The role of the civil-law notary
Through the competencies provided by the law, the civil-law notary fulfills a social function of great importance, being closer to the citizens in all the important moments of their life, from the moment of engagement and marriage to buying the first property, in the entrepreneurial activity and in the field of trading companies, at a dissolution of marriage and a division of heritage, until the provisions of the last will and in matters of inheritance. They have also the legal obligation to protect and assist the weakest ones or the disadvantaged ones, like the minors or elderly people.
The main attributes of the notarial activity are trust and efficiency.
Trust is based on impartiality, all parties being equally assisted, without favoring, on a high level legal training and on the nature of agent vested with state authority that makes him a guarantor for the veracity and lawfulness of deeds.
Before drafting and authenticating the deed, the civil-law notary personally discusses with the parties in order to set out clearly their aim by concluding the legal deed, he advises them and gives them clarifications for choosing those clauses, types of documents and the most balanced and appropriate legal solutions to fully achieve the proposed practical purpose, permanently monitoring that the drafted deed does not contravene to the law or to the good morals and does not generate useless conflicts. At the moment of the signature of the authentic deed, the civil-law notary makes sure that the parties have understood the content of the deed and the effects that it will be generating, that they have discernment and that their will is free and unaltered.
The efficiency is due to the fact that a notary does not exercise the profession like a public servant of the state, but as a liberal profession, that allows other standards regarding the efficiency and the trust of the services provided. So, the rapid preparation of deeds and fulfillment of legal formalities, overcoming the technical difficulties in a short time, the transmission of deeds to the land registration registries by some electronic means are possible through considerable investment in personnel and adequate technical equipment, to guaranty the safety and efficiency of the performed deeds to the citizen. By means of modern technology, the notary ensures rigorously the evidence and the publicity of the instrumented deeds, in the cases provided by the law, the most part of deeds being transmitted to the registers in real time, by electronic means, through the electronic signature.
The choice to go to a civil-law notary to conclude a legal deed makes the difference, as in the case of a disease, between prevention and treatment. Although the public opinion was taught that notarial fees are excessive and unjustified for the service provided, in reality the costs of a possible trial that would follow are at least a few times higher and sometimes difficult to predict, as they include a stamp tax and the fees of the lawyers and of experts involved, the costs of enforcement and the bailiffs’ fees, without taking in consideration the time and resources required for the attendance at the court terms and the psychological stress created by the involvement in a case before the court.
Those who require a notarial service should bear in mind that the document leaving the notarial office is not just a simple "paper" signed and stamped by the civil-law notary, but the result of a complex process, involving both the civil-law notary and the entire staff of the office, that supposes a verification, analysis, the request and obtaining all necessary documents, drafting and archiving, all made in order to ensure the safety and the balance of the civil circuit.
To conclude, the civil-law notary represents:
Through the competencies provided by the law, the civil-law notary fulfills a social function of great importance, being closer to the citizens in all the important moments of their life, from the moment of engagement and marriage to buying the first property, in the entrepreneurial activity and in the field of trading companies, at a dissolution of marriage and a division of heritage, until the provisions of the last will and in matters of inheritance. They have also the legal obligation to protect and assist the weakest ones or the disadvantaged ones, like the minors or elderly people.
The main attributes of the notarial activity are trust and efficiency.
Trust is based on impartiality, all parties being equally assisted, without favoring, on a high level legal training and on the nature of agent vested with state authority that makes him a guarantor for the veracity and lawfulness of deeds.
Before drafting and authenticating the deed, the civil-law notary personally discusses with the parties in order to set out clearly their aim by concluding the legal deed, he advises them and gives them clarifications for choosing those clauses, types of documents and the most balanced and appropriate legal solutions to fully achieve the proposed practical purpose, permanently monitoring that the drafted deed does not contravene to the law or to the good morals and does not generate useless conflicts. At the moment of the signature of the authentic deed, the civil-law notary makes sure that the parties have understood the content of the deed and the effects that it will be generating, that they have discernment and that their will is free and unaltered.
The efficiency is due to the fact that a notary does not exercise the profession like a public servant of the state, but as a liberal profession, that allows other standards regarding the efficiency and the trust of the services provided. So, the rapid preparation of deeds and fulfillment of legal formalities, overcoming the technical difficulties in a short time, the transmission of deeds to the land registration registries by some electronic means are possible through considerable investment in personnel and adequate technical equipment, to guaranty the safety and efficiency of the performed deeds to the citizen. By means of modern technology, the notary ensures rigorously the evidence and the publicity of the instrumented deeds, in the cases provided by the law, the most part of deeds being transmitted to the registers in real time, by electronic means, through the electronic signature.
The choice to go to a civil-law notary to conclude a legal deed makes the difference, as in the case of a disease, between prevention and treatment. Although the public opinion was taught that notarial fees are excessive and unjustified for the service provided, in reality the costs of a possible trial that would follow are at least a few times higher and sometimes difficult to predict, as they include a stamp tax and the fees of the lawyers and of experts involved, the costs of enforcement and the bailiffs’ fees, without taking in consideration the time and resources required for the attendance at the court terms and the psychological stress created by the involvement in a case before the court.
Those who require a notarial service should bear in mind that the document leaving the notarial office is not just a simple "paper" signed and stamped by the civil-law notary, but the result of a complex process, involving both the civil-law notary and the entire staff of the office, that supposes a verification, analysis, the request and obtaining all necessary documents, drafting and archiving, all made in order to ensure the safety and the balance of the civil circuit.
To conclude, the civil-law notary represents:
- A guarantee of safety and legality: his objective is that the notarial deed to be in accordance with the law and with the parties’ desire and not to be attackable
- The notarial deed makes the proof until the enrollment in forgery, for what constitutes the personal findings of the instrumenting notary, and, until proven otherwise, for the other mentions
- Reachable: through the balanced territorial spreading, you always have near, at least one notarial office in the circumscription of each court in Romania
- A highly qualified professional: the access in the profession requires extensive specialized studies, a training session and a tough and objective selection mechanism , under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice; notaries constantly update their level of knowledge through mandatory continuous professional training
- Independence: the notary exercises a liberal profession and is subject to the law
- modernity: civil-law notaries are constantly trying to adapt to the evolution of the society and technology, through the services provided and the facilities of the notarial offices and professional bodies
- Efficiency: the cost of the notarial deed and the time devoted to its realization are significantly lower than the economic and social costs of litigation that is being avoided.
