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How to authenticate or apostille court documents?

Updated: Dec 4

Court Document means a document issued by the court or filed or generated by the parties relative to proceedings and includes affidavits, applications, bundles, claim forms, exhibits, judgments, orders, pleadings, summonses. The most common documents for authentication may be a name change petition, divorce decree, bankruptcy court decision, etc.


In the event that a court document is to be used outside the United States, it needs to be apostilled or authenticated first.


For the document is issued by the state court:

  • If the destination country is a member of the Hague Convention of 1961, your document falls under the Apostille process (following Step 1-2);

  • If it's NOT a member of the Hague Convention of 1961, your document is required to go through the Authentication process (following Step 1-4).


For the document is issued by the federal court:

  • If the destination country is a member of the Hague Convention of 1961, directly send your document to the U.S. Department of State for Apostille process;

  • If it's NOT a member of the Hague Convention of 1961, your document is required to go through the Authentication process, which means have it authenticated at the U.S. Department of State first, then legalized by the embassy of that country.


Step 1: Get a certified copy of your court document


Contact the "county clerk's office" or "clerk of the court" for the county or city in which the document was issued.


A certified copy of your court document usually carries:

  • A raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal

  • The registrar’s signature

  • The date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office


Step 2: Get it authenticated or apostilled by the Secretary of State


For Hague Convention Countries, get it certified with an apostille by the Secretary of State. For a state-issued court document, it does not require additional certification by the U.S. Department of State or legalization by a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas to be recognized in a participating country. You are all set!


For Non-Hague Convention Countries, get it certified with authentication by the Secretary of State. Go to Step 3.


Step 3: Get it authenticated or apostilled by the Department of State (if needed)


Have your court document authenticated by the U.S. Department of State.



Step 4: Get it legalized by the embassy of your destination country


Contact the embassy of your destination country to get the court document legalized.



Process of Notarization, Authentication/Aposille, Legalization

Note: Please be aware of how old the certified copy of the court document is. There are a few states that have set limits on how old a certificate can be. For example, documents issued from Virginia cannot be older than 12 months, and documents issued from Texas cannot be older than 5 years.


Then please mail us the original documents for further processing based on the instruction you received from our team.


That's it. Once the apostille or authentication process is completed, we will mail it to your mailing address, either domestically or internationally. Shipping costs apply.


We provide apostille, authentication, and embassy legalization services for other personal documents and corporate documents issued in 50 states and DC.


If you have any questions and do not know which service to order, please contact us by describing ① the type of the document, ② which state the doc is from, and ③ in which country the doc will be used, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.


 

American Notary Service Center Inc. provides fair, fast, confidential, and professional document notarization and certification services for our clients. We also provide various assistance services to small businesses led by socially and economically disadvantaged groups. Our service helps small businesses obtain federal government contracts, gain a foothold in the market, and boost their sales. For more information, please visit our website at www.usnotarycenter.com, and contact us by calling 202-599-0777 or by email at info@usnotarycenter.com.

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