[rusty824]

I feel really dumb asking these questions, but I just don't get it. What is the purpose of getting papers notarized and certified? Do documents need to be signed in front of a notary? Do you notarize first, or certify first? What exactly is notary authentication? Do we do that before or after we get papers notarized? HOw have other people handled this - do you wait until you've collected all of your documents and then notarize and certify them together, or do you do it one document at a time? Thanks in advance to any help/advice.

[Maggie Beth]

The certification is done after the notarization. What the state is "certifying" is that the notary is really a notary in good standing. It is just another layer of protection to say your documents are "real" and were done properly.

When you send state-certified documents to the Guatemalan Embassy for authentication, the Embassy is saying, "Yes, this is a real state in the United States and the govt of Guatemala recognizes the validity of that state."

These hoops can be annoying and time-consuming, but they are all to help assure the Guatemalan government that you have provided them with true and legal documents in your dossier.

Good luck!

[PackGirl]

Having a paper notarized is saying that the person who generated the document and signed the document is who they say they are. Notarys are appointed by some form of the government be it State govt or County Govt. After a document is notarized it goes to the state (or county) so that they can say that the notary is who they say they are. It then goes to the Guat consulate and they say that they reconize both the notary and the state and they seal it to be used in their country. (this is my understanding...please chime in with other reasons)

In order for a paper to be legally notarized... The document must be signed in front of a notary. So... when you are doing your dossier you may have multiple notaries involved.
When you have all of your docs notarized you would then take it to your state (or county) to have it certified by them. They will check the notary signature against their records. Then it would go to the Guatemalan Consulate that serves your area. If you have docs that are notarized in a different state you will have to have the docs sealed in that state and by the consulate that serves that state.

When you are having docs notarized...make sure you have a sample from your agency as to how they want the notary to sign...not all notaries know how to sign correctly and you will save yourself a lot of pain and redo's if you can have it done right the first time.
HTH,

[foxl]

Yes you must sign in front of the notary. Certification confirms the notary's status with the Secretary of State, of the notary's state.

It is to say that the document is official and authentic and that the notary has been trained in identifying you and has accepted your oath that you are telling the truth.

It's sort of, their word that the notary has done their job and determined that your word is good. Make sense?

[becky]

The purpose of notarizing a document is to prove that the person signing the document is actually who they say they are.

The purpose of certifying is to prove that the notary is actually a commissioned notary in that state and not someone 'faking' being a notary.

A notary is required to actually witness the document being signed (to do otherwise would really be going against the entire point of being a notary). Most people have each document notarized as it is done. And yes, this means having different notaries available to do different documents.

[zanjen05]

Hi Rusty824,
Don't feel dumb asking these questions! We all have had to go through them! ;0) Notarize papers, in front of a notary, as you do them. Try to be sure the notary is good for at least one year from the date you notarize the papers. Sometimes that is hard to do, but try you best so you aren't redoing papers. We always waiting until we had our whole dossier notarized and gathered before we did the certifying and authenticating, but that is a personal decision. Just saves on mail charges or trips to your sec of state and consulate. Ok, once your papers are notarized, take or send them to your sec of state. If you will visit their website, they should have a section about adoptions and the fees they charge per document. Send them off, or walk them through. Next they need to go to the Guatemalan consulate that covers your area. The consulate will authenticate them and send them back to you. Then you are ready for your dossier to go to Guatemala. When you send your dossier around to the sec of state and consulate, make sure you send them via Fedex or something else reliable. Keep up with your tracking number! Also, include a prepaid addressed envelope back to yourself and keep up with that tracking number as well. That way you can keep up with where your documents are and when they will arrive back to you. Hope this helps!
God Bless,
Jenny
Mama to Colton(16) Cara(14) Gabriel(4) Delaney(4) Lucy(2) Tucker(1mth)

Gabriel home at 14 months old 9/17/02
Delaney home at 12 months old 11/7/02
Lucy home at four months old 4/7/04
Tucker born 11/23/05
171h recieved 12/3/05
Accepted Tucker's referral 12/16/05
Dossier in G.C. 12/29/05
DNA requested 1/3/06!!!

[DPline]

Originally Posted by zanjen05

Next they need to go to the Guatemalan consulate that covers your area. The consulate will authenticate them and send them back to you.

I am sure this is zanjen05 ment, but just to clarify . . . .

For authenticating, the document needs to go to the Guatemalan Consutlate that serves the area it came from. For example, if your birth certificate comes from Alabama, but you now live in North Dakota, you need to have it authenticated at the Consulate that serves Alabama, not the one that serves North Dakota.

Hope this helps! There is no such thing as a dumb question! It was SOOO confusing to me too at first.

[zanjen05]

Yikes! Thanks Debbie! I missed that! Actually, I didn't even know that! lol! Also, forgot that some states don't have to go to the sec of state for certifying, but just to the county. Thanks all!
God Bless,
Jenny

[DPline]

Originally Posted by zanjen05

Yikes! Thanks Debbie! I missed that! Actually, I didn't even know that! lol! Also, forgot that some states don't have to go to the sec of state for certifying, but just to the county. Thanks all!
God Bless,
Jenny

I forget about that county thing too because we didn't have to do that.
And in Michigan it is the Office of the Great Seal not the Secretary of State (though maybe they are part of the Sec. of State - I don't know) just to muddy things a little more! Wouldn't it be nice if there was some consistency to this process?!

[zanjen05]

LOL!
Jenny

[rusty824]

Thanks everyone for you advice. I have another question to tag along with this. Since documents need to be signed in front of a notary, what do I do when we have things like our medical reports. I can't drag my doctor to a notary. What do you do in cases like that?

[becky]

First ask you doctor's office if they have a notary on staff...you would be surprised at how many do. If they do not, then you can hire a 'traveling notary' to meet you at the doctor's office at a pre-arranged time when the doctor is available to sign the letters.

Look in the yellow pages under Notary Public...you should be able to find a traveling notary there.

[RTRhino]

Hi,

There's a couple of things you can do with the medical. Check at their office and see if they have a notary there - that's best case scenerio . Alas it doesn't always work that easily. We had to get a 'mobile notary', make an appointment at the Dr's then have the notary meet us there. They then witnessed the Dr's signature and notarized it. It will depend on what you have available in your area.

One other note that we had - the notary block could not contain DR or MD after the doctors name because a notary can't notarize that he/she is a doctor . Again that may be something to check with your agency and see if it applied in your state.

When I first got the instructions for the notarization/certification/authentication.... ... it definitely took a bit to get it straight. Good luck with the paper chase!!! You'll be relieved when that's over.

Tom

[pvellozo]

we had to redo a number of documents because we used notaries whose commissions had expired. or the notaries used the wrong statement.
call the secretary of state's office, they can tell you over the telephone if the notary is valid and their commission is current.
also get from your agency the exact statement the notary must use. some notaries may not know this, causing the document to be rejected by the secretary of state or the guatemalan embassy.
paul