Common Documents for Signature Certification

A Power of Attorney is a document in which one person (the principal) grants another person (the agent) the authority to act on their behalf for specific actions. It is a convenient tool for situations where you cannot personally perform certain actions—such as submitting documents to an administrative body or addressing matters requiring specialized knowledge.

You can authorize a trusted person to represent you. The scope of authority you grant is entirely up to you: specifying what actions the agent can perform on your behalf, where they can act, and whether they can delegate these powers to a third party (substitution of authority). You can also set a validity period for the power of attorney, after which all granted powers expire, and you can revoke it at any time with a written declaration certified in the same manner as the original power of attorney.

It is important to note that granting a power of attorney does not revoke your right to perform the actions yourself.

However, certain actions must be performed personally and cannot be delegated. Examples include making declarations about specific circumstances, drafting a will, or entering into a civil marriage on your behalf.

For powers of attorney involving transactions for transferring ownership or establishing property rights over real estate, special requirements apply. According to Article 37 of the Obligations and Contracts Act, both the signature and the content of the power of attorney must be certified simultaneously. This means the document must be prepared, signed, and certified in two or more identical original copies, one of which remains with the notary. Additionally, such powers of attorney must be accompanied by declarations under Article 25, para. 8 of the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act, Article 74 in connection with Article 264, para. 1 of the TSIPC, and the Measures Against Money Laundering Act. The signatures on these declarations must also be certified.

Declarations and Statements are documents in which an individual formally declares a specific circumstance, intention, or knowledge of certain facts in writing.

In some cases, legislation requires declarations in a specific format, such as those accompanying powers of attorney for real estate transactions. In other cases, there are no specific formatting requirements, but the declaration must still include certain details. For instance, a parent’s declaration of consent for a minor to travel abroad unaccompanied may be written in free text but must include essential information, such as the child’s full name and identification number, as well as the accompanying person’s details.

Other documents, such as contracts, agreements, requests, and more, may also require certification of signatures or, when necessary, certification of their content.