Notary · Apostille · Legalisation
Notarising a prenup for use abroad
If either of you is a foreign national, owns property overseas, or you may one day divorce in another country, an English prenup on its own may not be enough. Here is what a notarised and apostilled prenup is, when you need one, and how we do it in one visit.
In short: a notarised prenup is one where a notary public certifies that both parties signed it, in their presence, with proof of identity. An apostille from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office then certifies the notary's signature so that authorities in any of the 120+ Hague Convention countries will accept it. Because we are both solicitors and notaries, the agreement can be drafted, signed, notarised and sent for apostille from the same office.
When does a prenup need to be notarised?
- One or both of you is a citizen of another country — particularly civil-law countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Brazil, or most of Latin America, where marital agreements are formal notarial acts.
- You own, or plan to buy, property abroad. A foreign land registry or notary handling a later sale may ask how the marital property regime applies.
- You may live abroad and could end up divorcing there. A foreign court will look for an agreement in a form it recognises.
- Your partner's family or advisers abroad expect it. In many countries an unnotarised agreement simply does not look like a legal document.
- The agreement will be registered — some countries record marital regimes on the civil register or the marriage certificate.
What we actually do
Draft for two systems
The agreement is drafted to satisfy the English Radmacher test and, where possible, the formalities of the other country — including a choice-of-law clause and, where useful, a bilingual version.
Sign before a notary
Both of you sign at 19 Wigmore Street with passports. The notary verifies identity and capacity and attaches a notarial certificate. Your partner's independent adviser can attend or advise beforehand.
Apostille
We send the notarised agreement to the FCDO Legalisation Office for the apostille — the certificate that makes an English notarial act acceptable in every Hague Convention country.
Embassy legalisation, if needed
For non-Hague countries (for example the UAE, Qatar or Kuwait) the apostille is followed by embassy legalisation. We handle that too.
Which countries accept an apostille?
All EU member states, the United States, Australia, Canada, Brazil, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and most of South America are parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. For those, a notarised prenup with an apostille needs no further certification. A handful of countries — notably the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and several African states — are not, and require embassy legalisation after the apostille. We will tell you which applies when you call.
Translations
Most foreign authorities will want the agreement in their own language. We can arrange a certified translation, and where it helps we can prepare the agreement as a bilingual document from the outset so both versions are signed and notarised together.
Important: notarising and apostilling an agreement makes it usable abroad; it does not guarantee that a foreign court will apply it in the same way as an English one. Where the other country's law matters, we recommend the agreement is also reviewed by a lawyer there, and we can work with them.
Already have a prenup that needs notarising?
If you have an agreement drafted elsewhere and simply need it notarised and apostilled, we can do that as a standalone notarial service through Edward Young Notaries & Lawyers — usually the same day for the notarial act, with the apostille following on the FCDO's standard or priority service.
Questions people ask
Frequently asked questions
Do both of us need to be present to notarise the prenup?
How long does the apostille take?
Can you notarise a prenup in another language?
Is a foreign prenup valid in England?
Call us and tell us what you need
Tell us when the wedding is, where you both live, and roughly what you each own. We will tell you what the agreement needs to cover and quote one fixed fee — before you commit to anything.
Call 020 7499 2605Prefer email? ey@notarypubliclondon.co.uk