page_title: Civil law notary
section_title: Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Civil law notary / Germany
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Notariat in Wangen im Allgäu. English: Notary office in Wangen im Allgäu.
context_page_description: Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are agents of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record instruments for private parties and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State. As opposed to most notaries public, their common-law counterparts, civil-law notaries are highly trained, licensed practitioners providing a range of regulated services, and whereas they hold a public office, they nonetheless operate usually—but not always—in private practice and are paid on a fee-for-service basis. They often receive the same education as attorneys at civil law but without qualifications in advocacy, procedural law, or the law of evidence, somewhat comparable to solicitor training in certain common-law countries.
  Civil-law notaries are limited to areas of private law, that is, domestic law which regulates the relationships between individuals and in which the State is not directly concerned. The most common areas of practice for civil-law notaries are in residential and commercial conveyancing and registration, contract drafting, company formation, successions and estate planning, and powers of attorney.
context_section_description: In Germany, the main function of a Notar (pl. Notare, fem. Notarin) is to draw, execute, and retain legal instruments transacting or governing noncontentious matters in reserved areas of law:
  real property (conveyancing, servitudes, real securities)
  successions (wills and pacta successoria, estate planning, executorships)
  family law (marital agreements, healthcare proxies, alimony & child support agreements)
  company law (formation, restructuring, registration, corporate minutes)
  Prospective notaries must have the same basic legal education as attorneys/solicitors: first, they must be law graduates who have passed the first legal practice exam (erste juristische Staatsprüfung); then, they must article as a judicial clerk for 2 years and pass the second legal practice exam (zweite juristische Staatsprüfung). In addition, dual-practice notaries (Anwaltsnotar) must have 3 years standing as a practicing attorney/solicitor and pass a competitive notarial practice exam (notarielle Fachprüfung) before being admitted as notaries. Single-practice notaries (Nur-Notar), on the other hand, must article for 3 years as a trainee notary (Notarassessor). German notaries are appointed by authority of their state justice minister, draft notarial instruments (notarielle Urkunde) and retain them of record in their protocol (Urkundenrolle), and provide independent and impartial advice to all interested parties (Beteiligten).
  The mode of practice depends on the state, but in all, 1,600 German notaries practice exclusively as a notary versus 6,900 practicing dually as an attorney-notary. In most parts of Germany, notaries maintain independent private practices and do not generally work for the State except in Baden-Württemberg where 500 government notaries (Beamten-Notar) are regularly staffed in government agencies and offices. A notary's instruments are valid statewide, but in some states a notary's jurisdiction (Amtsbereich) is restricted to the judicial district (Amtsgerichtsbezirk) of the notary's appointment, as in Saxony and Württemberg where notaries are district notaries (Bezirksnotar). In Baden, notaries are magisterial notaries (Richternotar) who double as stipendiary magistrates. Single-practice notaries practice as a notary sole (Einzelnotar) or in a 2-person partnership (Zweier-Sozietät), whereas attorney-notaries structure themselves into law firms of varying size. The government notaries in Baden-Württemberg are going to be converted to self-employed private practitioners effective 1 January 2018.
  German notaries prepare instruments according to federal statutory guidelines and advise appearers on their legal obligations and consequences. A notary's statutory duties are:
  to satisfy himself of the identity of the appearers (Erschienenen or Urkundsparteien);
  to verify the parties to contracts are competent to enter into them;
  Belehrungspflicht:  to rigorously explain to appearers the contents and legal implications of the instrument; and
  to have the appearers sign before and with the notary and sometimes in the presence of witnesses.
  The notary affixes his official seal (Dienstsiegel) to the instrument and binds it with thin cords (Verbindung, Heftung). If the instrument is prima facie duly executed, courts will enforce it, presume it valid and regular, and admit it as evidence to prove the truth of its contents.
  In Germany, notaries are very important in day-to-day business. For example, any real estate sales contract (§ 311(b), German Civil Code), articles of association, alimony or child support agreement, or contract concerning succession (pactum successorium) must be in notarial form. Likewise, any share purchase or asset transfer agreement of a private limited company (GmbH) must be notarially executed pursuant to s. 15(3) of the Private Limited Companies Act (GmbHG). Contracts requiring notarial execution can be drafted by the executing notary, the parties, or by an attorney/solicitor.
caption: Notar office
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