What is the difference between a Notary Public and a Solicitor?

bobsman

.....in laymans terms, what is the difference between the two? Cheers

tatli_lokma

A notary public does not need full legal training for a start! They have limited powers, mainly witnessing signatures, affidavits, oaths and such like.
http://notarypublic.ie/?multi_city=8

vector

bobsman wrote: »

.....in laymans terms, what is the difference between the two? Cheers

Generally
a document signed by a Solicitor will be read in Ireland
and...
a document signed by a Notary Public will be read abroad
, and when I say abroad I mean usually a non-English speaking Country

For example, you might need a Notary Public if you were sending a copy of your college degree to Dubai, or if you were buying property in Spain.

tatli_lokma

vector wrote: »

Generally
a document signed by a Solicitor will be read in Ireland
and...
a document signed by a Notary Public will be read abroad
, and when I say abroad I mean usually a non-English speaking Country

For example, you might need a Notary Public if you were sending a copy of your college degree to Dubai, or if you were buying property in Spain.

Not necessarily - for my husbands citizenship application for Ireland, part of it could be witnessed by a solicitor/commissioner for oaths, but other parts had to be witnessed by either a notary public or a peace commissioner. So even for documents read in Ireland you may need one or the other.

vector

I agree that the Peace Commissioner/Notary Public can be confusing but I can say for certain that a "Commissioner for Oaths" can sign every document connected with an Application for Irish Citizenship, where the applicant is located in Ireland.

Be it the Statutory Declaration on page 15 approx, or the certified copies, and any extra separate Affidavit (e.g. Affidavit in lieu of Birth or Marriage Certificate)
you cannot go wrong with a "Commissioner for Oaths"

tatli_lokma

vector wrote: »

I agree that the Peace Commissioner/Notary Public can be confusing but I can say for certain that a "Commissioner for Oaths" can sign every document connected with an Application for Irish Citizenship, where the applicant is located in Ireland.

Be it the Statutory Declaration on page 15 approx, or the certified copies, and any extra separate Affidavit (e.g. Affidavit in lieu of Birth or Marriage Certificate)
you cannot go wrong with a "Commissioner for Oaths"

We originally had a birth affidavit witnessed by our solicitor who is also a commissioner for oaths and the application was returned to us advising it be signed by a notary public. I'm not disagreeing with you as regards what *should* be acceptable, but in reality often government agencies make their own rules on these things, which are often at odds with the guidelines they have printed on the forms. Getting off topic on this I know but I just wanted to point out the fun of the Irish system where notary/peace commissioners/commissioners for oaths are needed!