How to Notarize a Power of Attorney for Use Abroad

Why Would an American Buying Property Abroad Need a Power of Attorney?

Picture an American who has agreed to buy a house overseas but cannot travel for the closing. Someone still has to sign the sale contract, the deed, and the rest of the paperwork in person at the appropriate local office. The only way to make that possible without traveling is to formally authorize another person – a representative, an attorney, or a trusted family member – to sign on the buyer’s behalf. That authorization is a power of attorney.

A power of attorney only works for this purpose if it is notarized. Notarization is what makes the document legally trustworthy to a stranger: the notary confirms the identity of the person granting the power, and confirms that they understand and freely consent to what they are authorizing. Without that step, a foreign land registry, bank, or government office has no reliable way to know the document is genuine, and will not accept it. A power of attorney signed privately, without a notary present, is routinely rejected.

Why Does This Document Need an Apostille? What Is an Apostille?

Notarization alone usually is not enough once a document crosses a border. A notary’s signature and seal mean something to institutions in their own country, but a foreign institution has no way to verify who that notary is or whether their seal is genuine. An apostille solves this: it is a standardized certificate, issued by a designated authority in the country where the document was notarized, that authenticates the notary’s signature and seal so any other country party to the same international agreement will accept it without further checks.

That agreement is the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. In the United States, the apostille is issued by the Secretary of State’s office at the state level; in most other member countries, it is issued by the ministry of foreign affairs or justice. If the destination country has not joined the Convention, an apostille will not work, and the document instead needs consular legalization – a longer process handled through that country’s embassy or consulate.

How Notary Systems Differ Around the World

Not every country’s notary works the same way, which is worth knowing before assuming a process from one country applies elsewhere. In the United States and other common-law countries, a notary public is typically a private individual, commissioned by the state to witness signatures and administer oaths, but not otherwise acting as a lawyer. In much of Continental Europe, Turkey, and Latin America, by contrast, notaries follow the civil-law tradition: they are highly trained legal professionals who also draft and review the substance of the document, operating under closer government regulation and, in some countries, functioning almost as public officials. A number of countries fall somewhere in between, with private notaries who nonetheless carry out functions closer to the civil-law model.

In the United States specifically, notarization has also increasingly become available remotely rather than only in person. Online notarization services such as OneNotary allow a document to be notarized over a live video session, without visiting a notary’s office – useful for anyone who needs a power of attorney prepared quickly or from a location where an in-person notary is inconvenient. This changes how the notarization itself happens, not what happens afterward: the resulting document still needs an apostille (or consular legalization) before it can be used abroad.

Example: Why a Notarized Power of Attorney Matters When Buying Property in Turkey

Turkey is a common destination for exactly this kind of purchase, and it illustrates why each of these steps matters in practice. A foreign buyer who cannot travel to Turkey completes the purchase through a representative, and the Turkish Land Registry (Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü) generally requires a power of attorney that meets the applicable notarization, apostille or consular legalization, and translation requirements. Skipping or misordering any one of these steps is one of the most common reasons a remote property purchase gets delayed.

For readers specifically interested in buying property in Turkey, Domianatolia is a free, independent resource covering every stage of that process – legal eligibility, required documents, taxes, and the title transfer itself, alongside this power of attorney process specifically: What is a power of attorney (vekaletname) and do I need one to buy property remotely?

This article was contributed by the team at Domianatolia, a free, independent resource for buying real estate in Turkey.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. Property law and tax rules in Turkey change frequently. Consult a licensed Turkish lawyer, accountant, or real estate professional before making any purchasing decision.