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Why You Need to See a Notary to Get By in Estonia

In a civil law country like Estonia, one needs to see a notary (as opposed to a lawyer) to incorporate a company, prepare a will, draft a power of attorney, transfer land, or buy a condo—or to discuss doing any of the above.

Hillar Lauri, Entrepreneur and part-time math teacher
Hillar Lauri, Entrepreneur and part-time math teacher

Even for a digital society like Estonia, sometimes you need to meet with an actual person (i.e. a notary) to do many of the above things. In a minute, I will deal with the digital side, but first, what is a notary? Why are they essential to the Estonian legal system? How does one deal with them?

The notary system in Estonia is different from how lawyers work in Canada's common law provinces. Too often I have seen how the expectations of a Canadian-Estonian coming from Toronto collide with the rigid notary system of Estonia (or like France, where almost identical services are performed). For starters, notaries are hired and regulated by the Estonian Ministry of Justice. They cannot set their own hourly rates or fees—these are set by Estonian laws.

One can pick a notary by opening up the homepage of the Estonian Chamber of Notaries.  All of Estonia's 87 notaries are listed here. Note that the English language pages are mostly in Estonian. It's my experience that very few notaries are willing to work in a language other than Estonian (i.e. they require the services of a translator).

Täismahus artikkel on loetav Eesti Elu tellijatele

Igal nädalal toome me sinuni kõige olulisemad kogukonna uudised ja eksklusiivsed lood uutelt kolumnistidelt. Räägime eestlastele südamelähedastest teemadest, kogukonna tegijatest ja sündmustest. Loodame sinu toele, et meie kogukonna leht jätkuks pikkadeks aastateks.

Hind alates $2.30 nädalas.

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