The original and an FCDO-registered solicitor-certified copy of the original can be used to get an apostille certificate attached to your Sheriff’s Court document.
Whether your original Sheriff Court form also needs to be solicitor-certified or notarised will depend on whether your court document contains an FCDO-registered signature.
If you urgently need the apostille for the Sheriff Court judgment, we recommend that our solicitor certify your court document so that the legalisation office won’t reject it.
We can return the legalised court document via DHL or Royal Mail (next-day service), or you can collect it in person.
Jump to: How much does it cost? | How long does it take?
The full order process:
Step one:
Ensure your Scottish Sheriff Court document can be legalised with an apostille in the UK. The Sheriff’s document must be valid and issued by an official Scottish court.
Step two:
Contact our office.
When emailing, please provide the following information:
- Your Sheriff Court document will be used in what country?
- How soon do you need the apostille?
- Do you also require embassy legalisation?
- How will the court document be delivered and returned?
When we have all the information, the team will assess your enquiry and give you a detailed quotation.
If you accept the quotation, we will send an invoice to be paid, and the process of getting an apostille will start.
Step three:
Once your Sheriff Court document has been apostilled, we will send you a scanned copy via email.
If you are not collecting your apostilled document from our London office – we will provide you with the tracking number given by the courier.
Note that we return documents by DHL and Royal Mail only. If you want to make other arrangements, please let us know.
The price includes admin, solicitor, FCDO, and VAT. Business documents incur an additional processing fee.
There could be additional costs, depending on your chosen service and how many documents you wish to apostille. Additional cost examples are:
- Translations start from £30
- Notarisation by notary public (+ £96)
- Return delivery costs (+ £12)
- Embassy legalisation (from + £75)
How long does it take to get an apostille?
There are three options for getting an apostille.
Option one: 1 day (next business day)
- Documents must arrive before 10:00 am for the next-day service.
- Documents can be collected around 3:30 pm the next day.
- Documents are submitted and collected in person
Option two: 3 to 4 days:
- If documents arrive by 10:30 am, it will take 3 days
- If documents arrive after 10:30 am, then it will take 4 days
- Documents are submitted and collected in person
Option three: e-Apostille 1 to 2 days
If the document qualifies for an e-apostille, it is usually completed within 24 hours but can take two working days, depending on the FCDO’s workload.
Do I have to come to your office?
No, you don’t need to attend our office in Westminster to get your court document apostilled by the legalisation office in London or Milton Keynes.
Documents can be sent by courier or by post. We recommend using a tracked service if you send your documents by post. We return your documents in the same way.
Who can certify or notarise a sheriff court document?
An FCDO-registered solicitor can certify the document if an apostille is needed for a document issued by a sheriff’s court in Scotland. The solicitor certifies that the document has been seen.
An FCDO-registered notary public can also notarise a sheriff court document for an apostille. The notary public notarises that the original court document is genuine.
Before notarising the document as genuine, the notary must check it against the records of the relevant sheriff’s court.
A notary public can also notarise a copy of a sheriff court document as a ‘true copy’. The notary must have seen both the original document and the copy.
Which Sheriff Court documents can be apostilled?
All official documents issued by a sheriff’s court can be apostilled.
To be accepted by the legalisation office of the FCDO, a document issued by the sheriff court must be either:
Who can request an apostille for a sheriff court document?
Any foreign person, company, organisation, or government agency can request an apostille for a sheriff court document.
In practice, sheriff court documents that need apostilles are usually related to financial, marital and employment matters.
Why is an apostille required for sheriff court documents?
Countries which are party to the Hague Convention 1961 accept the legal validity of a document issued by a Scottish sheriff court only if the Legalisation Office of the FCDO has apostilled the document.
When should I get an apostille for a sheriff court document?
You should get an apostille for your sheriff court document if an overseas individual, employer, organisation, or government agency requests it.
Apostilles are sufficient for countries which are party to the Hague Convention (see above).
Countries which are not a party to the Hague Convention may require further legalisation.
Who can provide sheriff court documents?
The court itself provides documents.
Sheriff courts in Scotland are administered by sheriff clerks. You should contact the sheriff clerk either in person, by telephone or by post if you need sheriff court documents [2].
Do I need a translation of sheriff’s court documents?
Translations of sheriff court documents are only needed if requested. Translations must be certified as accurate.
We offer translation for all official Sheriff Court documents. Translation takes 2-3 days and costs start from as low as £50 per page. Discount for 3 or more documents, please enquire.
