Power of Attorney for Business Overseas
Often when conducting business overseas you will be asked by a local lawyer for a Power of Attorney to be authorised or authenticated by a notary in the UK.
A Power of Attorney is a legal document that an individual or a company can use to appoint a third party to act on their behalf.
This process ensures that the Power of Attorney is validly executed and can be used in the relevant country. I can assist in notarising a Power of Attorney in any foreign country and quite often a Power of Attorney will be in a dual language format. It is therefore important that I see a draft of the Power of Attorney before you come and see me so that I can check on the notarial and legalisation requirements. In certain cases I may ask for a formal translation to be supplied.
Either as an individual or as a company, you may need a Power of Attorney in the following situations:
- setting up a business
- winding up a business
- appointing an agent
- conducting business activities
- purchasing or selling a property abroad
- dealing with cross border estates and inheritance
- dealing with tax and VAT
- obtaining relevant registration numbers such as a NIE number in Spain
I can assist you in this process as my notary signature and seal ensures that the document is correctly authenticated for use abroad.
In the first instance you will need to instruct a local lawyer in the relevant country to draft the Power of Attorney. This is because only that lawyer will be able to draft the document in line with their local laws and will also be able to explain the Power of Attorney to you. In case you do not have a local lawyer, I may be able to recommend one.
Once you have the Power of Attorney I will be able to review it and ensure that it can be notarised. This may require me to contact the local lawyer to resolve any issues that may exist or seek clarification on any specific requirements that may exist when executing the Power of Attorney.
Apostille
In some instances a Power of Attorney will also need to be legalised. This process
requires a notarised Power of Attorney to be presented to the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) so that the UK Government can
attach the “Apostille” certificate to the notarised document. This basically means that
the authenticity of my signature and seal is confirmed by the FCDO. In some cases
an additional certificate is required from the relevant local Embassy. I can advise
and assist in this process.
More information about Apostille >
