Costa Rica Notary Public

Anyone living or doing business in Costa Ricaquickly notices almost any transaction or administrative paperwork requires one to visit a Notary Public, which might be seen as just an annoying, expensive and burdensome legal step.

Few people really understand what a Notary Public is or what role he plays in the legal, administrative and commercial fields, and most importantly, what a client has the right to expect.

The practice of a notary in Costa Ricavaries a great deal from many English-speaking countries. For instance, in the U.S. or the U.K. , the office consists of a private practice by a common person, who generally functions as a “professional witness”.

In Costa Rica, however, as in most of Latin America , the Notary Public is a hybrid profession, falling somewhere between the Civil Servant and the Liberal Professional. Indeed, the main feature of the Notary Public is that he must serve all those come to ask for his services in his “open-to-the-public office”, as he is invested by the State of public authority or public faith, which basically means that whatever he witnesses and signs acquires full proof value and authenticity, as well as presumption of legality. This calls immediately and logically for specialized studies and academic preparation in the field of law.

Consequently, all notaries in Costa Rica are also lawyers, that is, attorneys-at-law and members of the Costa Rican Bar or Colegio de Abogados. This is important, since as Bar members, they must comply with a strict ethical code of conduct and may be liable for any practice in violation of these rules. Notaries are also subject to strict surveillance by a Public Authority, the Dirección Nacional de Notariado, to which anybody may complain and seek compensation for damages suffered as a consequence of any irregularities.

The Código Notarial, the statute regulating Notary activities, defines the Notary Public as the professional in Law legally authorized to provide the public function delegated to him. The Notary is then defined by the Public function or duty he provides, which basically consists of hearing, advising, modelling, drafting, and certifying or authenticating.

The Notary must first carefully listen what the parties requesting his services have in mind, what they express to him as their will. In turn, using his legal expertise he must advise them of all relevant legal circumstances, provisions, and available options pertaining to what he has interpreted and understood as their true intention.

Once the parties have discussed the matter with the Notary in an informed way, and decided on how they wish to conclude their business, he must then model or shape their will into a legal, effective and acceptable form, and then draft the legal instrument or document containing the transaction. In order to perform this task, the Notary will need to see certain documents to identify the persons and goods involved, such as an official ID (a valid passport, for foreigners), a registry study and map (when the contract deals with real estate), a valid power of attorney when acting on behalf of someone else (the chairman of a corporation, for instance), etc. It is indeed the Notary’s obligation to make sure everything is done legally and that the document he is drafting will be a valid and enforceable one.

When this document is ready, the Notary must read it to all parties, who in turn agree to it if they are satisfied that it encloses their will, and approve it after the Notary has once again warned them of all the legal implications of their actions. It is important to note the document has to be written in Spanish. Where any of the parties involved do not speak or properly understand Spaish, a translator is required, unless the Notary himself speaks the clients’ language, in which case he may do the translation himself.

Then comes the core stage of the Notary’s involvement: he will collect the parties’ signatures, which must absolutely and unavoidably be written personally, and in the Notary’s presence. Only then does he stamp his own signature at the bottom of the document, thus authenticating and giving full public faith to what he has witnessed and authorized, as well as full power of proof to the document and its contents.

The original document remains within the Notary’s Protocol Book as a safeguard legal measure, while the parties are entitled to receive an authentic “first copy” or testimonio, for pragmatic purposes and official use.

Essentially, the main task of a Notary is to prevent future conflicts that could arise among as a result of lack of legal counselling, and vague or poorly-drafted contracts. In short, it is hoped after having read these few lines the Notary no longer thought of as the “guy you pay for a signature”.

For more information please write to contact@betterhomescostarica.com