Frequently asked questions

A consultation before the appointment is not always necessary. It depends on how complex the matter is and how much experience and knowledge you already have.

For certifications of signatures in particular, you can book an appointment directly if you have drawn up the document yourself or already have it – for example a draft approval or confirmation of a power of attorney from another notary, consents to the deletion of land charges from banks, insurance companies or building societies, or documents for the creation of easements from municipalities or utility companies.

Note: In this case I do not review the content; I merely certify (confirm) your signature.

For standard matters as well – such as purchase agreements for land and apartments, building plots, agricultural land or shares in a GmbH, formations of a GmbH/UG with standard articles of association or the model protocol, appointment and dismissal of managing directors or authorised signatories, a change of a company’s address or registered office, or powers of attorney relating to real estate – it is generally sufficient to provide the information requested in our forms (in German). Once we have received your information, we will contact you to arrange an appointment for notarisation or certification.

For complex and/or individual arrangements, a consultation is required in order to understand your wishes, to explain the various options to you and to set out your decision in the draft. In particular for transfer and gift agreements, wills and inheritance contracts, marriage contracts, divorce settlement agreements and lasting powers of attorney, we will be pleased to arrange a consultation with you. It can take place by telephone, by video or in person.

There are indeed procedures that can also be carried out online. Typical examples are unanimously adopted amendments to the articles of association or the formation of a GmbH/UG. The notarial online procedure therefore mainly concerns commercial and company law.

An essential element of these modern online procedures is certification and notarisation by the notary via video link. Of course, such video procedures are carried out in accordance with strict security standards and consistently comply with data protection requirements.

Yes. A notary may accept instructions for notarisation and certification regardless of where their own office is located and regardless of the parties’ place of residence or registered office or the location of the property. Clients are therefore completely free to choose their notary.

This means: even if your property is located elsewhere in Germany, outside Baden-Baden, you may still instruct me (or any other notary) to handle your matter.

We do everything we can to make your visit to our office as efficient and focused as possible and, in particular, to avoid waiting times. We rely on your help in doing so. The following checklist may help you prepare.

For consultations

It is certainly helpful to find out about the subject of the consultation in advance. Please bring the following documents:

• for real estate transactions: land register extracts (even if no longer up to date), site plan and, if applicable, earlier deeds (purchase agreement, transfer agreement, etc.)
• for matters of succession: existing wills, inheritance contracts, agreements waiving compulsory portions and marriage contracts
• for family law matters: any existing marriage contracts
• for company law matters: existing articles of association or partnership agreements and, if applicable, an extract from the commercial register (even if no longer up to date)

For notarisations

Please remember to bring your identity documents, even if you are personally known to the notary (if the notary is unexpectedly unavailable and the notarisation is carried out by the notarial assessor, you may need to identify yourself again). Expired identity documents are also acceptable, provided they clearly establish your identity.

For marriage contracts and arrangements under inheritance law (wills, inheritance contracts), please bring your marriage certificate (or a copy) or, if you are not married, a copy of your birth certificate. We take from this document the registration number of your birth entry at the registry office. We are required to notify the registry office of your place of birth that such a notarial deed has been executed, so that the deposited documents are actually opened upon your death. Any further documents you may need to bring are listed in the cover letter sent with the draft (for example a fire insurance certificate or rental agreements, if they are to be attached as evidence).

If your financing bank has sent you, as the buyer, documents for the creation of a land charge or mortgage to secure a loan, please send them to us before the notarisation if possible, or drop them in our letterbox, which is always accessible from outside, so that the land charge can be prepared in time for the purchase agreement appointment. If this is no longer possible for reasons of time, please hand us the land charge forms before the notarisation of the purchase agreement begins, so that the land charge can be prepared while the purchase agreement is being read out.

If you have any further questions about preparing for the appointment, please do not hesitate to call our office – we will be happy to help.

With a will or an inheritance contract, you decide yourself who will receive your assets in the event of your death.

In addition to the classic appointment of heirs, there are many other instruments under inheritance law that notaries can use, such as legacies or the appointment of an executor. The testator does not have to follow the statutory order of succession. For example, they can appoint persons who are not related to them as heirs, change the statutory shares of the estate and order legacies or the administration of the estate by an executor. These arrangements can be made by will or by inheritance contract.

Explanatory video on inheritance at notar.de (in German)

Will

A will can be made as an individual will or as a joint will. Please note that a joint will can only be made by spouses.

If the will is not to be notarised but handwritten, the entire text of the will must be written by the testator by hand, stating the place and date, and signed. For a joint will, it is sufficient if one spouse writes the joint will by hand, adds the place and date, and both spouses then sign the declaration.

As handwritten wills often contain ambiguities or errors, notarial advice and notarisation are recommended in any case. This applies in particular to the joint will, because after the death of one spouse it can have a binding effect on the surviving spouse, with the consequence that the surviving partner can no longer change the decisions made in the will.

Inheritance contract

An inheritance contract is also a kind of “will” containing dispositions upon death. However, it is executed in the form of a contract, and at least two contracting parties must be involved. An inheritance contract must be notarised. Unlike a joint will, an inheritance contract can also be concluded by persons who are not married to each other.

Dispositions made in an inheritance contract can generally only be changed with the consent of both contracting parties and, after the death of one of them, not at all. In many cases, this binding effect is a useful means of managing the estate in the interests of the party who dies first. However, an inheritance contract can also provide extensively for a later unilateral amendment of the dispositions if a binding effect is not intended.

In order to fully understand the consequences of contracts, clients must have sufficient knowledge of German. If this is not the case, notaries must ensure that the documents and their legal consequences are nevertheless fully understood. The client must therefore engage a translator or interpreter to attend the appointment, translate the deed and enable communication.

You can find an interpreter, for example, in the German judiciary’s database of interpreters and translators.

Waiting times and the length of the appointment vary depending on the current capacity of the notarial office you have chosen and the scope of your matter.

For a simple certification of a signature, an appointment can usually be given within about two weeks and normally takes about 5–15 minutes.

For standard matters, an appointment is generally given within a few days to a few weeks after we have received all the necessary data and information and prepared the draft. Statutory rules also affect the time until an appointment: for real estate contracts between consumers and businesses (regardless of who is on which side), a period of two weeks must elapse between the notarial office sending the draft deed and the notarisation appointment. This is intended to protect consumers against rash and hasty decisions and the associated costs and (financial) risks. The parties cannot waive this statutory rule.

For the notarisation of a real estate purchase agreement you should allow about 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the circumstances, and about 15 to 30 minutes for the notarisation of a land charge or power of attorney. During the appointment, the contract is read out, questions are answered where necessary and the “legal” language is explained.

For individual arrangements such as wills/inheritance contracts and marriage contracts/divorce settlement agreements, please ask about the current situation and processing time. For the notarisation, you should allow about 60 to 120 minutes, depending on the circumstances.

Length of appointments at a glance

Notarial fees (charges and expenses) are laid down by law. Notaries are obliged to charge the fees prescribed by law for their work – no more and no less.

The fee system of the Court and Notary Fees Act (GNotKG) is carefully balanced. The amount of the notarial fees depends on the significance and value of the transaction. For each transaction, the Court and Notary Fees Act, which applies uniformly throughout Germany, provides for a specific fee rate. Based on this rate, the specific fee is calculated according to a scale that depends on the value of the transaction.

We will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Specific costs can only be calculated once the transaction values and the content of the contract are known. The fee calculator of the Federal Chamber of Notaries (in German) gives you an initial idea.

1. The first meeting
   You contact us, and we discuss your matter and your options with you. You choose the solution that suits you and reach an agreement with all contracting parties.
2. The draft
   As soon as you have sent us your details, we prepare a draft of the deed. After receiving it, you – and, if applicable, your legal or tax adviser – review the draft. Any remaining questions are clarified and requested changes are incorporated.
3. The notarisation
   You arrange an appointment with us for the notarisation: the notary reads out the deed and explains the individual provisions. The parties can ask questions at any time. Any additions or minor changes to the deed are incorporated. Finally, the deed is signed and thus becomes legally effective.
4. The execution
   Our team now processes the deed: copies are made, the deed is submitted to the registers for execution, notifications are sent to the authorities, approvals are obtained, further letters are sent to the parties, and so on. Once the entry has been made in the land register or commercial register, you will receive notification of the execution.