to avoid unexpected surprises or additional costs – no one wants that.

If you are based overseas and require us to arrange for your documents to be sent to you overseas, we recommend arranging for your own courier rather than for us to arrange the courier for you (which will likely to be more expensive).

See also What other fees may apply?