What Can We Help You With?
Notarizations
Contracts
Real Estate
For most people your home is the most valuable and important asset you have. We can assist in advising and preparing legal documents for purchasing, selling, or refinancing mortgages on residential properties.
Whether you’re buying or selling a home, or refinancing a mortgage to leverage the equity in your property, let Van Isle Notary give you peace of mind by looking after the details, and making the process easy to understand.
Real estate transactions we can assist with include:
- Buying or selling residential properties
- Refinancing real property
- Adding or removing people from title
- Transferring to surviving joint owner(s)
- Adding mortgages or lines of credit to real property
- Reviewing purchase and sale contracts
- Preparing of discharges
- Builder’s lien claims
Have you just signed a Contract of Purchase and Sale and want to know what to do next? Book an appointment to take the next step!
Personal Planning
Wills
A Will is a legal document containing instructions as to the distribution of your estate and guardianship for your minor children after your death.
It is important to have a Will to ensure your wishes with respect to the distribution of your belongings and guardianship of your minor children are followed. Without a Will these decisions will be left to the law and courts to decide.
To be valid, a Will must follow specific legal formalities. An improperly prepared Will can result in decisions being made after your death that are not consistent with your wishes. Don’t take that chance, contact Van Isle Notary to have your Will professionally made. Use our online form to get started today!
Powers of Attorney
A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint one or more Attorneys the authority to make decisions on your behalf with respect to finances and property while you are alive, if you are unable to do so yourself for any reason. The decisions you can choose to authorize your Attorney to make on your behalf include such things as everyday banking; paying bills; renewing, changing, or canceling home or auto insurance; and refinancing, selling, or purchasing a home. An Attorney can NOT be given the ability to make personal or health care decisions (these require a Health Care Representation agreement or an Advance Directive).
If you own real estate, have minor children, travel, have any major health concerns, or are simply coming to a point in life where you would like help to care for your finances, we would be happy to discuss how a Power of Attorney would be beneficial to you either now or in the future.
Representation Agreements
A Representation Agreement is a legal document that allows you to designate someone (the Representative) to make certain decisions about your health care if you are unable to make those decisions yourself.
Generally, anyone at an advanced age, or who has underlying medical conditions should have a Representation Agreement prepared.
There are two types of Representation Agreements that grant your representative different decision-making authority. Determining the right agreement depends on your personal circumstances. At Van Isle Notary, we can help make that determination.
Advance Directives
An Advance Directive is a written document that allows you to state your decisions with respect to future health care treatments in advance. The purpose of an Advance Directive is to inform medical professionals of your consent or refusal regarding certain medical procedures at a point in time, in the event that you are not capable of communicating that in the future. The directions provided in your Advance Directive must be followed by any healthcare practitioner who is aware of them.
Notarizations
Affidavits
An Affidavit is a written statement of facts used to present evidence in various legal proceedings. The truth of the facts presented in the document must be confirmed by an oath or affirmation of the party making it, and taken before an officer authorized to administer such oath. The document itself must be signed by both the person making the statement (known as the ‘affiant’) and person who administers the oath (such as a Notary Public).
Statutory Declarations
A Statutory Declaration is a legal document as defined under the laws of Canada. They are commonly used to allow a person to declare personally known facts relating to a specific matter are true for purposes of satisfying a particular legal requirement or regulation.
Like Affidavits, statutory declarations are declared before individuals who are authorized to administer oaths, but they are normally used outside of court settings.
Certified True Copies
A certified true copy is a copy (such as photocopy) of an original document, typically required for government purposes. A certified true copy does not certify that the original document is genuine. Rather, it is used to avoid the risk of loss or damage when sending original identification documents.
Examples of documents that are commonly certified include photo IDs, diplomas, and birth certificates.
If you require a certified true copy, please bring the original document for copying at our office.
Travel Consent Letters
The Government of Canada strongly recommends that minor children carry a consent letter if they are travelling abroad alone, with only one parent/guardian, with friends or relatives, or with a group.
A consent letter is not a legal requirement in Canada, but it can simplify travel for Canadian children, as it may be requested by immigration authorities when entering or leaving a foreign country, or by Canadian officials when re-entering Canada. The letter demonstrates that Canadian children have permission to travel abroad from parents or guardians who are not accompanying them.
We recommend that the letter be signed by every non-accompanying person or organization with the legal right to make major decisions for the child, including anyone with custody or guardianship rights.
Sample travel letters and FAQs can be found on the Government of Canada’s Website.
Please bring the completed, unsigned form to your appointment, along with two pieces of ID.
Letters of Invitation
Sometimes visitors applying for a visa to visit Canada will be asked to provide a letter of invitation from someone who resides in Canada. The visa office may request that the letter be notarized by a Notary Public.
Information for the person writing the letter of invitation can be found on the Government of Canada’s Website.
Please bring the completed letter to your appointment, along with two pieces of ID.
Other Notarizations
Other types of documents we can notarize include:
- Sponsorship letters
- ICBC statutory declarations
- Life certificates
- Insurance loss declarations
- Passport declarations
Frequently Asked Questions
General
What do you charge?
Fees depend on the nature and extent of work required for your particular matter. Please call our office and we’ll be happy to explore the details of your particular matter with you.
What do I need to bring to my appointment?
Anyone signing documents in front of the Notary must bring 2 pieces of identification (at least one of which must be government issued photo ID, such as a valid and current drivers’ license, passport, or BC ID). The second can be a bank card issued by a major bank, credit card issued by a major institution, social insurance card, or birth certificate.
Why do I need to bring identification?
In addition to legal, regulatory, and professional requirements, it’s in your best interest! In short, to protect your interests—be it in a real estate transaction, preparing your Will, or notarizing an important document, we need to be sure we’re dealing with the real you!
Real Estate
What do you charge?
Fees depend on the nature and extent of work required for your particular matter. Please call our office and we’ll be happy to explore the details of your particular matter with you.
What do I need to bring to my appointment?
Anyone signing documents in front of the Notary must bring 2 pieces of identification (at least one of which must be government issued photo ID, such as a valid and current drivers’ license, passport, or BC ID). The second can be a bank card issued by a major bank, credit card issued by a major institution, social insurance card, or birth certificate.
Why do I need to bring identification?
In addition to legal, regulatory, and professional requirements, it’s in your best interest! In short, to protect your interests—be it in a real estate transaction, preparing your Will, or notarizing an important document, we need to be sure we’re dealing with the real you!
Personal Planning
Why do I need a will?
It is important to have a Will to ensure your wishes with respect to the distribution of your belongings and guardianship of your minor children are followed. Without a Will these decisions will be left to the law and courts to decide.
What happens if I don't have a Will?
Without a Will, there is no guarantee the administration of your estate, the distribution of your assets and personal effects, and guardianship of your minor children will follow your wishes.
The person responsible for administrating your estate could wind up being anyone who applies to the courts (or even the Public Guardian and Trustee if no one applies), and not the person you would like to be administrator.
Your assets and personal effects will be distributed pursuant to the Wills Estates and Succession Act, which may not be in accordance with your wishes.Most importantly, the courts will be responsible for deciding who will be the guardian of your minor children, which may not be in accordance with your—or their—wishes.
All of this will result in delays in time and additional costs to the beneficiaries of your estate, as well as a great deal of uncertainty for your loved ones at an already difficult time.
How often should I review my Will?
You should update your Will whenever there is a major change in your life, such as expansion of your family or loss of a family member named in your Will, if you have a significant increase or decrease in the value of your estate, or if you feel your Will no longer reflects your current wishes. In any event, we recommend you update your Will at least every five years.
If you are unsure if your current Will accurately reflects your wishes, our Notary would be happy to assist you in reviewing your Will.
Can you sign my homemade Will?
To be valid, a Will must follow specific legal formalities. An improperly prepared Will can result in decisions being made after your death that are not consistent with your wishes. To ensure your homemade Will meets the necessary legal formalities would require at least as much time and effort as preparing one for you using our approach. To simply sign a homemade document would also deprive you of the legal knowledge and advice you can benefit from in having us prepare a professional Will for you. Therefore, we do not sign homemade Wills.
Would you like us to prepare your Will? Use our online form to get started today!
Can you sign my homemade Power of Attorney?
Drafting the document is only one element of preparing a valid Power of Attorney; there is a process also involved. A professionally prepared document is generally more broadly accepted than a homemade one. To simply sign a homemade document would deprive you of the legal knowledge and advice you can benefit from in having us prepare a professional Power of Attorney for you. For these reasons we do not sign homemade Powers of Attorney.
Notarizations
What do I bring to my notarization appointment?
You should bring:
- All documents requiring notarization in their entirety (not just signing pages)
- 2 pieces of identification (at least one must be government issued photo ID)
Can I drop off my document to be notarized?
Notarizing a document is a process that depends on the type of document itself, and the Notary’s signature is only a part of that process. The entire process must be completed with you in the presence of the Notary.
Can I drop off my original document for a certified true copy?
While the process of certifying a true copy is generally quick, if you would like it done during your visit we recommend booking an appointment to ensure our Notary is available.
Alternatively, you can make arrangements to drop the document off and schedule pick-up at a later time.