Notarization Law

Purpose and scope

• Governs the notarisation of contracts and acknowledgements by notaries public, licensed notaries and marriage officiants, the competence of each, procedures, and the evidential force of notarised documents.
• It aims to record rights in a form that can be relied on, so that a notarised document is treated as an enforcement instrument without a lawsuit.

Key rules, rights and obligations

• The notary public notarises contracts and acknowledgements, including divorce, khul and return in marriage, settlements, agreements on custody, maintenance and visitation, the creation of waqf and wills, and the division of undisputed jointly owned property (Article 11).
• Licensed notaries are entrusted with transfers of real estate title deeds, powers of attorney and their revocation, mortgages and their release, company articles, amendments and assembly minutes, transactions on trademarks and patents, acknowledgements of sums and financial guarantees, among others (Article 15).
• The notary verifies the parties' capacity, identity, status and documents (Article 27), uses a certified translator for those who do not read Arabic (Article 28), and documents are drawn up in Arabic (Article 36).
• A notary may not notarise anything in his own interest or that of his spouse, parents or children (Article 29), and may not disclose transaction secrets (Article 32).
• Documents issued under the law have evidential force, are enforcement instruments for the obligations they contain, and may be cancelled only by a court judgment for breach of Sharia or legal principles or for forgery (Article 41).
• Notarisation data may be recorded electronically with the force of written documents (Article 35).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• Practising notarisation without a licence or impersonating a notary: up to one year's imprisonment or a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or both, and the judgment may be published (Article 52).
• Violations by a licensed notary: warning, a fine of up to SAR 500,000, suspension of the licence for up to three years, or cancellation (Article 50).
• A common problem is issuing a broad general power of attorney without need; it is better to set the scope and duration precisely.
• Documents issued abroad cannot be relied on unless authenticated (Article 37).

Procedures and key deadlines

• A power of attorney lasts five years from issue unless revoked, a party dies or loses capacity, or the principal sets a shorter term (Article 38).
• A person whose notarisation request is refused at a notary office may file a grievance with the competent department (Article 30).
• A licensed notary may visit the parties at their request (Article 31), and his fee is between SAR 100 and 5,000 as set by the regulation (Article 54).
• A notary's licence lasts five years and is renewable (Article 22).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.