Notarial Office Katarzyna Meysztowicz

A notary carries out notarial activities: drawing up notarial deeds, certifying signatures on documents, certifying the conformity of photocopies of documents with their originals, always in accordance with law and the rules of notaries’ professional ethics. To the extent of their powers, the notary acts as a person of public trust and performs a public role. Notarial acts performed by notaries are official documents, which are drawn up in the Polish language. Upon request, the notary can perform a notarial act with the assistance of an interpreter who has been appointed and sworn in by the Ministry of Justice. The notary provides services at their own Notarial Offices. Should special circumstances of notarial activities so require, the notary can also perform notarial activities outside their Notarial Office (e.g. the client’s home or office or at a hospital) and at weekends. Further, the notary sees that the rights and interests of each party to a notarial act are safeguarded and are in compliance with law and, in connection with the performance of her duties, the notary is bound to observe professional secrecy with regard to all information gained in carrying out her duties.

A notarial deed is a special form of a public document that confirms that a given legal act has been performed (e.g. conclusion of a sale agreement, a donation agreement, a marriage contract, a marital agreement on the distribution of jointly held assets, agreement on formation of a commercial law company, drawing up one’s last will and testament, or granting power of attorney). Lack of the form of a notarial deed where required by law results in ineffectiveness of a given legal act and its invalidity. The parties to a given notarial deed receive only official copies of the deed while the original document always remains at the Notarial Office and must not be removed therefrom. The notary transmits notarial documents (including original notarial deeds) for archiving to the land and mortgage registers archives at the competent district Court ten years after they are signed or when the Notarial Office ceases to operate.

A certified copy of a notarial deed has the same legal value as the original document and is a true and complete, i.e. identical, copy of its content. A certified copy of a notarial deed is issued to the parties to the deed or persons for whom the right to be issued a certified copy of the deed was reserved in the deed and their legal successors. With the consent of the parties to a notarial deed or on the basis of a final decision by a Regional Court within whose jurisdiction the Notarial Office is situated, a certified copy of a notarial deed can be also issued to other persons. The heading of a certified copy of a notarial deed shows then a note to that effect. In the closing paragraph, it is noted to whom and when a certified copy was issued. The notary signs the deed and stamps it with her official seal. If consisting of more than one sheet, each page should be numbered, stapled together, initialed, and sealed.