Here in Canada though, it’s pretty much only lawyers and judges, and a few others who can notarize documents. You cannot go to a bank, library or UPS store for it.
As a Canadian lawyer, I’ve notarized any number of documents, including Child Travel Certificates, as they are called.
Very different in Canada. The document is the easy part, the federal government actually provides a template.
Right, and as you say, in some cases a few others, such as a “commissioner of oaths”.
Like @LSLGuy with his late wife, there is a lawyer in the family who’s been very helpful on multiple occasions. In my mundane life dealing only with mundane situations, the most powerful tool a lawyer has is this gadget that looks like a gigantic stapler that embosses a seal certifying their credentials. That, along with their signature, license number or whatever it’s called, and contact info, has notarized numerous things for me, not only at no cost, but usually with a free dinner included, too. I’m not a freeloader – I bring the wine!
Relatives who are practicing lawyers are a great resource!
Well, commissioners and notaries do similar things, but there are some things only a notary can do. A Child Travel Certificate would be one of them; a guarantee would be another. My assistant can commission certain documents (e.g. take your oath on an affidavit), and I can commission them too, but only I can notarize documents that need notarizing, while she cannot.
And yes, I’ve got the embossing seal to prove it!
Fascinating. I had no idea Canadian notary practice was so different from US. Thank you all.
I know about Latin practice where notaries are sorta paralegals / lawyers-lite. I know a bit about Southern European practice which is similar.
But I’d assumed UK practice had informed both Canadian & USA practice similarly and any difference was mostly terminology, not substance. I thought wrong.
Since we are telling stories, around 1980 a girlfriend Maria and I decided to drive from San Antonio to Saltillo, Mexico with her 15-year-old niece. We were driving Maria’s car. When we got to the border we were not allowed to take the niece across.
Maria went to a payphone, called the girl’s mother in San Antonio, and ask her to write a letter saying Maria had the authority to take the girl into Mexico. I don’t know if the letter had to be notarized. No fax machines then, so the mother wrote the letter, put it on a Greyhound bus (something I wouldn’t have thought of in a million years) that was headed to Laredo.
We spent the night there in a motel, and miracle of miracles, the next day Maria retrieved the letter from the Greyhound bus at the station. That cleared us. We drove on to Saltillo and had a fabulous time. That was a beautiful city then and we stayed in a fantastic hotel called the Hotel Arispe.
I have to hand it to Maria. When we hit that roadblock, I was prepared to turn around and come back home. But she pressed on.
Jumping back to the original question, it used to be that you had to fill out a Canadian form when you brought it a rental, and leave within two days, or fill out another form and get permission to keep the rental up to 30 days in Canada. I think t was some kind of customs/excise thing. Was this all changed by NAFTA? Is it automatic now, or has it just gone?
I don’t think that’s true everywhere in Canada. In Quebec there are notaries (who are kind of limited lawyers dealing with wills and real estate transactions) and commissioners for oaths who can only notarize. There is an office in our town hall who will do it gratis for residents.
I understand that rental companies have tracking devices on their cars, so if, suppose, you get ticket in Texas, they will know it
You mean like a speeding ticket? Even if they have full tracking on it how would they know why I pulled over in some random place for a couple of minutes. Could be to get out of a thunderstorm, or to take a quick break, or if in town to get a bite to eat or to drop off something to someone or to…
I’m assuming that the state will send ticket to owner of vehicle–rental company
I’m not sure what pulling over in a rainstorm has to do with the rental car company finding out that you were in Texas when you wern’t supposed to take the car out of Kansas. Which they might find out through a GPS tracker or because you got a ticket or were charged a toll in Texas and the ticket/toll bill was sent to the rental company.
What do you mean by ticket? When you get pulled over by a cop for some moving violation? If so that goes to the driver, not the owner & is what I was referring to. Or do you mean one of those red light/speeding cameras? Those go to the registered owner of the vehicle. I’m guessing the rental company just pays it & then bills you for it + some handling fee. Depending upon where you rented it & possibly paying for upgrades you may very well have been within your authorized driving area. I don’t know if they do or don’t look at where it came in from & where you were allowed to be driving & then hit you with an extra charge for driving outside of the authorized area.
If you rented a car is southern TX, you could drive north for a long time & never leave the state; however, if you rented one in northern TX you could be two states away in < 40 miles.
We made it! No issues with the rental car, no issues with the grandkid at the border. BUT, huge thanks to @LSLGuy for the heads-up on making sure we had the necessary paperwork for him with us. Looking forward to an awesome Vancouver/Seattle vacation with the kid.
Great news!
May you have all the fun and none of the hassles on this vacation!