Watford Notary Public
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Watford Notary Public was established by Stephen Down at the beginning of 2010. Prior to that he had worked as a solicitor and notary from qualifying in 1998 and was a partner with a firm in Harrow until 2010. He completed the Notarial Practice Course at Cambridge University in 2004 and has subsequently completed the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) diploma in 2010 and became a full professional member of Solicitors for the Elderly.

He has a wide experience and knowledge of all aspects of notarial work and acts for a number of multinational companies based in Watford and the surrounding towns as well as thousands of individual clients with documents from all corners of the world.
Services
Notaries are the oldest branch of the legal profession, pre-dating solicitors and barristers. We derive our authority from the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury rather than the Law Society or Bar Council. Our main role is to authenticate documents and facts for use outside of England and Wales.
Many countries, especially those outside of the Commonwealth, wish to be sure that I am properly authorised in England and Wales to act as a notary. This is done by a procedure called legalisation. For most countries this means applying to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Legalisation department in Milton Keynes for an apostille.
As a full professional member of Solicitors for the Elderly I have a particular expertise in advising on and obtaining Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) for both Property and Financial Affairs and for Health and Welfare matters. LPAs replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney in 2007 and are used to appoint trusted representatives to act on your behalf should you ever be in a position where you were unable to make an informed decision for yourself.
I will always need to ensure that the people appearing before me are properly identified and I normally need to see the appearer's current passport and a recent document, dated within the past 3 months e.g. All transactions by limited or public companies need to be supported by similar evidence of the identity of the appearing officers of the company, and in some cases the relevant resolutions authorising the transactions.
As a full professional member of Solicitors for the Elderly and member of STEP I have particular expertise in advising on and drafting wills and applying for probate and administering the estate of a deceased person. If clients have an existing will I can advise whether it should be updated by either drafting a codicil (an addition to the will) or the provision of a whole new will.
Reviews (3)
Mike Acton
Mike Acton
Aug 23, 2020
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Very efficient and professional service despite COVID restrictions.
Would highly recommend within hesitation.
Andy T.
Andy T.
Sep 28, 2019
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Don't understand the negative posters.
Stephen answered my voicemail. Conducted meeting as scheduled and professionally.
Everything complete in timely manner.
No problems!
P. D.
P. D.
Jun 17, 2018
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Very efficient the first time I used him. But subsequently very poor. Doesn't reply to emails or calls, and generally pretty unprofessional.