What is meant by a notary?
He is a legal specialist who is accredited or licensed by the Judicial Department to document and certify customary documents, and to work with all the competencies assigned to him, authorized by law, and the notary branches into:

Notary public.
Private notary.
And the government notary.
And here it is necessary to differentiate between the branches of the notary and find out what is meant by each of them.

Notary public
He is a public official appointed by the courts and assigned, within the limits of his authority and competence, the tasks set out in the law.

Private notary
He is a natural person who has been licensed to practice the notary’s business and is registered in the schedules of the competent department to practice the notary’s competencies in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Government notary
A person from the Judicial Department who is licensed to practice the duties of a notary public, provided that his practice is limited to the competencies assigned to him by the decision issued by the head of the Judicial Department in Abu Dhabi.

Notary services in Abu Dhabi
Law No. 11 of 2017 on the notary in the emirate of Abu Dhabi defines the competencies of the notary public in a manner that does not contradict Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2022 issued on the organization of the notary’s mission in the UAE, where the notary public undertakes the following:

• Documenting the documents that the law requires to be documented, or requested by the relevant persons.
• Certify the signatures of the relevant persons on the editors upon their request.
• Proof of the history of customary liberations.
• Documenting and certifying the declarations accompanied by the oath, after the oath of the related parties.
• Document and certify all declarations required by law or requested by the relevant persons.
• Drawing up the executive version on the notarized editor in accordance with the provisions of this law.
• Ratification of the wills of non-Muslims.
• Any other competences entrusted to him by the legislation in force in the emirate, or assigned to him by the agent or manager.

Works prohibited to the notary
Article 11 of Law No. 11 of 2017 concerning the notary public in the emirate of Abu Dhabi defines the acts that the notary public is prohibited from performing as follows:

• Documenting or certifying any transaction that involves a violation of applicable legislation, public order or public morals.
• Notarizing or certifying any transaction that the legislation in force in the emirate provides for notarizing or certifying it from the competence of another authority.
• Certify any transaction related to the creation of a property right, any in-kind right to Real Estate, its transfer, change or removal.
• Prepare or document a contract of sale, gift or mortgage for a commercial store before announcing it by publishing it in one of the widely distributed daily newspapers in the country at least fourteen days before the transaction is made, unless it has been published with the competent administrative authority.
• Conducting any transaction that has a visible or hidden benefit for him, his spouse, or any of his relatives up to the fourth degree, or choosing any of them as an interpreter or assistant in transactions conducted in front of him.
• Create any information he received on the occasion of his job.
  Transfer any record, documents, transcripts, or official papers that are in his custody to outside his workplace, and the public prosecution may view them at the place where they are kept, or request to include them with the written permission of the Director, none of them may be included in the file of a pending case except at the request of the court, and after saving a certified copy thereof.
• Provide any entity other than the relevant persons with information from the records, except for a written request from a competent judicial or governmental authority and after the approval of the director.
• Give a copy of the editor to non-related persons, except in cases determined by the president by his decision, or based on a decision of the competent court, as the case may be.
• Approving the signature of employees working for government or local authorities on certificates, documents or other papers that they sign by virtue of their jobs, except at the request of those authorities .
• Combine the function of a notary, and any public or private job.

Private notary services in Abu Dhabi from Hatim Al-khalifi Law Firm & Legal Consultancy

We are Hatim Al-khalifi Law Firm & Legal Consultancy firm providing private notary services in the UAE, and we provide them online or by moving to the client’s headquarters. We also provide muharrat documentation services from the UAE Ministry of foreign affairs, and from embassies operating on its territory.