Documents from Bavarian courts or notaries for use abroad; application for preliminary certification for legalization

If you wish to use a document from a court or notary abroad, it may have to be legalized. It may have to be pre-certified by the competent German authority.

German public documents are generally only recognized abroad if their authenticity has been confirmed by the competent representation of the country concerned in Germany (legalization). The representations of foreign countries generally require the German documents to be legalized by the competent German authorities beforehand.

In Bavaria, the president of the regional court in whose district the document was drawn up is responsible for the preliminary legalization of documents from the area of ordinary jurisdiction, including notaries. As part of the legalization procedure for foreign representations, the regional courts certify, for example, German judgments, decisions, court documents, notarial deeds and translations.

There are international agreements according to which certain documents are exempt from legalization.

• Document from the court or notary in the original

You would like to use a court or notarial deed abroad and need a preliminary certification for legalization.

If you need a certification for a legalization procedure, you can send an informal letter to the president of the respective regional court, depending on the jurisdiction.

The country for which the document is required must be specified when sending it by post. The original documents must generally be enclosed. The documents can also be handed in personally.

There are framework fees for certification as part of a legalization procedure. A fee of EUR 25.00 is to be expected for each document.

The representations of certain countries require a so-called final certification for the legalization of German documents - irrespective of the preliminary certification described above. This must be applied for at the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs.