Living Trust Legalization/Notarization

You have worked hard your whole life for the assets and money – and know that you deserve to make every conscientious effort to secure them. And that is solely why we have written down this blog to help you decide on the best way to protect your assets from unnecessary intervention. You need to make sure that you make significant decisions to ensure that your beneficiaries continue to receive income and support from ‘your’ hard earned money without the need to wait for months for limited bucks from the government, while you wait for your living trust legalization.

An Apostille is a certificate issued by a designated authority in a country that is a member of the Hague Convention 1961. Legalization used to be a very complicated procedure. First, the document had to be legalized by a notary public, then to the Ministry of Justice, then to the Foreign Affairs office and then to a Consulate. Today, you can follow a few simple steps discussed below, to get your living will document apostilled by having them notarized.

How to Get Your Living Will or Living Trust Apostilled

Deciding between making a living will or starting a revocable living trust totally depends on your personal concerns and awareness between the two. However, when it comes to legalization, there is a minor difference between the two.

• Living Will: Commonly, a living will document is not notarized. Hence, if you need an apostille, you’ll first need to get it notarized from your local notary public. For instance, you would need to make a copy of the will and certify in writing (with a cover letter) that this is a true copy of the original document. This cover letter is basically a sworn statement which is then notarized and signed. A professional apostille attorney would be able to get is signed and notarized for you without the hassle of going to the notary public yourself. The third and less common option is to get your living will document from the Court provided that the copy was filed with the Court.

• Living Trust: Contrary to a living will, a living trust document is generally signed and notarized. Even if they are not, you can get your apostille attorney to get them signed and notarized for you. If you do not have an original, you can also obtain the true copy from the Court assuming that it was filed with the Supreme/Federal Court.

*Note that once you have the signed and true copies of either your original living will or living trust, you could get them apostilled by having them notarized by your local public notary.

**In case of a Court certified copy, the document must contain the name and signature of the Clerk and/or Deputy Clerk and the seal/stamp of the Court. In certain situations, the seal is color  stamped and/or embossed.

Apostilled documents are crucial to avoiding delays in document processing if you’re working abroad or wanting to settle in a foreign country. It is a complicated process and must not be left to unprofessional. We suggest you consult an apostille attorney who knows their way for all the rules for apostille documents, so you may not have to worry about lost time and money in your document processing.