Notary and Apostille Law: Apostilles

As a notary, you may be asked to notarize documents that are going to be sent overseas. After you notarize the documents, the Ohio Secretary of State authenticates them.

An "apostille" is a form of authentication issued to documents for use in countries that participate in the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961. 

If the country of intended use does not participate in the Hague Convention , documents being sent to that country can be "authenticated" or "certified".

The Office of the Secretary of State provides apostille and authentication service to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals on documents that will be used overseas. Types of documents include corporate documents such as company bylaws and articles of incorporation, power of attorney, diplomas, transcripts, letters relating to degrees, marital status, references and job certifications, home studies, deeds of assignments, distributorship agreements, papers for adoption purposes, etc.